The Akwa Ibom governor’s declaration on the science park project contradicts both his ARISE manifesto promise to revamp the facility, and the budget allocations his administration made for the project in 2023 and 2024.
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.
“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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
