Akwa Ibom Government to Grow Tourism Sector with Ibom Air
Chinedu Eze
Akwa Ibom government has said that it would use its new airline, Ibom Air as vehicle to promote and grow tourism in the state.
This was disclosed by the state Commissioner of Information; Charles Udoh who said the state has a lot of tourism potential by its location, culture and development.
Udoh said this plan would be galvanized by the newly appointed to take care of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, stressing that creating the needed synergy to develop the tourism potential of the state would be easily achieved.
Udoh acknowledged that by her geographical location, Akwa Ibom State is an end point, which must attract visitors, as people rarely pass in transit.
Explaining that tourism flies on the wings of aviation, the Commissioner said, “The rising economic and tourism strength of Ethiopia, UAE, etc were driven largely by their airlines, which have massive government interest.
“For many governments around the world to be doing this, it means there are underlining strength in it and Akwa Ibom will also ensure that this avenue is explored maximally.”
He added that there are plans on ground to grow Ibom Air to deepen the Uyo hub as two additional aircraft were expected to be added to make a fleet of five.
When this is done, the Commissioner said the management of the airline would Then we will look at the West Coast routes, like Libreville, Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea etc.
He expressed the belief that many travellers who do business and travel along these routes would always come to Uyo to shorten their trips, adding that tourism could equally flourish with such influx.
He also disclosed that the state government has plans to create more activities and programmes that would attract people into the state.
He explained that the reason this government is aggressively pursuing the second runway of the Victor Attah International Airport is to build a hub for the West and Central African destination in addition to the maintenance hangar, which when completed would attract more aircraft to the airport.
The aim of developing the second runway with the main terminal building, is to start pushing to take over a lot of businesses driving traffic to Accra. This, according to the commissioner, “will eventually make Uyo the next aviation and tourism hub”.
The Commissioner also explained that the positive disruptions created by the entry of Ibom Air would equally attract passengers and tourists to the state.
“Ibom Air has come into the market with aircraft that are at most six years old thereby setting the standard in terms of age and quality of aircraft in Nigeria. Aaircraft in Ibom Air fleet are newer and smaller. They carry at most 90 passengers. Break-even point is lower and consumes less fuel.
“Another area of our aviation challenge is timeliness. But with Ibom Air, business people, tourists and other travellers can plan their time, as flights always leave as scheduled. Ibom Air is indeed a game changer.” Udoh added. Poor emolument, lack of promotion and protection of officers against hazards may have left the workers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) frustrated and disenchanted with the management of the agency.
In the last four years the angst of the workers have erupted into several agitations against the management, which seemed insulated from the cries and campaign for better working conditions.
Exasperated and despondent, the workers have now taken their protest to the Presidency and the National Assembly to drum home their request and demand for better emoluments.
Speaking on behalf of the workers, Musa Ahmed Yusufu, said they have uncovered a shocking disregard of the federal civil service regulations by the agency’s leadership, which to him explained why the management seemed insulated from the several agitations by the workers.
The workers said while top officials of the management are enjoying robust welfare package and receive their promotions as at when due, the other officers of the agency are abandoned and neglected.
“This situation has denied us salary increase, command and control appointment with far-reaching consequences on our career. We all have 35 years of service, but we have been terribly short-changed and heartlessly retarded. Why must NDLEA directors and commanders be allowed to occupy their positions for life? We are so frustrated because the future is looking bleak. Salaries have remained static for a decade with adverse effects on staff motivation”, Yusuph said.
THISDAY investigations revealed that the agitations from officers are becoming disquieting particularly when they bother on national security. The agitation has been there for years now and this is an organisation saddled with a sensitive responsibility of confronting drug criminals.
However, the workers commended President Muhammadu Buhari, who constituted a two-tier advisory committees to address the problem of drugs and substance abuse in the country.
“We urge the leader of the committee, Brig. General Buba Marwa retired to consider these embarrassing dimensions of the complicated aberrations in the agency and make a far-reaching recommendation for immediate action by the Presidency. Enough is enough,” the workers had urged.
NDLEA in April this year, had announced promotional exam for the staff but was unable to organise it for several months which let to further crisis in the agency but the exam was taken this August after it was postponed about seven times.
An officer in the agency told THISDAY that there has been a lot of crisis and allegation of corruption by top officers of the agency.
“The promotional exam was postponed six or seven times. They continued to change the date. In fact, there was tug-of war over the exam. It was supposed to have been done in April but it was dragged to this August. “Some of those who sat for the exam were supposed to have retired. When you are due for promotion and you are not promoted it affects your job. You wont have the motivation to give your best and you know, this job we are doing is very sensitive,” NDLEA official told THISDAY.
Another staff of the agency who chronicled what the workers have gone through since the last four years, including death of some workers and the inability of the management to provide succour to the deceased families, said it was painful stagnating on one job position for several years without promotion.
“Staying on one rank for a long time is highly frustrating. Besides denying us of command and control positions, we are demoralised and disenchanted. The leadership is highly insensitive to the plight of officers.
“The agency is in serious need of operational vehicles while most of the commands nationwide are in dilapidated condition. Most officers have died on the line of duty due to poor logistics.
“The painful aspect is the disdain and disregard for late officers. The leadership has refused to pay their allowances. Not even burial expenses. The families of late officers are dying from extreme economic hardships.
“Since Abdallah took over in 2016 he has stopped the 130,000 monthly stipends to State commands. He spends half of the monthly allocation of over 22 million naira on baseless foreign travels.
“As a result, there is no motivation to fight the drug barons. It is regrettable that this leadership has taken the agency backwards thereby eroding the gains of its predecessors,” the officer alleged.
Spokesman of the agency, Jona Achema, in earlier reaction to the agitation of the workers said the management of NDLEA is on course to improve the welfare of the workers, hence the promotional exams.
He added that the agency management led by its Chairman and CEO, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah, is repositioning the NDLEA and poised to improve the welfare of the workers.
In the notification of the promotion exam, the Director of Administration and Finance, Yohanna Silas Mshelia that presided over the exams notified the workers about the promotional exams in a circular but the staff of NDLEA is yet breathe down. They are not sure of the sincerity of the management.