Photo by James Overly Senator Udoma U. Udoma, representing South Akwa Ibom, chief whip of the Nigerian senate.

By James Overly and Kevin Lambert

One of the prominent figures enthusiastically attending the Economic Summit was Akwa Ibom’s Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, chief senatorial whip in the National Assembly, which is Nigeria’s parliament.

Mr. Udoma, son of a Nigerian supreme court justice, studied jurisprudence at Oxford, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1978. A man of many parts, he also worked as a reporter for The Bridgeport (CT) Post, and created an African music program for American public television.
On the job, he is the leader and coordinator for the concerns of Akwa Ibomites in the assembly. And now that there is – at least some – money coming in, he is turning his attention to how it can be used to improve his state.

"Since I get on very well with the governor, we talk a lot, we exchange views, ideas. When there are things that are important to Akwa Ibom, we push them at the same time. And so the relationship between the Akwa Ibom ‘lobby’ in the National Assembly and in Abuja and at home has really been harmonious."

He is a big fan of economic summits, and he found encouragement for this one from a surprising source. "We took our inspiration, really, from what happened in Little Rock, Arkansas by [former President Bill] Clinton, just before he took office. He called leading economists in the U.S. to meet in Little Rock, Arkansas to look at an economic program for his government."

One point that he found particularly agreeable was that President Clinton had invited many people from the private sector.

"History has shown that the private sector is the engine for growth in the economy. I’ve always felt that the partnership of the private sector and the public sector is critical to getting any economy moving. And if the private sector is not fully on board, no amount of talk by government can really get the economy moving."

The large, ambitious projects now underway in Akwa Ibom – also partnered with the private sector – will transform the state. They may seem impossibly large, but this kind of outlay is unavoidable, and the future benefits are even larger. "What the governor is doing in pursuing these big projects is to lay the foundation. The power plant is probably the most important single project that this government in Akwa Ibom state is pursuing. The impact will just be tremendous. Almost every small business needs power. In fact, education needs power, because without learning about computers, what sort of education is that? Health needs power. So the power [plant] is number one, probably the most important.

"Then of course the airport, which helps with communication, and people being able to come in. You can’t talk about investors if they don’t have any means of reaching the state. The hotel is also important, because if investors come, where are they going to stay? Sometimes a hotel can actually help promote investment in a particular location – people may even come to use the hotel for conferences and conventions."

Adding the road system to that, he says, will "link together to form a foundation upon which future governments in Akwa Ibom can build."

"One thing I can say is that prior to 1999, the image of Akwa Ibom, and Akwa Ibomites, were really of a people who were engaged in a civil servant state. There was no industry; there was nothing except government as an employer in Akwa Ibom. Outside of Akwa Ibom, Akwa Ibomites were taking lots of menial jobs. And so it was a challenge, and that’s partly why I went into politics myself. My campaign in 1998 and 1999 was actually focused on what the governor is doing now—on power, on providing water, and basic infrastructure, providing the background for people to be able to employ themselves, for businesses to grow."

Udoma subscribes to the current wisdom in global economics – that private sector growth usually follows public sector diminution. "In fact, my dream is a situation where not more than five percent of Akwa Ibomites are employed by government, whereas right now it’s over 50 percent. Let us have a smaller, leaner, more efficient government, and the private sector booming."
Regarding the struggle for resource control, "We have shown that collaboration between the local government, the state, and the National Assembly has worked. We hope that this is an example that those who come after us will wish to emulate."

There are, of course, challenges. "There’s not enough federal investment in this state. And even the derivation, we feel that, really, the percentage is far too low. Prior to 1966 the division was based on 50 percent derivation. Now it is 13 percent. And even that 13 percent, sometimes the way it’s calculated, we feel we are being cheated. And so, some of these grievances, you know, you can only contain them for so long.

"So yes, we are peaceful now, and we hope to continue being peaceful, but we would like some of those things to be addressed so that we can continue to maintain the peace."

Peace, of course, is inextricably linked to economics. So Udoma would like to see American companies move their operations inside Akwa Ibom’s borders, providing an "anchor" of development and stability around which other facets of the state’s economy can develop.

"They (the U.S) should have some of their companies here. They should try and put pressure on them to make sure that they reduce environmental pollution, and have the same standards that they maintain in the U.S. Also, to reinvest some money in Nigeria, possibly in areas like a petroleum refinery, and things that could provide employment. We should reach a stage where the bulk of crude oil that is produced in Nigeria is also refined in Nigeria. That would provide much more employment, and provide a more stable environment for them to continue their activities here."