Remarks by officials puncture Eno’s claims that his defection to APC attracted federal housing project to Akwa Ibom

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Umo Eno, recently claimed that his state received a new federal housing project because of his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). But a remark by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, contradicts Mr Eno’s claim.

Mr Eno also stated that Akwa Ibom State University received federal approval for a law faculty due to his defection, a claim that has been contradicted by a public document and a federal official.

Governor Eno made the claims on 19 November during an emergency meeting with all 783 of his aides, where he demanded political loyalty from them after two of his aides defied him by attending the Ibadan PDP national convention.

The governor sacked the two aides shortly after the PDP convention. This action caused political tension in the state as the opposition questioned Mr Eno’s pledge to run a cross-party administration.

Anietie Usen, a prominent journalist, author, and media aide to Mr Eno, published excerpts from the governor’s meeting with his aides on Facebook.

Mr Usen said Mr Eno reeled out his administration’s achievements, including paying “N709 million” monthly as salaries to his 783 aides.

He said Mr Eno, at the meeting, stated that Akwa Ibom has benefited from his defection to the APC, and that the governor mentioned the new federal housing project, called Renewed Hope Estate, and the approval for the law faculty at Akwa Ibom State University as some of the benefits.

“What just happened takes a lot of relationship building and relationship management to get those things into our state,” Mr Usen quoted Mr Eno as saying, referring to the housing project and the approval for the university’s law faculty.

“I say this to say that we cannot continue to sit down in an opposition political party because there are too many things we cannot do for ourselves. Too many things,” the governor added.

A national housing policy repackaged as a reward?

The new federal housing project, for which Mr Eno is claiming credit, is along Airport Road in Ekpene Ukim, Uruan Local Government Area, near Uyo. The governor performed the project’s groundbreaking ceremony on 6 November, which was witnessed by the Managing Director and CEO of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Oyetunde Ojo.

According to a report on the agency’s website, Mr Ojo “showed gratitude to the governor for his enthusiasm and cooperation with the FHA in realising the project”.

The report further stated, “The MD recalled that the governor, from inception, was very receptive to the idea of bringing in the Federal Housing Authority’s presence in Akwa Ibom, and that accounted for the reason he willingly gave out the land to FHA, free of charge, with the promise of rendering other support to the agency.”

Mr Ojo’s remark here suggests that some federal officials may have informed Mr Eno about the new federal housing project that was coming to Akwa Ibom, and that the governor was “very receptive” to it. This clearly contradicts Mr Eno’s claim that his defection to the APC and his “relationship building and relationship management” with the APC-led federal government brought about the project.

Besides, Mr Dangiwa, the housing minister, said on 2 July 2024, at the groundbreaking ceremony of the 250-Housing Unit Renewed Hope Estate in Osun State, that President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s drive to address the housing deficit in Nigeria covers the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

“Under Phase One of this programme, we plan to deliver a total of 50,000 housing units across Nigeria. This includes seven Renewed Hope Cities that will have between 500 and 1,000 housing units per site in each of the six geopolitical zones in the country and the FCT, while the Renewed Hope Estates will have 250 units per site in the remaining 30 states,” the minister said.

“It is important to say that the provision of land in a good location and at no cost is a key condition for siting Renewed Hope Housing Projects,” he added.

“The 12 states covered under this 2023 supplementary budget are those that first provided land. I want to assure that states that have not been covered will be included in the Ministry’s 2024 Budget on a first-come, first-served basis, on the condition that they provide land at no cost to enhance affordability.”

Meanwhile, Ogun State, where the minister made the instructive remarks, was led by a PDP governor, Ademola Adeleke, which further punctures Governor Eno’s claim that Akwa Ibom benefited from the housing project because of his (Eno’s) defection to the APC.

Governor Adeleke has just resigned from the PDP.

The federal government has launched the housing project in Katsina, Gombe, Yobe, and other states — including Zamfara, which is not a PDP-controlled state.

Did Akwa Ibom university get approval for its law programme because of Eno’s defection?

The National Universities Commission (NUC) is a federal agency responsible for approving academic programmes run in Nigerian universities.

The Akwa Ibom State University, while announcing on its website the NUC’s approval for it to offer a full-time LL.B Law degree programme beginning from the 2025/2026 academic session, said that “the NUC’s decision followed a thorough resource verification visit that confirmed the university’s readiness in terms of human and material resources”.

