A ‘NEW’ CRIME IN AKWA IBOM?

A ‘NEW’ CRIME IN AKWA IBOM?

By Usoro I. Usoro, PhD

I heard a “new” crime has just been discovered in Akwa Ibom State.

Reports say this crime has the potential of a Soviet Tsar Bomba. They cited Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio (MMI), a socio-cultural group, as alleging the said crime is capable of decimating about 4million Ibibios.

President General, Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, Akparawa Iniabasi Ekanem

MMI has apparently caught one of the biggest suspects. Minister Ekperikpe Ekpo, an Annang son, has allegedly helped too many Annang people to get jobs. Who knows, he may have also given them access to free oxygen – since his ministry deals with gas.

I really wonder who Ekpo thinks he is, trying to do what Ibibio Napoleons couldn’t do. Some say he’s guilty as charged (or discharged). If so, nto-o!

Okay, MMI is doing a good job. Public officers must be held by the balls. It’s called accountability, abi? But, why start with Ekperikpe Ekpo? In the interest of fairness, the organisation should open a “Commission of Inquiry into All Previous Akwa Ibom Ministers Who Ever Held a Federal Appointment.”

And please, no PowerPoint. Give us figures.

How many Akwa Ibom people did each help? How many jobs? How many scholarships? How many did you pull out of the bush into the light – from specific ethic groups?

Fact is: the Annang and the Oro seem to understand very well that when opportunity knocks at their door, their people may be on queue. So, they don’t ask the visitor(s) to go knock at somebody else’s door.

Before you know it, somebody’s CV has entered a ministry. Another person has received an appointment. The other has been told, “Go and see my PA.” Another receives the phone number of somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody.

Collective advancement. That’s how networks are built.

When one of them gets up, the instinct is often not merely, “How do I remain up?” Rather: “Who can I pull up with me?” That philosophy has built businesses, institutions, careers and networks.

Meanwhile, some Ibibio people (including Ekid subset) enter office with a PhD in complex. “I no know am.” “If I help him, he might come to challenge my status.”

Nobody is saying a minister should turn his office into an ethnic employment bureau. Public resources must be distributed fairly and transparently. Leaders must be held accountable. Nepotism should not become a development strategy.

Overindulging in nepotism turns “Akwa Ibom United” into another empty mantra for election and Thanksgiving optics, like “maintain peace movement.”

Still, if Annang public officers’ offence is simply that they remember mainly Annang people when opportunity comes their way, then we may be attacking the wrong issue.

Here’s a more embarrassing question: WHAT DID YOUR OWN PEOPLE DO WHEN THEY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY?

Now, stretch it. If previous top office holders had opportunities to help Akwa Ibom people but believed the best way to demonstrate impartiality was to distribute everything to people from Mambilla Plateau, then don’t “clock it.”

Anyway, believe it or yes! The Annang people seem to have long understood one simple political mathematics: “If opportunity enter your hand, no use use am help your people.”

In recent years, whenever they get the opportunity, they have often demonstrated an impressive instinct for collective advancement. They pull their people up. They create networks. They recommend. They sponsor. They open doors.

That is not necessarily a crime. In fact, it is something Ibibios should have borrowed long ago.
Unfortunately, some prefer: “Me, myself and I — the holy trinity of public office.”

Then, after four years, they return home to commission a borehole and announce how they’ve empowered humanity.

Una well done o!

#fyp #akwaibom #satire @highlights @everyone