Long before he became the first elected civilian Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Akpan Isemin had already built a career that brought together economics, business, the oil industry, management and public affairs.
Economist, businessman, administrator, politician, traditional leader and statesman, he belonged to the generation of Akwa Ibom people whose professional experiences outside government prepared them for the enormous task of building a young State.
His tenure as Governor was brief, lasting from January 2, 1992 to November 1993. Yet, his contribution to the progress and growth of the State went beyond its duration.
As the first elected civilian Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Akpan Isemin represented the return of democratic government to the State after years of military administration and became one of the foundational figures in the early political history of Akwa Ibom.
His story, however, goes beyond the office he once occupied.It is the story of a professional who moved from the classroom into the oil industry, from business into public affairs and eventually into politics, bringing with him a philosophy of leadership that emphasised inclusion, enterprise, self-belief and the collective development of Akwa Ibom.
Akpan Isemin was born on October 5, 1939, in Mbioto, in present day Etinan Local Government Area.
He began his education at Mbioto I Primary School and subsequently attended Etinan Institute for his secondary education.
He proceeded to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he studied Economics and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree.
His academic training in economics would later become an important part of his approach to business and governance.
After his education, Isemin began his professional career as a teacher at Enitona High School in Port Harcourt before moving into the corporate and oil sectors.
He worked with Agip and Esso Standard and later joined Avery Nigeria Limited in 1969 as a Sales Executive. Over the years, he rose through the organisation and eventually became an Executive Director before retiring.
He also contributed to public discourse through his writings, including a column in the Business Times.By the time he entered politics, therefore, Akpan Isemin was not a career politician.He was an economist and businessman with considerable experience in the private sector, corporate management and the Nigerian economy.
He came into government with the instincts of a businessman, the analytical training of an economist and the experience of a corporate executive. His approach to governance was therefore shaped not only by politics but also by questions of productivity, enterprise, resource allocation and the capacity of individuals and institutions to create wealth.
Akwa Ibom State had been created on September 23, 1987, from the former Cross River State.For its first years, the State was administered under military rule. It was still a young political entity, struggling to establish its identity, institutions and economic base.
The return to democratic rule in 1991 therefore represented more than an electoral exercise.It was an opportunity for the people of the new State to begin determining the direction of their own affairs.
In the December 14, 1991 gubernatorial election conducted as part of Nigeria’s Third Republic, Obong Akpan Isemin contested on the platform of the National Republican Convention, NRC against Obong Ekong Etuk of the Social Democratic Party, SDP.
He emerged victorious and was inaugurated on January 2, 1992, becoming the first elected civilian Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
His emergence marked an important transition in the history of Akwa Ibom.For the first time since the creation of the State, its people had elected their own civilian political leadership.
Obong Akpan Isemin therefore inherited a young State still struggling with the challenges of limited resources, weak infrastructure, rural poverty and the need to establish an effective administrative and economic foundation.His administration was also structured around the principle that the new State could not afford to reproduce the old politics of exclusion.
That philosophy would eventually find expression in one of the most memorable concepts associated with his leadership: Ubom Noah ( Noah’s Ark).
One of his most enduring contributions was not a physical project.It was a battle of the mind.
Obong Akpan Isemin recognised that the development of a people could not be separated from the way that people saw themselves.
He therefore challenged what he described as the “Etok Syndrome”, or “Etok Etok” mentality, a mindset of smallness, low expectation and settling for less.
The word etok connotes something small or little. In Isemin’s political philosophy, however, it became much more than a word.It became a description of a psychological condition.He believed that too many Akwa Ibom people had been conditioned to think in small measures, to accept whatever little opportunity came their way, to doubt their own capacity for greatness and, sometimes, to regard menial or subordinate positions as the natural limits of their aspirations.
The philosophy of his administration therefore challenged Akwa Ibom sons and daughters to think bigger, aspire higher and reject the mentality of settling for crumbs.Contemporary accounts of his administration describe this as a deliberate effort to make the people abandon the “Etok Syndrome” and develop a new consciousness of their capacity to achieve. His philosophy was remembered as an invitation to Akwa Ibom people to dream beyond inherited limitations.