The NUC accreditation system is designed to work by standards, not through political connections.

The commission had been using the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) to assess and approve academic programmes in Nigerian universities until it was replaced by the Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), which is “structured to include 70% core courses for each programme and allow universities to use the remaining 30% for their own innovative courses”.

For a law programme, the requirements include a dedicated and updated law library, an approved lecturer-to-student ratio, functional lecture halls, a moot courtroom, and a curriculum that meets national standards in terms of content and teaching hours.

Meanwhile, Akwa Ibom State University, owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government, had also recently received full accreditation for several of its academic programmes, indicating that groundwork for expansion was already underway before the governor switched political parties.

By tying the accreditation of the law programme to “relationship building” after joining the APC, Mr Eno’s remark risks diminishing the role of the university leadership, financial investment, academic planning, and professional benchmarks — and turning a purely technical process into politics.

Franca Chukwuonwo, the NUC spokesperson, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday that every university in Nigeria receives the commission’s approval for its academic programmes once it fulfils the requirements.

“Why won’t they be given accreditation if they fulfil the requirements?” Mrs Chukwuonwo said to our reporter.

Our reporter asked Mrs Chukwuonwo if there are circumstances in which political affiliations, maybe with the Nigerian president, could pave the way for a university to receive NUC approval for its academic programme.

“Sorry, there is nothing like that. This has nothing to do with the presidency. When once you fulfil the requirements, they will give you accreditation,” she responded.

Mfon Ben, a lawyer and former chairman of Uyo Local Government Council, told PREMIUM TIMES that it is embarrassing for Governor Eno to claim credit for the approval granted to the university to begin a law programme.

“Please don’t ridicule us to that level. We have not come that low,” Mr Ben, a PDP member in Akwa Ibom, said.

“Did we need a connection to the centre (Abuja) to attract law faculty to the University of Uyo and other universities in Nigeria?

“We have passed that stage. That is too low for a government achievement. Please, he should mention better things he needs to do, because he has not done anything for now.”

Governor Eno’s spokesperson, Ekerete Udoh, refused to comment on the matter when our reporter contacted him on Monday.

The governor has been under pressure from the opposition in Akwa Ibom to show what benefits have come to the state from the “centre” (Abuja) since he had said that his defection was mainly to “connect” the state with the “centre” to kick-start the Ibom Deep Seaport project and attract other life-transforming projects to the state.

In October, during the burial of the late Eno Usoro, mother of the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Emem Usoro, in Akwa Ibom, Senate President Godswill Akpabio appealed to Vice President Kashim Shettima to present a case for the Ibom Deep Seaport to President Tinubu.

“The vice president, when you and the president are there, please remember my state. All Governor Eno is looking for from the federal government now is just a Deep Seaport to complement the progress of the state,” Mr Akpabio said.

“It is the Deep Seaport,” he said repeatedly.

Ibom Deep Seaport

Conceived by then-Governor Victor Attah about two decades ago, the Ibom Deep Seaport, covering 2,565 hectares of land, has remained stalled at the paperwork and federal approval stage.

Successive administrations in the state, including Mr Akpabio’s between 2007 and 2015, have repeatedly promised to actualise the project, which is expected to boost trade and industrialisation in the Niger Delta.

In June, Mr Eno used the Ibom Seaport as campaign rhetoric, framing his defection as a move to secure the project’s long-awaited take-off.

“We are not afraid of joining APC, for we know that with the APC we would realise our Ibom Deep Seaport.

That is our plea. For over 30 years, Akwa Ibom has struggled to have a seaport, but today we are reassured that the federal government will help us realise the seaport,” Mr Eno had said at his official reception into the APC — an event attended by Mr Shettima and over seven APC governors.

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Underscoring the project’s importance to his administration, Mr Eno presented it as a single demand to the Tinubu-led federal government, insisting that even a partial realisation would justify his political move.

“I believe President Tinubu, who is a man of his word, would honour us. Even if it is one terminal, this movement (his defection) would have been justified,” he said, telling the crowd at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, venue of the reception, that the people of the state are looking at the federal government as “the bride looks at the face of his bridegroom.”