The kneeling pastor of Nsit Ubium

Amidst social media anger, I try to compose myself and have a background check on my new ‘successor’ governor.

He has done well for himself as I see he is pushing towards getting a PhD from Pan Atlantic University. The profile I read shows that he has built and run a group of companies in his local government with a hotel as the main crown of the investments.

After running the place excellently, he instituted a powerful succession plan and went to take up his first political appointment at the tourism board as chairman and from there, he built a super excellent political career that has taken him through lands and now possibly to the governorship.

This is a fairy tale story that should inspire our youths. This shows that truly in a democracy, everybody stands an equal chance of reaching the top.

Now, this is not about his person or what he represents, it is about the state — and the qualities and qualifications needed to run it.

So do you allow a starter driver the keys to a phantom Rolls Royce? Do you even give a small private jet pilot the reigns to a giant Boeing commercial airliner and do you even allow that pilot to take a rocket to Mars with Elon Musk.

Pastor Eno is a small-time operative, with base educational background, little or no experience beyond managing some tepid SME in hospitality and then serving very loyally at a cabinet level without any ‘stick out in the neck’ initiative that has made his stay in government — at both tourism and lands — anything to be excited about.

Akwa Ibom is a remarkable state. It is my state. As you land at the airport, you are welcomed by incredible resources; both natural and human. The human capital is amazing and infrastructure is above the national average.

The Atlantic Ocean, the lush vegetation, the abundance of natural resources especially in agriculture makes industries like tourism, agriculture, health and entertainment flourish if properly harnessed.

Labour is cheap and qualitative, the cost of doing business is below the national average and the transparency ratio per citizen is critically high.

What we just need is entrepreneurial leadership at the state level. I think Obong Attah started a small revolution in this area, hence his moniker today as the father of modern-day Akwa Ibom.

He started the infrastructural development of the state, citing key points as an initial framework for economic development.

Godswill Akpabio ramped it up phenomenally with a rabid and concise road network that covers almost the whole state, opening it up to outside investors, among others.

Emmanuel Udom has tried to consolidate and push in other areas. The syringe factory, the IT tower, the deep seaport in Oron and other such initiatives.

His stride in tourism is above average especially with the showing of hard-working Oman Esin at tourism. The Christmas Village was explosive as it created jobs, wealth and temporary infrastructure

The revamping of the Ibom Icon under serious management is another strong point in tourism and the continued stride of Ibom Air in aviation makes Udom’s eight years bearable.

In discussions with Akwa Ibom technocrats, the need to streamline all of this into a bucket of entrepreneurial leadership has remained critical.

We need to have a governor who understands that government has to stand aside. Government can no longer lead the economic push.

It has no resources, no human capacity and certainly no goodwill, as strong business decisions would be taken with a tribal balancing in mind which may not go well with huge economic and business decisions.

This is why some of us have supported the modern-day leader and not the tired grassroots leader. Akwa Ibom state has outgrown grassroots leadership.

Candidates like Akan Udofia, Onofiok Luke, Ide Owodiong, and maybe Udom Inoyo, the Mobil guy, would have brought in some character to the contest.

They would have been able to rise above the narrow shindigs of our state and begin to pull in FDI into the state and have the strength to support with tax incentives and the rest while those ones build the economy.

I dare say that the state government does not have the capacity to employ 100,000 people today. But see how many people Innoson is employing down the road or even that small GIG Logistics — 5,000.

So when I see that pastor kneeling down and the First Lady’s look, I ask myself just what is wrong with Udom?

With his background and exposure, why fall into the drudgery of failed average administrators. Why allow history to define your eight-year legacy with this picture of a man kneeling down.

I hope the anger of the average AkwaIbomite — as brilliantly captured by the local news commentator who so articulately dimensioned the issue and ended up with the catchy caption of my brother Akan Udofia as pageant governor — would not subside.

I pray it cascades into a wonderful force for change for our state.

As for the pastor, I really do wish him well.