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Builder, Stabiliser, Leader: The essence of Akpabio at 63
By Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh mnipr
Nigeria is a country that produces noise faster than it produces true heroes. Politics here moves at a velocity that forgives very little and forgets even less. To survive is one thing. To matter is another. To matter for nearly two decades at the highest levels of public life is an achievement that demands more than charisma. It demands outcomes. It demands consistency. It demands a mind trained to govern in the morning and negotiate in the evening, without losing the delicate balance between ambition and humility.
On 9 December, 2025, Senator Godswill Akpabio GCON turned 63. The moment offered more than ceremonial cheer. It invited serious reflection on a figure whose trajectory captures both the turbulence and the possibilities of modern Nigerian leadership.
His journey from Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State to Governor, to Minister, and now President of the Senate is well known. What is less appreciated is the coherence that binds these roles together. It is a coherence built on transformation in one arena and stability in another. It is what one might call the Akpabio Synthesis.
This synthesis blends the force of developmental leadership with the finesse of legislative management. It combines the boldness of a builder with the restraint of an institutionalist. It reflects an understanding that countries rise not merely on the strength of ambition but on the quality of those who convert ambition into infrastructure, and infrastructure into institutional legitimacy.
A Governor Who Re-Imagined a People’s Possibilities
To appreciate Akpabio’s national weight, one must return to Akwa Ibom between 2007 and 2015. His governorship was not a routine tenure. It was a deliberate confrontation with underdevelopment. Where many states adopted incrementalism, he embraced transformation as a governing philosophy. That philosophy became the Uncommon Transformation Agenda.
Education was the anchor. Free and compulsory schooling from primary to senior secondary levels—regardless of state of origin or religion—backed by the construction of over 700 model classrooms, ensured that children from the poorest homes could begin life with a fairer chance. Teacher training colleges were revived, curricula modernised, and enrolment surged. The message was simple: education is the foundation of citizenship.
Healthcare followed the same logic. The state constructed 22 hospitals, expanded primary healthcare access, and built the Ibom Specialist Hospital as a hub for advanced medical treatment. Free maternal and child delivery services reduced mortality and reinforced the dignity of families across rural communities. In a country where the journey to a clinic can mean the difference between life and loss, such interventions carry moral weight beyond statistics.
Infrastructure was the battlefield on which Akpabio waged his most visible campaign. Uyo transformed from a quiet local government capital into a modern urban centre. Flyovers, wide boulevards, dualised highways, and interconnected rural roads rewrote the physical map of the state. The Ibom International Airport became a node of commerce and mobility, while the Ibom Power Plant strengthened the state’s energy backbone. Water schemes across all 31 local government areas expanded public utility access. Industrial parks and sporting facilities, including the world-class stadium in Uyo, broadened the state’s profile from obscurity to emerging economic relevance.
Naturally, some critics whispered about cost. But history answers critics better than rhetoric. The infrastructure still exists. The hospitals still stand. The schools still function. The airport still operates. The power plant is running. The roads connect.
To be clear, a leader is ultimately judged by whether he leaves his people better than he met them. On this metric, Akpabio’s record is a matter of physical evidence—res ipsa loquitur: the facts speak for themselves.
Beyond concrete, however, he rebuilt confidence. He governed with moral clarity, grounded in a constant invocation of divine grace. This is not a footnote to his story. In Nigeria’s cultural context, where public life is interpreted through both the material and the spiritual, his emphasis on grace conveyed humility and cultural legitimacy. It elevated his leadership beyond performance and connected it to a deeper communal belief in providence.
A Senate President Who Prioritises Stability Over Spectacle
If the governorship was Akpabio’s era of bulldozing underdevelopment, the Senate Presidency has been his era of consensus-building. These are different competencies. One is muscular; the other diplomatic. One pushes; the other persuades. Yet both require a disciplined understanding of how to move a society from inertia to progress.
When the 10th Senate elected him President in 2023, Nigeria was navigating economic strain, political tension, and public impatience. The legislature—often prone to theatrics—required steadying. Akpabio brought equilibrium to a chamber of 109 competing ambitions. He restored rhythm to legislative work. He presides with firmness but without unnecessary heat. He prioritises national objectives over political brinkmanship.
Under his gavel, productivity rose. More than 96 bills were passed within two years, with about 58 assented to. These are not random numbers. They reflect a legislature aligned with the national reform agenda while maintaining its constitutional oversight role.
Major economic legislation emerged, including tax harmonisation frameworks designed to improve revenue predictability. Social sector reforms expanded access to tertiary education through a revitalised student loan system. Regional development commissions received renewed momentum, fostering equity across geopolitical zones. Security-related laws strengthened military and policing capacity. Anti-corruption and public finance legislation reinforced transparency and accountability.
