Amakpe Refinery Issue: How Wicked are we?

The agency- Akwa Ibom Industrial Promotion Council (AKIIPOC) has got either professionally incompetent administrators or that those at the helm of affairs at that agency, are no Akwa Ibomites, who should be working for the interest of the State and the governor, may not be aware of the real operations of those manning that department in his administration. But isn't he supposed to be calling for periodic reports to see what his lieutenants and departments in his administration are doing?
The highlighted portion in green below, is not different from our experiences here in Ankara regarding Ostim project for our State. They came, they saw and disappeared and that was the end of the story. No word back. Is that how a government function works? The problem may also lie on business development skills which I find to be lacking among our people in AKS. There is a big vacuum in this aspect in the State, maybe because of the long-standing history of our nature as a civil service society. Whether, we accept, believe it or not, Akwa Ibomites, I have observed, lack business development skills and techniques. We believe and hope on ready-made business one takes there, set up for people to come in and appear and look like businessmen or women, only to end up, racking the business down.
A project such as the Amakpe refinery, is a type that governments in other countries such as where I am today, pay people to lobby and bring to their countries to establish. Why is that in Akwa Ibom State so different? After following and reading materials I can reach on this issue, I am beginning to see things differently. Is the refinery not to be cited in Akwa Ibom State? Are the promoters not indigenes of Akwa Ibom State? Will Akwa Ibomites, not those that will directly, benefit from that establishment, ranging from employment, services, economic booms, etc?
Why are we wicked to ourselves? Assuming the promoters of the refinery are encouraged or empowered to get the project working, will they repatriate the profits from that refinery back to develop the United States or another country or State? Can't we guess how many millionaires would spring up from that refinery, a source of pride and prestige for our State?
Since Amakpe Oil Refinery has been the first and only of its kind in AKwa Ibom State, the government should do everything possible to see its sustainability, but where if it becomes impossible, then I would advise that, we continue doing what we know best. And God knows what is that?
Both parties in the business cannot be right, neither can they be wrong at the same time. What remains for them to do, is to, apart from applying business ethics and rules to resolve the matter, examine their consciences to assess, how fair they are to the people of Akwa Ibom State and humanity at large. Assuming the project is completed, if someone from your mother's side will not benefit in one way or the other from it, definitely, another from your father's side will do. So says an adage.
Let there be a cease-fire. Money earned stops here on earth, with nothing going with you to the other world.
Let me tell you what happened here in my abode about a decade ago. Sorry to some of my friends I have narrated this story in the past. But I am living with it.
A very rich man, Forbes Magazine celebrate, an elementary six graduate in those days , passed on at the age of 96 not so long ago. He is said to have started life as a kiosk operator but rose to the likes of Bill Gates of today's America. His name was Vehbi Koc. If you google ''Koc Holding'', you will see the financial empire he left behind after his death.
Before the man died, they say, he wrote two letters and kept, one to be opened just before he would be buried and the other, after his burial. His corpse was prepared for burial according to Islamic rites, being a Moslem. Just before that, by the man's will, one of the letters was opened. In the letter, he had requested that, they should bury him with his socks, yes only a pair of socks. And you know, in this part of the world, wills are honored very well. But the Imam, the clergyman who conducted the funeral, raised an objection that, according to Islam, a man goes back to his Creator, the way he came to the world, with nothing on him, except the linen, he or she is wrapped with and lowered into the grave with no coffin. The man was buried without his socks.
When his family members reached home after the burial, the second letter was opened. What was in it this time? Nothing material. The late millionaire only smiled, reminding his children, wife, friends and country people that, if you are opportune to become rich and prosper through hard work more than others, that you should do good, help the poor, the needy, contribute to the growth and the development of your country to make your country strong, that no matter how rich you are, when you die, you take nothing, even a pair of socks to the other world. That was the content of the man's second letter. You see, he lived, worked and died with his belief. In fact, his corpse was stolen from the grave by men of the underworld for ransom. But they were caught and punished seriously with prison terms.
That was a lesson from the late Vehbi Koc, the man I knew very well. He was so rich a man and contributed to his country as much as he could. My life today, has been influenced by such people here in Turkey. Some of these are: Vehbi Koc - businessman, Sakip Sabanci- businessman, Turgut Ozal - one time PM and of course, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, all, late. I knew the first three, except the last one. There are many things to learn from great people. The day Turgut Ozal died, I fell ill for more than a week. Ataturk founded modern Turkey, Turgut Ozal made the country what it is today before my very eyes here. I don't know if I will ever see something as great as what I have witnessed here in Turkey in my lifetime again. This is why I am having sleepless nights, watching President Goodluck Jonathan.
Tears are running on my cheeks just as I am writing this piece. I am sorry. Why are we wicked to ourselves, our children, our families and to the humanity we belong?
 Abel U U Writes from Turkey