President Uyo Chambers of Commerce Cries Out:
Igbos Have Taken Over A’Ibom Economy
By Nsikan Ikpe
The president of Uyo Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, Obong Ukpong Dan Umoh has expressed concern over the dominance of the Akwa Ibom economy by the Igbos, saying it is time indigenous business people in the state woke up to face the risk involved in business.
Ukpong Dan Umoh who was speaking exclusively to The Southern Details at the secretariat of the Uyo Chambers of Commerce, recently, said commerce in Akwa Ibom State is completely dependent on the Igbos. “If we don’t buy from Igbos, we cannot sell anything here; we are so dependent on them. There is no week the bulk of our money isn’t going to Aba, Onitsha, and Nnewi,” Umoh said. “Our traders travel there to buy almost everything ranging from foodstuffs, clothing to motors spare parts.”
Ukpong Dan Umoh revealed that Igbo businessmen, apart from commanding commerce in Akwa Ibom, are slowly taking over fishing and agric businesses in the state.
“Take for example the crayfish that comes from our waters. The Igbos hire our local fishermen, give them fishing nets and pay them money to fish for them (the Igbos), and the Igbos in turn would sell the fish to us here. The Igbos are now the largest producers of palm oil, even though they get the palm oil from us,” he said.
Obong Umoh says the situation is caused by the poor attitude towards business by both the government and the people of Akwa Ibom. He blamed the indigenous people for not willing to take risk in business, and accused the Akwa Ibom State government of not being business friendly.
Umoh says “Our people are not willing to trade, they are not willing to import. It has always been like this. Aba businessmen, for instance, import things into the country and also sell them locally, but over here we only go to Aba to buy goods and we seem to be so satisfy with that. The man that brings the goods from India, Japan and other countries is the one that makes the money.”
He says the state government hasn’t played sufficient role to encourage Akwa Ibom businessmen to venture into international trade.
Ukpong Dan Umoh bemoan the fact that no Akwa Ibom businessman is a major player in the Nigeria’s oil sector, even when the state is one of the highest oil producing states in the country.
Umoh who appealed to the state government to consider re-building the Uyo Main Market, said Akpanandem Market isn’t enough for the current population in Uyo. He also appealed to the government to help build a permanent trade fair complex in Uyo.
Umoh who is a retired banker admitted that there is hunger in Akwa Ibom State. “Few people are getting richer while majority of the people are getting poorer,” he said.
“It’s good to have these roads (in Akwa Ibom) built by first class contractors, but the first class contractors have taken so much bread from the people. I’ll give you an example. I used to have a water tanker which I was selling water, and the only time I made money from it was during construction season when local contractors would come and hire the tanker at N10, 000 per day. But when companies like Julius Berger came here, I could not run the water tanker again because they have many of their own. I had to sell the tanker. Money (in Akwa Ibom State) is circulating in few hands,” said the president of the Uyo Chambers of Commerce.
Obong Ukpong Dan Umoh appealed to Akwa Ibom business owners to register with the Chambers so as to derive the benefit of local and international networking.