These outcomes were not accidental. They required a Senate President capable of managing egos without humiliating them, negotiating with the executive without surrendering institutional integrity, and maintaining national focus without stoking unnecessary conflict. The skill was not in shouting. The skill was in steering.
The Senate Presidency under Akpabio has been a study in calm and strategic leadership. It has shown that stability is not the enemy of progress. It is its thermostat—the quiet force that prevents governance from overheating and ensures reforms endure.
A Statesman Formed by Grace and Tempered by Experience
What, then, is the essence of Akpabio at 63? It is a man who has moved from executive power to legislative authority without losing balance. It is a leader who understands that Nigeria needs both builders and statesmen. It is a public figure who views leadership as a covenant with the people, shaped by faith, experience, and service.
His story is not without controversy. No consequential leader escapes scrutiny. Yet when the balance sheet of contribution is examined honestly, the conclusion is unmistakable. He has built. He has stabilised. He has led with purpose.
He embodies, perhaps more than many of his contemporaries, the idea that Nigeria’s future lies in leaders who combine conviction with competence, vision with execution, and spirituality with responsibility.
A Birthday in the Service of the Republic
As Nigeria marks Godswill Akpabio at 63, the nation salutes not merely the man but his journey. It salutes the governor who transformed a state. It salutes the Senate President who steadied the legislature. It salutes a life that has become a reference point in the debate about what genuine leadership can achieve in Nigeria.
His story reminds us that the work of nation-building is neither linear nor effortless. It is sustained labour undertaken by those willing to think boldly, act decisively, and serve faithfully. Nigeria’s next decade demands such leaders—leaders who can build new infrastructure and strengthen existing institutions, inspire hope without losing discipline, and understand that grace, in the quiet hours of power, is both a calling and a responsibility.
At 63, Godswill Akpabio stands as one such leader. The chapters of his life remain open. The responsibilities before him remain weighty. But the foundation he has laid—in concrete and in law, in state and in nation—secures his place in Nigeria’s unfolding story.
May the grace you invoke continue to strengthen the work you do for a country still striving to become the best version of itself. In the biography of our time, you will remain a model and a source of inspiration to many.
Happy birthday, Mr President of the Senate.
Happy birthday, the uncommon statesman.
Happy birthday, Uko Akwa Ibom.
•Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh mnipr is the Special Adviser on Media/Publicity and Official Spokesperson to the President of the Senate
The door is now shut permanently in the face of the Federal Government towards taking up the 12.5 – being the remainder of its proposed 20 per cent stake in the Dangote Refineries, Africa’s first privately owned concern.
That means the government would now be stuck with the 7.5 per cent only it was able to pick up and which it currently holds in the $20 billion, 650 barrels per day capacity refinery, which came into operation in 2023 as the concern is insisting it is no longer interested in the remaining 12.5 per cent stake.
Instead of the government, the organisation, currently responsible for the supply of the major chunk of petroleum products in Nigeria and many parts of Africa, is now planning to bring in ordinary Nigerians into the mix to lap up the stake in the near future.
Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, who made the revelation, Nicolai Tangen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), that the group had since rejected requests by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, to increase its 7.25 per cent stake in the firm.
The PUNCH, quoted the African Richest Man (ARM), as saying in the interview that the NNPC’s offer to increase its 7.25 per cent stake in the refinery was rejected because the company Dangote was planning to go public and give other Nigerians the opportunity to own shares in the plant.
Dangote had revealed that after acquiring the original 7.5 per cent in 2021, for $1bn, with an option to acquire the remaining 12.75 per cent stake by June 2024, NNPC Limited began to stall, and ended up reneging on its decision.
However, the national oil company had made attempts to acquire more stakes in the refinery, since that, but this was turned down, adding that the biggest risks the business could face were either civil war and government policy inconsistencies.
Hear him: “Actually, if there are civil wars, which is not in the offing at all. The other biggest risk is government inconsistencies in policies, and we are addressing that one because if you look at our refinery, the national oil company already owns 7.25 per cent, and they are trying to buy more. We are the ones that said no; we want to now spread it and have everybody be part of it.”
Dangote, had in 2014, informed Nigerians on how, Mele Kyari, former Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (GMD-CEO), had reduced NNPC’s stake in the refinery from 20 per cent to 7.25 per cent.
He had said then: “The agreement was actually 20 per cent, which we had with NNPC, and they did not pay the balance of the money up until last year; then we gave them another extension up until June (2024), and they said that they would remain where they had already paid, which is 7.2 per cent. So NNPC owns only 7.2 per cent, not 20 per cent.
