Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno’s declaration that he will not complete the long-stalled Ibom Science Park project has exposed a contradiction between his public commitments before assuming office and the policies his administration pursued during its first two years in government.
The governor, speaking on Friday at a public event in Akwa Ibom State, dismissed calls for the project’s completion, insisting that the concept had become obsolete and had effectively been decentralised through youth development centres across the state.
|
|
“I will not do the science park. There is nothing like the science park,” Mr Eno said.
“We have replicated the science park in the youth development centres. As you go to the youth development centres, you will see that we have space for creative thinking. Laboratories for young people in each of the local governments. We have decentralised the Science Park.”
|
|
|
|---|
The governor also revealed plans to allocate the project site to a private investor.
“If I see an organisation that wants to take that place, I will give it to them without charge. Government has paid for the land. It is government land,” he said.
The remarks have birthed analysis of a key campaign promise contained in Mr Eno’s ARISE Agenda manifesto and raised questions about the fate of public funds budgeted for the project since he assumed office in May 2023.
Manifesto promise
Before becoming governor, Mr Eno explicitly pledged to revive the project.
Under the Information and Communication Technology section of his ARISE manifesto, designed as the policy blueprint for his administration between May 2023 and May 2027, Mr Eno promised to “revamp the Science Park to stimulate and exploit the use of ICT in the State.”
The commitment formed part of a strategy directed at promoting digital innovation, technology-driven employment and economic diversification.
His latest declaration that he would not proceed with the project is at odds with that pledge.
While arguing that technology has evolved beyond physical infrastructure, the governor maintained that technology parks were no longer necessary in their traditional form.
“Science parks are now in your laptop; it is not until you have it in a building,” he said.
He also urged residents to stop discussing the project.
“No one should talk about Science Park again. We are doing it across local government areas.”
Budget allocations raise questions
Beyond the manifesto commitment, official budget documents also show that Mr Eno’s administration initially retained and funded aspects of the project.
In the 2023 revised budget, the state government increased the allocation for “Restructuring/Upgrading Technology Workshop at Ibom Science Park by Ministry of Science and Technology” from N30 million to N50 million.
A year later, in the 2024 budget, the government provided another N10 million for the “Commencement of the re-evaluation of the building structure and facilities of the Science Park.”
The budgetary provisions suggested that the administration was still actively considering the project’s future.
However, references to the Science Park disappeared from subsequent budget documents, including the 2025 and 2026 fiscal plan.
The governor did not explain on Friday why his administration allocated public funds to upgrade and re-evaluate the facility before later concluding that the project would not be completed.
Youth centres versus science park
Mr Eno justified the policy shift by arguing that youth development centres he proposes to establish across local government areas will perform the same function originally envisioned for the science park.
However, PREMIUM TIMES reported that the governor said the ARISE Youth Skill Centre initiative has not yet been fully replicated across all 31 local government areas.
The Oron centre is the only publicly unveiled facility, while the governor has repeatedly appealed to local government councils and communities to provide land for similar centres elsewhere.
Comparatively, the original Science Park concept was bigger than a vocational training facility.
It was conceived as a technology ecosystem bringing together software development, robotics, digital manufacturing, startup incubation, research institutions, innovation hubs and vocational training under one integrated framework.
Nigeria’s ‘Silicon Valley’
The administration of former Governor Victor Attah started the Ibom Science Park project.
It was envisioned as Nigeria’s version of Silicon Valley, meant to be a centre for indigenous technological innovation, software engineering, robotics, and research and startup development.
The project was designed to reduce youth unemployment, stem brain drain and attract technology investments into Akwa Ibom.
Its master plan included facilities for research and development, ICT training, vocational education, startup incubation and collaboration between academia and industry.
After it reportedly consumed multi-million naira under Mr Attah’s administration without the park coming alive, the project failed to receive attention under former Governor Godswill Akpabio’s eight-year administration.
The project later received renewed attention under former Governor Udom Emmanuel.
In December 2019, Mr Emmanuel flagged off a public-private partnership arrangement involving the Akwa Ibom State Government and Blue Sea International Holdings.
At the ceremony, the former governor announced that the Chinese company was expected to invest about €500 million in the project.
The proposed development included a technical university, vocational training centre and a high-tech building materials manufacturing plant.
After the flag-off, nothing further was heard about the project.
Unanswered questions
Following the governor’s remarks, PREMIUM TIMES sent detailed enquiries to the Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Science and Digital Economy, Frank Ekpenyong, and the Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah.
Neither official responded at the time of filing this report.
Among other issues, PREMIUM TIMES asked the government to explain what specific facilities, laboratories, innovation hubs, startup incubation programmes and research infrastructure currently exist within the youth development centres to justify the governor’s claim that they have replaced the science park.
This newspaper also sought clarification on what changed between the publication of the governor’s manifesto and his recent decision to abandon the project.
Further questions focused on whether the government conducted any formal policy review, feasibility study, technical assessment or cost-benefit analysis before deciding not to proceed with the project.
PREMIUM TIMES also requested details of the outcomes achieved from the N50 million allocated in 2023 for upgrading facilities at the science park and the N10 million budgeted in 2024 for re-evaluating the project’s structures.
Other questions sought a comprehensive breakdown of all government spending on the project since its inception, details of any investors currently being considered for the site, the legal process that would govern any transfer of public land, and whether the government had conducted valuations of existing assets before proposing to allocate the property to a private investor.
This newspaper equally asked how the administration intends to achieve the science park’s original goals of research, innovation, startup creation, technology transfer and foreign investment attraction through a decentralised network of youth centres.
Additional enquiries focused on whether technology professionals, universities, startup founders, ICT associations and development partners were consulted before the decision was reached, and whether the project should now be regarded as permanently cancelled, suspended or merely redesigned under a different framework.
The government was also asked to disclose the status of agreements entered into under previous administrations, including the partnership announced with Blue Sea International Holdings, and whether the proposed Chinese investment was formally terminated.
Policy reversal concerns
The governor’s comments have raised questions over policy continuity in Akwa Ibom, particularly because he acknowledged that successive governments have often abandoned projects initiated by their predecessors.
“A project that should benefit Akwa Ibom people, quarrel does not allow it, and it is abandoned,” he said.
“I am not quarrelling with anyone. Any place I see work has been done and it is uncompleted yet a good project, I will continue.
“I have ideas for my own original projects. I am not to complete all the projects that my predecessors abandoned. I don’t want you people to count for me projects that were done by other governors.”
Yet, critics may point out that the Science Park itself now appears to be among the projects his administration has chosen not to complete despite previously promising to revive it and budgeting public funds toward its reactivation.