For Isemin, therefore, development was not simply about constructing roads, providing water or increasing government revenue.It was also about reconstructing the mindset of the people.He wanted Akwa Ibom people to see themselves as capable of occupying important positions, building businesses, creating wealth and competing successfully beyond the boundaries of the State.He wanted the young man in Akwa Ibom to understand that he did not have to remain a houseboy, servant, gateman or subordinate simply because that was what society had come to expect.He wanted the educated to think beyond securing government employment.He wanted entrepreneurs to think beyond subsistence.He wanted professionals to see themselves as capable of operating at the highest levels of their professions.
And, above all, he wanted Akwa Ibom people to stop measuring their possibilities by the limitations of the past.In that sense, the Etok Syndrome philosophy was an early programme of psychological and attitudinal re-orientation.
It sought to replace a culture of limitation with one of possibility.
It was a philosophy ahead of its time.
Decades later, the language of self -belief, attitudinal change, enterprise and the rejection of limiting mindsets would again become prominent in Akwa Ibom’s development discourse through later initiatives such as the Attitudinal Re-orientation campaign of the Victor Attah years, the fight against the House help Syndrome of the Godswill Akpabio years, the Dakkada philosophy of the Udom Emmanuel years and the Arise mantra of the Umo Eno administration.
Although expressed in different language and under different administrations, the underlying message of rising above limitation echoed a question that Isemin had posed much earlier:Why should Akwa Ibom people settle for less when they were capable of achieving more?
Alongside the Etok Syndrome philosophy was another important idea associated with Isemin’s administration: “Ubom Noah” – Noah’s Ark.The concept suggested that Akwa Ibom should be a State large enough to accommodate everybody.Regardless of ethnic origin, political affiliation or social background, people should have a place in the development of the State.The metaphor was simple but powerful.Noah’s Ark was large enough to carry people and animals of different kinds through the storm. In Isemin’s political imagination, Akwa Ibom should similarly be an ark in which nobody was deliberately left behind.
The philosophy reflected his belief in inclusive governance and was expressed through the diversity of people associated with his administration.His political orientation sought to look beyond narrow ethnic and partisan calculations. Accounts of the period specifically associate the Ubom Noah philosophy with giving people opportunities regardless of ethnic origin and with appointments reflecting the diversity of the State.
Isemin’s answer was not to pretend that differences did not exist.Rather, it was to insist that they should not become barriers to participation.
For him, Akwa Ibom’s diversity was an asset that could be harnessed for collective development.
Isemin also understood that political independence without financial capacity would leave the new State vulnerable.A young State needed money to build schools, roads, hospitals, administrative institutions and other infrastructure.
One of the important achievements attributed to his administration was his effort to improve the State’s financial allocation from the Federal Government.
Historical accounts state that he successfully persuaded the Federal Government to increase Akwa Ibom’s monthly oil-revenue allocation from about N350,000 to N11.2 million.
The achievement demonstrated an understanding of the relationship between political leadership and economic negotiation.
Isemin recognised that a State located in an oil-producing region could not build its future on inadequate allocations.He therefore approached the Federal Government with the argument that Akwa Ibom required resources commensurate with its developmental needs and its contribution to the national economy.In this respect, the economist and businessman in him became visible in the Governor.
But Isemin’s experiment in democratic governance did not last long.The Third Republic itself was short-lived.On November 17, 1993, the military again intervened in Nigerian politics, bringing the democratic experiment to an abrupt end. Isemin’s elected administration was consequently terminated and the State returned to military administration.
The end of his governorship did not end Obong Akpan Isemin’s political ambitions.
When democratic government returned in 1999, he returned to the political arena.He contested the governorship again, this time on the platform of the All People’s Party, but lost the election to Obong Victor Attah, who became Governor in May 1999.
The defeat did not remove Isemin from public life.In 2003, he sought election to the Senate on the platform of the All Nigeria People’s Party, but was unsuccessful.
He subsequently joined the Peoples Democratic Party, remaining involved in political and public affairs until his later years.
Beyond partisan politics, Obong Akpan Isemin also occupied an important place in traditional and cultural affairs.He held the title of Obong Ikpa Isong Ibibio, placing him within the traditional leadership structure of the Ibibio people.
He was also an elder whose influence extended into the traditional institution and the wider cultural life of his people.
The final chapter of Isemin’s life came in 2009.He died on June 23, 2009, at the age of about 69.
When Akpan Isemin was laid to rest in August 2009, he received a state burial. Family members, political associates and citizens came together to honour the man who had occupied a unique place in the State’s history.
As Akwa Ibom celebrates its 39th anniversary, Obong Akpan Isemin is remembered as a HERO who helped imagine and define how Akwa Ibom could become what it is today.
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