The business mogul, who painted a seducing picture of what is at stake in the new opportunities, including the provision of getting dividends in foreign currencies, told his Norwegian host: “What we are announcing is that when you invest in any of our businesses going forward, in cement or in the refinery, in petrochemicals, in fertiliser, we guarantee to pay you a dividend in dollars because we are very well into exports. 80 per cent of our revenue will be in dollars.”
Explaining how he sourced funds for building the refinery, from various financial institutions, including Nigerian banks, he said the initial plan was to fund most of the construction work from our internally generated funds, but because of naira devaluation, the group had to rely on Afreximbank, Africa Finance Corporation, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, UBA and a couple of the local banks.
“But of course we also have a very good relationship with the Standard Bank of South Africa and, at the beginning, Standard Chartered Bank of the UK. We were lucky and what happened when the plant was completed turned out to be much more than our own expectations.”
The coast has brightened for Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, having been given the opportunity of obtaining the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for next year’s governorship election, contrary to reports in some quarters that he has been denied.
Vanguard reports that he was one of the 30 governors cleared by the party’s screening committee, including Hope Uzodimma of Imo, a two-term governor, who is currently eyeing a seat at the Senate.
Others cleared, included Sarafadeen Alli, former Secretary to the Oyo State Government (SSG), for the 2027, the report said, quoting sources, who revealed that the screening report was yet to be released due to a deluge of petitions flooding the party.
To beat the deadline by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for the submission of the list of the names of successful candidates, the party said it now would publish the names of cleared aspirants on May 13.
Regarding the dithering on the release of the 2,980, comprising of one aspirants for one presidential slot, 28 governorship, 109 Senate, 360 House of Representatives, and 991 state assembly positions, a source was quoted as saying: “We are still working on the screening report to make sure everything goes well. The day is not over yet.
“We received many petitions from the eight panels that conducted the primaries. For instance, one of the panels received 10 petitions and the petitions have to be treated on their merit.”
Regarding the fate of Fubara, the source was quoted as saying the governor, whose tenure has been dogged by much of internal and external battles even after joining the APC last year, the source confirmed that he was not disqualified as speculated.
His words: “Nooo! No governor has been booted out. The party has always supported its governors. Some of them like Uzodimma got automatic clearance. To ensure we have a united front in 2027, we are working towards consensus but where that fails, direct primaries will be held in accordance with the Electoral Act. We know some of the high-profile aspirants don’t want to consent, and are ready to go to court. We don’t want that.”
After years of public outcries by individuals, groups and civil society organisations, the Imo State Police Command finally took steps against the controversial Anti-Kidnapping Unit, popularly known as Tiger Base.
The agency, described by many as notorious for rights abuses, was scrapped, by the Command, along with other tactical squads with similar identities, which have now been replaced with a newly created Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) aimed at tackling rising violent crimes across the state.
The development was announced at the Police Command Headquarters in Owerri, the Imo State capital, marking one of the most significant policing reforms in the state in recent years following growing public concerns over the activities of Tiger Base.
Other tactical formations affected by the disbandment include the Scorpion Unit and the Lion Squad, whose operations were closely linked to the now-defunct outfit.
Speaking during the inauguration of the new unit, the Commissioner of Police, CP Audu Garba Bosso, said the reform was in compliance with the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to reposition tactical operations nationwide and strengthen professionalism within the Force.
Bosso said the newly established VCRU would focus on intelligence-driven operations against armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms, and other violent crimes.
According to him, officers drafted into the unit were carefully selected based on competence, discipline, integrity, and operational experience.
He disclosed that the operatives had undergone intensive training in tactical response, intelligence gathering, crisis management, and human rights compliance to ensure lawful and professional conduct.
“The inauguration of the VCRU reflects our commitment to professional policing, public safety, and improved service delivery to the people of Imo State,” the police commissioner stated.
In a move seen as an attempt to rebuild public trust, the command also inaugurated a Civilian Oversight Board comprising representatives of the Nigerian Bar Association, civil society organisations, traditional rulers, religious leaders, and the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
The board is expected to monitor the activities of the unit, receive complaints from members of the public, and provide independent feedback to the Commissioner of Police.
The event attracted top government officials, heads of security agencies, members of the Police Community Relations Committee, youth organisations, and human rights groups.
Governor Hope Uzodinma, represented by the Chief Principal Security Officer, ACP Gboyako Shaba Adamu, commended the initiative and pledged continued support for security agencies in combating insecurity across the state.
Observers believe the scrapping of Tiger Base and the creation of the VCRU may signal a new chapter in tactical policing in Imo State, especially amid increasing calls for accountability and respect for human rights by security operatives.
The ceremony featured the unveiling of the VCRU logo, presentation of its operational dress code, and goodwill messages from stakeholders.
Residents were urged to support the new unit with credible information to aid crime-fighting efforts across the state.
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