“The dominance of the spare parts business by our Igbo brothers is emblematic of the structure of the Akwa Ibom economy”.
I went to fix my car’s air conditioning system in the mechanic village, Uyo, on Friday, and it happened to be the day the market was reopened after a week closure due to a fracas that had broken out between Igbo spareparts dealers and Akwa Ibom mechanics there. For those who do not know, over 80% of the spare parts dealers in the market are Igbos, while over 90% of the mechanics and artisans are from Akwa Ibom.
After the market was reopened, the Igbo merchants refused to reopen their shops, threatening to keep them shut until the government pays them N80 million for damages they claimed to have incurred during the fracas.
The dominance of the spare parts business by our Igbo brothers is emblematic of the structure of the Akwa Ibom economy. Virtually every key sector like retail trade, fishery and marine business and palm oil trade is in the hands of non-indigenes.
The major supermarkets in Uyo are owned by non-indigenes; the fishermen that work in the waters of Akwa Ibom operate fishing boats owned by Igbo businessmen on hire purchase, while the major buyers of the palm oil grown and milled in the state are also non indigenes who dictate the price of this precious commodity. Non indigenes own many property in Uyo and have gone into the hinterland to buy up lands in every village. Our people troop daily to Aba and Onitsha to buy basic items and luxury goods, ranging from textiles to toys, leading to a daily capital outflow of about N100 million, according to one estimate.
What of food production? Akwa Ibom produces just about 45% – 55% of the bulk of the food we consume. The rest comes from other states, especially Delta and the Northern States. I remember driving into the state from Port Harcourt with some friends from Delta some five years ago. A woman in the group asked me, ‘’Don’t your people farm? You can’t drive along this long stretch in Delta State without seeing mounds of yams, garri and plantain stacked along the road for sale’’.
When I travelled to Markurdi for a wedding in 2018, both sides of roads were lined with baskets of oranges, potatoes and yams for sale.
The low productive capacity of the Akwa Ibom economy is the reason poverty and unemployment rates are so high in the state. In other words, the fact that our state’s economy is largely controlled by non-indigenes is the reason we are so poor while the government is rich. Our people spend the bulk of their income on goods that are produced outside the state.
Just to be clear: This situation is not new, and sadly enough, no administration in the state has ever taken steps to address the net outflow of capital from the state due to this faulty economic imbalance.
In this election cycle, however, Senator John Udoedehe is one governorship candidate that has clearly identified this imbalance as a major economic challenge in the state, and to address it, he has promised to launch a stimulus package that will provide N31 billion grant to 31,000 people – N1 million per person. This has the potential to establish a large community of small businesses that should grow and create jobs, and reduce poverty.
He is also planning to encourage business people in the state with incentives to go into large scale importation of those products we go to Aba for. He has grand plans to stimulate food production and equip our fishermen so that they can fish for themselves.
Udoedehe has a deep understanding of the structure of the state’s economy and the inherent challenges. He also has an audacious plan to address them.
Etim Etim, a veteran journalist, is a communication consultant to Senator John James Akpan-Udoedehe.
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