Etie Ben Akpan: The Unsung Hero Of Oil Derivation Struggle

0
52

Etie Ben Akpan: The Unsung Hero Of Oil Derivation Struggle

The Eket-born inimitable geologist was the brain behind the report to RMAFC in 2000 which enabled Akwa Ibom to get the highest oil derivation revenue from the Federation Account.

By Inemesit Ina

Stories upon stories have been told over the years about the struggle for the abrogation of the obnoxious offshore/onshore oil dichotomy and the attendant inflow of huge oil derivation revenue from the Federation Account to Akwa Ibom State. Many heroes of the struggle have been recognised and honoured in the state. Some have not been so fortunate yet.

One such unsung hero whose story has not been told at all, despite his critical contribution to making Akwa Ibom a top derivation earner, is Professor Etie Ben Akpan, a 72-year-old geologist-cum-politician.

Akpan was instrumental to the final report to the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) which was used to grade Akwa Ibom as the highest oil-producing state in Nigeria. The commission, then chaired by the cerebral and fearless technocrat, Engr. Hamman Tukur, from Adamawa State, had hired him to do the job. In turn, he assembled a team of other experts to work with him.

The report was produced in 2000 but it came into use a few years later after the abrogation of the dichotomy. It enabled Akwa Ibom to top the chart in oil derivation revenue.

Akpan did not lead an armchair team. They went to the field, combing the nooks and crannies of Nigeria for data on the country’s natural resources.

He makes it clear that his team did not set out to unfairly favour Akwa Ibom. It was not even possible to do so given the Pan-Nigerian composition of the team. What they simply did was to work hard in the field to empirically produce facts and figures devoid of manipulation from extraneous forces. Those facts and figures deservedly favoured Akwa Ibom and some other states in the country.

But 24 years since the report, Akpan obviously is yet to get his deserved honour at home. Surprisingly, he has not been vociferous about it. In spite of his academic accomplishments and long involvement in partisan politics, Akpan remains a humble and reticent intellectual. This explains why, unlike most politicians would do, he has not stepped out to demand his day in the sun. He has been quiet about his role in the derivation struggle for years until this writer, who keenly followed the struggle, got wind of it and sounded him out.

Almost reluctantly, Akpan admits: “I am not sure I have got the proper recognition I should. The state has not thanked me. I have contributed my little quota to the growth and recognition of Akwa Ibom State. My contribution has been the foundation for the prosperity that is benefiting Akwa Ibom today and the future generation. It was a tough work. At a point, I almost lost my life.”

Given Governor Umo Eno’s compassionate and appreciative nature, it is almost certain that, on hearing this story, he would honour a man who nearly paid with his life in the quest to ensure that Akwa Ibom takes her pride of place atop the comity of oil-producing states in Nigeria.

The Team

To produce the report for the RMAFC, Akpan assembled and led a seven-man team of consultants.

The other team members were Dr. (later Prof.) Chinedu Okereke, Dr. (later Prof.) Aniekan Edet, Mr. Ubong Inyang, Mr. (later Dr.) Egeh Egeh (now deceased), Mr. (later Dr. ) Olatubosun Olagundoye and Mr. (later Prof.) Christopher Adamu.

The Report’s Contents

The 95-page report is divided into six chapters.

Chapter 1 (Introduction) gives Background Information, Objective and Scope of Study, Influence of Climatic Factors and Geology on Natural Resources’ Occurrences and Method of Study.

Chapter 2.(Natural Resources) enumerates, with maps, Nigeria’s Mineral (Oil Mineral and Solid Mineral), Water and Biotic Resources.

The meat of the report is in Chapter 3 (Production Data) which gives the production data of all nine oil mineral-producing states for 1999, the period under review, in this order: Akwa Ibom (33.13 per cent), Delta (27.23 per cent), Rivers (19.39 per cent), Bayelsa (13.04 per cent), Ondo (3.45 per cent), Imo (1.59 per cent), Edo (0.79 per cent), Abia (0.70 per cent) and Cross River (0.68 per cent).

There is a further breakdown of production quota of all oil-producing Local Government Areas (LGAs), among the nine states, in a table. Instructively, it is this breakdown that is used today in the Petroleum Industry Act to operate Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs).

This chapter also gives a summary of states in Nigeria producing solid minerals and forest/agricultural products, again in a table form.

Chapter 4 (Hazards Associated with Production of Natural Resources) deals with Oil Mineral Impacts (Impacts on Environment and Impact Levels) and Solid Mineral Impacts.

Chapter 5 (Sharing and Administration of the 13 per cent Derivation Fund) is also crucial. Here, the team makes recommendations for the sharing of the 13 per cent derivation fund after aggregating suggestions by State Governments, Local Governments, traditional rulers, social organisations and informed individuals.

The final chapter, Chapter 6, dwells on Summary and Conclusions, Bibliography and Appendices.

Delta’s Protest

The report effectively toppled Delta as Nigeria’s highest oil-producing state in Nigeria in favour of Akwa Ibom.

It reportedly incensed Delta’s then representative in the RMAFC. He would have none of it, protesting angrily when the team submitted the report. His protest almost led to a confrontation with his Akwa Ibom counterpart, late Rev. Effanga Okon Inyang.

Akpan recalls: “It was Delta that used to be the number one oil-producing state in the country. It took a long time before the representative of Delta State in the RMAFC came to accept the reality. He was very angry.”

The geologist probably envisaged such protest. Hence his comment in the report: “It is absolutely impossible to satisfy all the interest groups in a job of this nature. We have been propelled by the desire and necessity to achieve justice, fairness and equity and, at the end of it all, a clear conscience is kept.”

*A Close Shave with Death*

In the course of undertaking the project, Akpan and another member of the team, Edet, his student-turned- colleague, had a ghastly motor accident in Itu LGA of Akwa Ibom, close to the boundary with Cross River State, which almost consumed them. Edet still has a deformity as a result of that accident.

Alarmed, then Governor Victor Attah rushed to a private hospital in Uyo to see Akpan (Edet was hospitalised in Calabar). “He wrote ‘get well soon’ on my Plaster of Paris (PoP),” Akpan recollects.

Next: The second part of this feature focuses on Akpan’s academic feats, roots and politics.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here