STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE INFASTRUCTURALDEVELOPMENT IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

Dr. A. Folarin Alonge, R.EngAssociate Professor and Head,

Dept. of Agricultural and Food EngineeringUniversity of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Email: akindelealonge@uniuyo.edu.ng , falonge6@gmail.com

Being the keynote paper presented during the Engineering Week of theNigerian Society of Engineers, Uyo Branch on Monday, September 29,

2014 at Ibom Hall, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

Preamble

I want to appreciate the organisers of the programme for inviting meas the Keynote speaker at this year Engineering Week. My talk willinclude an iintroduction, Akwa Ibom State infrastructural milestonesand infrastructural development. What is sustainability andsustainable development will be discussed. The challenges ofsustainable developments and the strategies will be examined? Somerecommendations will also be made for government and my audience.

I want to start by posing some questions to provoke our thoughts.These are; what will you be remember for? Will what you are doing beor last after your departure? Real success is to produce a good successor. Success isto raise a generation of people who will not just do the good things you did but do better thanyou have done after you have left the scene - Alonge

Having had over 27 years of postgraduate experience, membership andactive participation in national professional like Nigerian Society ofEngineers (NSE), Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineers(NIAE), and Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN),I will attempt to speak as a professional engineer on the subjectmatter. I have also had the priviledge of undergoing other trainingsin USA and Netherlands. My experience as an active member of the

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American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE),Canadian Society of Bio-Engineering (CSBE), executive Board member ofInternational Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering(CIGR) has given some grounds to speak on the subject matter.

My exposure to several nations like USA, Canada, Australia, Europe onfellowship, visits for professional development has made me realisedthat what worked in these nations can work in ours. I will try tobring to bear my experience having consulted for Kwara Stategovernment and some federal government agencies. I do not claimexpertise in sustainable development this presentation is an attemptbased on my training, experience and exposure.

Introduction

We live in a rapid changing time with a lot of global challenges.Despite these challenges, developments and progress have beenheightened. In fact, the developments have created some of thechallenges that are facing our current world. We must sustain thesuccesses we have recorded in order to be overboard. A view of thecurrent global challenges shows that attention must be given to watersecurity, energy security, food Security, climate change Security andsustainability security. All of these interact and must be taken careof.

Looking at the millennium development goals (MDGs) which was initiatedin 2000 are to be achieved by 2015. These are to eradicate extremepoverty and hunger; achieve Universal Primary Education; promotegender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improvematernal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensureenvironmental suitability and develop a global partnership fordevelopment. How well have been these been achieved in Nigeria andindeed Africa. National Economic forum organised by NESG in 2013indicated that investment in infrastructure is critical, particularlyroads, rail, ports, storage and power all to support market access andthe agricultural value chain.

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Akwa Ibom State is at the vanguard of this development having beeninvolved power generation, water generation, environmental sanitation,educational development, women empowerment, agricultural development,massive infrastructural development. The massive infrastructuraldevelopment include rural and urban road network, bridges and modernroundabouts, drainage systems, International airport, Olympic sizestadium, E-library complex, street lighting and traffic controllingsystems, modern hospital complex, overhead flyover at Four lanes,overhead bridge, flyover aerial view from Itam, governor’s lodge, IbomTropicana entertainment Centre, Fountain at Four lanes roundabout,Ibom Plaza Connection, Ibom Tropicana Hotel, 3rd Ringroad bridge aerialview, Solar street lighting, Ibesikpo roundabout, Ibom Le’Meridien &Golf resort Landscape, Edienne-Abak bridge, new Deputy Governor’soffice and underground drainage.

Other infrastructural development that more attention needs to begiven include urban planning, urban design and architecture, transportstudies, water management and engineering, waste management, energyengineering and economics, landscape planning and buildingarchitecture. Transportation systems also need attention.Transportation systems include land (highways and rural roads),railway (none yet in the state), air (domestic and International needscompletion), water ( Inland, coastal and ocean at Ibaka, Ibeano, Oronetc needs to be developed), pipeline (oil, gas and water) needsdevelopment as well.

These infrastructures are basically Engineering Infrastructures (EI).This will come to be through development and acquisition of thosetechnologies and advanced manufacturing methodologies that will yieldindustries. These include Computer Aided Design/Computer AidedManufacturing (CAD/CAM), biotechnology, information and CommunicationTechnology (ICT), Space and Satellite Technology, Robotics,Nanotechnology and material sciences. A functional EngineeringInfrastructures should translate to the establishment of viableTechnology Incubation Centres (TICs), Science Parks, Small and MediumIndustries (SMEs), upgrading of mechanic villages, creation ofComputer and GSM villages. The state has made a giant stride bycreating ministry of science and technology. The ministry should beempowered to get these executed as these will create jobs for theyouth.

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What is Sustainability? Sustainability is a noun which means the ability to be sustained,

supported, upheld, or confirmed. Sustainability is based on a simplethat everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends,either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humansand nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling thesocial, economic and other requirements of present and futuregenerations. Sustainability is important to making sure that we haveand will continue to have, the water, materials, and resources toprotect human health and our environment.

The word sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, tohold; sub, up). Sustain can mean “maintain", "support", or "endure”.Sustainability can be translated simply as long-term compatibility.In engineering construction, sustainability is seen in 3-dimensionsnamely economic, ecological and socio-cultural

Figure 1: Venn diagram of sustainable development at the confluence ofthree constituent part

What is sustainable development?

