Nigeria: From Ravine to Evergreen – a Paradise Is in the Making in Uyo, Says Anietie Usen

A devastated landscape bowed down before us, with the ugly scars of ravines and gullies. The gaping gullies told a story of nature’s relentless power. Jagged cliffs loomed overhead, their once-solid ground now washed away by years of unyielding heavy rains and flood.

I was in the company of Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State and other top government officials, gazing down the gloomy and seemingly bottomless abyss. That was only six months or so ago. The air was thick with a sense of foreboding and helplessness. The scene looked desolate like a haunted homestead. Twisted ruins of long-perished properties dotted the horizon like skeletal fingers reaching towards the ashen sky; their crumbling facades a testament to the once-thriving neighbourhood in Uyo metropolis. Rusting metal structures jutted haphazardly from the earth, a stark reminder of a FORCE MAJEURE at work.

The ground beneath our feet was pockmarked with deep ravines, the result of ceaseless erosion carving its path through the land. Bare tree roots reached out like skeletal fingers from the eroded soil, their grip on the earth weakened by the merciless erosion.

Rocks lay scattered haphazardly, worn out by the constant abrasion of water and sediment. The landscape itself seemed to be in a state of perpetual retrogression, as if the very ground beneath us was shifting and changing before our eyes.

From a distance, the echo of rushing water filled the air like the Agbokim and Kwa Waterfalls in neighbouring Cross River State, a constant reminder of erosion’s relentless march. Nearby, we could see the remnants of what was once the homes and businesses, including a once beautiful hotel owned by a native. The deserted hotel stood endangered, literally on the edge of the precipice, reduced to a mere shadow of its former self, just as the widowed owner, Lucy Uwa, broke down in tears and lamentation. Her husband, she said, died of heartbreak arising from the ominous rampage of the unstoppable erosion that threatened to consume his only source of livelihood.

Nature’s power was on full display here, a reminder that even the mightiest of structures, including the palatial Akwa Ibom Government House, less than a kilometres away, could be brought low by the patient force of erosion. Most residents had long fled the neighbourhood for their dear lives while others hanged on and abandoned themselves to fate.

Then, one rainy day, Governor Umo Eno stepped into the picture. He was on an SOS mission this morning, having received several texts and WhatsApp messages about the neighbourhood. Standing tall but looking aghast, the enormity of the problem nearly overwhelmed him. “I personally feel the pain of the people living here in this neighbourhood…There must be a way out of this menace”, he said firmly and left the forlorn residents with a consoling promise to return.

To the drawing board, the governor and his team went. The mission was how to subdue the rampaging

environmental catastrophe. Not only that, the marching order given by the governor to his technical team was to transform the wasteland into a tourism wealth-land. Competent foreign construction companies were needed to overcome the disaster. A company known as Bulletine Construction Company, BCC, got the job.

The project was scoped and defined as the DEVELOPMENT OF DOMINIC UTUK SPRING WATER LAKE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF TOURIST RECREATIONAL CENTRE WITH ROAD NETWORK IN EWET OFFOT, UYO. Said the governor confidently after one of his many inspection visits to the project site: “We will reclaim this place and channel the water properly to create a beautiful lake, and we will have a very good tourist site here too that will make money for the State. The ROI is very promising…”

The pointman for the ambitious project is Faysal Harb, the MD/CEO of BCC. A massive 51 hectares of rugged landscape is available for BCC to transform into a paradise, and BCC is working day and night to turn the tide. “When we first arrived here, it was a wasteland”, Faysal said. “People used it as a borrow pit… It was a completely marshy area. No one could access it. The house you see over there would have been completely gone without the governor’s quick intervention”, Faysal said.

The immediate task of BCC was the intervention at the ravine sites. It was a job well done and on time. After completing the intervention on the ravine sites, the governor said to Faysal: “What can we do to reclaim the entire landscape and turn this wasteland into wealth?”. Faysal’s BCC soon came up with a model of paradise. It was pleasing to the eyes.

The project consists of a 200-metre by 64-meter lake with fish barbecue bars, a football pitch, tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts, as well as a children’s playground There will be four restaurants, six cafes, and plenty of green areas, where people can relax by the lake and poolside to eat roasted fish and chips. There are also four shops that will sell only Akwa Ibom attire and traditional handicrafts, as well as a pharmacy and a bank outlet. Even more, there will be a golf course and a clubhouse.

The golf course is billed to be the only golf course in Nigeria with nine holes per tee. It is a unique golf course that will support Ibom Golf Course as a practising ground ahead of the championships at Ibom Golf Course.

The golf course should be ready by the end of September 2024.

In addition, there are also 20 chalets, with its own entrances, so no one will know who is in the next chalet. Of the 20 chalets, 15 are two-bedroom executive chalets, and five are three-bedroom chalets, each with its own reception and admin block. There will also be a banquet hall for events and conferences.

Said Faysal Harb: “This will be a recreational hub. Once inside, you do not need to go out. I can assure you that once it is completed, it will become a destination for people from all over the world to visit Akwa Ibom State”.

Currently, the project is about 50 percent completed, according to Faysal Harb. “We are almost finished with the site preparation, except for some trimming in certain areas…All the materials needed for this project are ready…waiting for installation. I am confident that by December, we should be able to finish at least 90% of the project, and parents will be able to bring their children here for Christmas…” he said.

To Lucy Uwa, the widow, Governor Eno is a life saver. “I will say the governor saved my life… My husband died because of this erosion. He saw no help coming, and he became heartbroken. All our savings were invested in this property so that we could fall back on it at old age, but the erosion destroyed everything.

“This was a very beautiful and serene hotel, well loved by guests who visited Akwa Ibom State”, Mrs Uwa said.. “But whenever it rained, it was terrible. We could not sleep.. we would sit outside until the rain subsided. The gully was so deep and wide that if you put the storey building, you would not see the roof.

We had lost two buildings already and removed the roofs of two other buildings to prevent scavengers and thieves who were terrorizing the area from taking everything…My husband could not bear it…He died. But see how Governor Umo Eno is turning everything around for our good”.