Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State is giving out the sum
of $40,000.00 (N14 million based on the exchange rate of N350 to $1) to the
Nigerian senior national football team, the Super Eagles, for defeating their
Cameroonian counterpart, the Indomitable Lions, at the Godswill Akpabio
International Stadium in Uyo on Friday September 1, 2017, in fulfilment of his
ostensibly impulsive promise to donate $10,000 to the team for every goal
scored.
If it is necessary to donate public funds to players, who have
already made it in life materially, before they can win a match at home, then
what is the cacophony about?
Ironically, two years after the state government owned Akwa
United FC won the 2015 FA Cup, Governor Udom Emmanuel is yet to fulfil his
promise to give each of the 34 registered players of the local club N2 million
and a house.
I do not like sports. However, anytime that the Super Eagles
plays, I do devote considerable time to watch their match if circumstances
gives allowance for me to do so.
Like every patriot, I am delighted that Nigeria won. What I will
not concede to, is the argument that because of Friday's victory by our
national team, I, as an active and responsible citizen, should not interrogate
the economic value of the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium to Akwa Ibom
State.
The Godswill Akpabio's administration awarded an estimated,
whopping $250,000,000.00 (Two Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars) contract for
the construction of the stadium in 2012 to Julius Berger Plc. The project was
slated to be completed in 2014.
It was designed to be a 30,000 seater ultra modern MULTI-PURPOSE
sports complex, modeled after Allianz Arena, a football stadium in Munich,
Bavaria, Germany with a 75,000 seating capacity.
Apart from the football pitch, a 400m-running track for athletic
events and other sporting facilities were supposed to be part of the structure.
Today, people seems to have forgotten the outrageous amount of
money that was thrown into the construction of the stadium. I also wonder, why
those who constantly admonish me to be "a constructive critic", have
not asked questions about the whereabouts of the athletic and the other
components of the stadium?
Why is the stadium SINGLE-PURPOSE (solely for soccer) and not
multi-purpose as specified in the contract?
Why are we reticent about the fact that nearly Seven (7) years
after Senator Akpabio awarded the scandalously inflated contract for the
construction of the stadium to Julius Berger Plc, the project, like most of
Akpabio's other White elegant projects (like the Tropicana Entertainment
Centre, Four-Point Sheraton Hotel, etc) remains uncompleted?
Where is the 250 Million Dollars, which if it had been properly
invested, could have yielded 31 industries across the 31 Local Government Areas
of Akwa Ibom State (which Akpabio promised, budgeted funds for, but NEVER built
a single industry)?
The stadium, we were told, was going to boost the internally
generated revenue of Akwa Ibom State.
Today, I am publicly challenging anyone who feels that the
Godswill Akpabio International Stadium has economic value to Akwa Ibom State,
to tell us how much, in figures, have been generated by the state government
between 2014 when it was commissioned to date?
What we see clearly is that rather than generate revenue for the
state, the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium has become a liability. It is
a drain on the resources of Akwa Ibom State.
If emotional satisfaction and not profits, is all that we
derived from having "an International stadium", it means there is a
problem.
Akwa Ibom State Government spends money to lobby the Nigerian
Football Federation (NFF) in order for matches to be brought to the stadium.
The state government also gives out money to players to "motivate"
them during matches. It is evident that funds also go into certain logistics
each time a match is to be played at the stadium.
How much has the state derived so far, from sales of tickets?
Investment without returns is useless. Football is business. That is why Alhaji
Aliko Dangote is reportedly looking into the prospects of buying Arsenal club.
The money that goes into the private sector from visiting
spectators who lodged in hotels and patronised goods and services in Akwa Ibom
State each time an International or local match is taken to the stadium, will
never justify the huge amount of money dissipated by the state government on
the construction of the stadium and hosting of matches.
A vast majority of the people who go to the stadium to watch
matches are residents of Akwa Ibom State who have no need of securing hotel
accommodation.
In the final analysis, we will all see that an International
stadium (uncompleted), is not a priority for a civil service state like Akwa
Ibom where politics is the largest employer of labour.
The stadium is an unproductive legacy of a squandermania. It is
a white elephant project that was used to siphon money.
While basking in the euphoria of Friday's victorious outing of
the Super Eagles at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, let us
bear in mind that the stadium is owned by a state in Nigeria where pensioners
and retirees are dying without receiving their gratuity and pensions.
Do not forget that in that same Akwa Ibom, the next-of-kin of
late primary school teachers between 1991 to date have not received their
entitlements.
It is in that same Akwa Ibom State that Starwood Hotels &
Resorts' recently terminated its contract with the government to manage the
state-owned Five-Star Hotel, Le Meridien Hotel & Golf Resort, over debt of
N394 million owed the international hotel services company by the government.
In counting areas where the Akwa Ibom State Government has
FAILED in its responsibilities and financial obligations, the list is endless.
If $250 million had been invested wisely in education, job
creation or mass housing in Akwa Ibom State in 2012, it would have had
tremendous generational impacts on the citizens of the oil-rich but
impoverished state.
Tragically, the then profligate governor played to the gallery
and dissipated such huge but scarce resources on a needless stadium project
which remains uncompleted and economically unproductive.
May Nigeria not be destroyed by the crass misadventures of
morally deficient, financially reckless and intellectually bankrupt leaders who
would rather mortgaged the future of the citizens than invest sensibly in
productive ventures, in their outrageous and insatiable propensity for
vainglory.
Inibehe Effiong is a Legal Practitioner and the Convener of the
Akwa Ibom Conscience.
Email: inibehe.effiong@gmail.com
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