In 1987 the “Brundland Commission” set up by the United Nations (UN)published their report “Our Common Future”. They defined “SustainableDevelopment” for the first time as “Development that meets the need ofthe present without compromising the ability of the future generationsto meet their needs”. The 2005 World Summit on Social Developmentidentified sustainable development goals, such as economicdevelopment, social development and environmental protection.[

Dimension of Sustainability

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1. Economic sustainability. This include maintenance, mobility costs,risk management, life cycle cost, flexible use, reliability andregional spin offs. The goal of economic sustainability is theminimization of cost over the life cycle span of a project taking intoconsideration the quality and requirement of the client and theoptimization of the life cycle cost. The life cycle cost of a projectis the total cost of the project; that is, the initial capital cost ofconstruction and the cost of maintenance to keep it in a serviceablestate through the life cycle of the project.

2. Social Sustainability – This include satisfaction, employment andregional spin offs

3. Environmental/ecological sustainability – This include ecosystem(waste avoidance, emissions, pollutants, land use), human health(humantoxicity, building materials, pollutants), natural resources (resourceefficiency, materials, recycling economy) and technologyInfrastructural management. In the past we did not manage ourinfrastructure to ensure their sustainability. Technologyinfrastructure management or the management of any mechanical processsystem for that matter must be conceived right from the design stage.

Each element of the infrastructural system has its expected lifespan. Even now, the situation has not changed hence the call forsustainability. Life Cycle Economic Analysis for road project has maincost components and these are;1.Initial cost, which includes land acquisition and all construction

costs;2.Annual maintenance costs; 3.Design rehabilitation costs (i.e. resurfacing at the 10th & 20th years

of pavement with a design life of 30 years)4.Users costs, which include vehicle operating costs (fuel

consumption, tire wear, maintenance etc)5.User travel-time cost (this becomes a major component during

rehabilitation stages when lanes or a segment of a roadway facilityis closed to traffic), and traffic accident cost.

What are the challenges of sustainable development?

1. Corruption - This result in high cost of infrastructuraldevelopment in Nigeria, failure of most newly constructed roads,

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refusal of Contractor to adhere to specification and instructionfrom Resident Engineer, use of substandard materials, poorfinishing and inadequate supervision.

2. Maintenance culture is lacking. This stems from wrong use of thecommon facilities, poor facilities management, inefficientmanagement structure where they exist and lack of preventive androutine maintenance

Challenges of sustainable development

Poor funding for Universities and Research Institutes. Therecannot be marked development without research.

Low human capacity building and utilization Poor technological infrastructural facilities; Lack of continuity and inconsistency in government policies; this

may be as a result of flawed electoral process. Insecurity to lives and property etc. Weak institutions and governance

What are the strategies? Responsibilities for rural infrastructure development will

increasingly be decentralized to the local governments. Thispresents us with an excellent opportunity to increasingly rely onlocal resources in our efforts to attack poverty and create jobs.

local resource-based rural infrastructure projects Adequate planning at both local and urban centres Labour based technology Small scale contracting Workable maintenance systems Proper execution of the work with quality, proper finishing and

precision We must seek to provide meaningful and relevant solution to

myriad of problems we have in the country with our futuregeneration in mind.

RecommendationsThis is in two folds – the people and the governmentPeople/Engineers We must pursue excellence and see that we do things that are of good

quality and that which will last We must consciously build maintenance into our system and use

government properties very well.

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We must change what we can and do what is best with the nextgeneration in mind

We must use our environment properly with good sanitation andcleaning habits

We must enforce the ethics of professional practice. Our universities should be proactive in carrying out innovative

and adaptive aim at solving our local problems

Government Government should create room by appointing Nigerian Consultants and

Engineers to handle infrastructural development projects as it isdone by developed economies.

Governments should invest more in human capacity building. Trainingof younger ones in all fields of engineering should be a priority.

Government should create a policy for Nigerian Universities andindustry to interact more with the industry by constantly informingthe industry of its needs and what it can offer and visa versa.

state government must fund our universities adequately to beexcellence and solution centres and not an extension of ministry ofeducation/house of assembly.

Concluding remarks Vision 20:20:20 will be a mirage without effective collaboration

with professional engineers We must shun evil and corruption for us to excel as a nation.

Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people”(Prov. 14:34).

We must think and plan for the next generation.

References World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). Our

common future. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987 p. 43. Adewoye, O. O. 2010. Challenges of Availability of Science and

Engineering Infrastructure For Nigeria’s Vision 20:2020. ALecture Presented At The 3rd International Conference OnEngineering Research And Development, University Of Benin, BeninCity. Sept 7-9, 2010.

Nigeria Vision 20:2020; Economic Transformation Blueprint,October, 2009: www.npc.gov.ng/downloads/Nigeria Vision20_2020_DraftETB.pdf.

Anonymous (2014). What is Sustainability? WikipediaEncyclopaedia. www. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability.Accessed August 16, 2014

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Anonymous (2014). Sustainability Basic Information. USAEnvironmental Protection Agency.http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm. Accessed August16, 2014

Marjana S. Z and T.Z (2010). Sustainability of UrbanInfrastructures. Sustainability. Open Access Journal. Vol 2:2950-2964. www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability. Accessed July 28, 2014

SOME PICTURES

Overhead flyover at Four lanes Overhead bridge

Flyover aerial view from Itam Governor’s lodge

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Ibom E-library Olympic Stadium

3rd Ringroad bridge aerial view

Ibom Le’Meridien & Golf resortLandscape

Ibesikpo roundabout

Ibom Le’Meridien lobby

Edienne-Abak bridge Underground drainage

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