For Mbo Local Government Area, the next State House of Assembly election is not just another political cycle. It is a defining moment. It is an opportunity to break decisively from a long and damaging tradition: the use of elective office as a tool for political and economic rehabilitation of individuals, rather than as an instrument for collective development.

For too long, Mbo has sent people to Uyo not because they possessed vision, strategy, or leverage, but because they needed personal redemption, political survival, or economic recovery. The results of this approach are evident. Despite being a coastal, oil-producing host community with strategic maritime advantages, Mbo remains underdeveloped, underpowered, and under-represented in real economic terms.

This cycle must end. The era of “sending someone to the House” simply because it is their “turn” should be well and truly gone.

Understanding the Limits of the Office

To get it right, Mbo must first be honest about what a member of the State House of Assembly can—and cannot—do.

Beyond the approximately ₦100 million allocated for constituency projects, there is very little a House member can unilaterally execute from Uyo. They do not award major contracts. They do not build power plants. They do not control ministries. They do not determine state budgets in isolation.

Yet this reality is often misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented during campaigns, leading to unrealistic expectations and, eventually, disappointment.

However, focusing only on these limitations misses the most important point.

The Real Power: Leverage

The most powerful asset of a State House of Assembly member is not constituency funds. It is leverage.

Leverage comes from access—to the executive, to ministries, to regulatory agencies, to investors, to national institutions, and to decision-makers who shape policy and capital flows. It comes from credibility, competence, networks, and the ability to speak the language of power and development.

This leverage has never been effectively used for Mbo.

Previous representatives have largely confined their relevance to motions, occasional empowerment programs, and symbolic visibility. There has been no strategic deployment of political capital to unlock large-scale economic opportunities for the people.

That failure is not accidental. It is the predictable outcome of electing representatives whose primary objective was personal advancement rather than community transformation.

A New Type of House Member

Mbo now needs a fundamentally different type of representative.

The ideal candidate is not someone who disappears after elections, reappearing only during funerals and festivals. Nor is it someone whose political ambition ends with occupying a seat.

The next House member must be:

• Accessible: Present, accountable, and consistently engaged with the people and stakeholders of Mbo.
• Strategic: Capable of long-term thinking beyond four-year cycles.
• Economically Literate: Able to understand investment structures, public-private partnerships, equity participation, and development finance.
• Networked: Connected beyond Akwa Ibom politics, into national and international economic circles.
• Purpose-Driven: Focused on outcomes, not optics.

This is not elitism. It is necessity.

From Marginalization to Agency

For decades, Mbo has rightly complained about marginalization—by the state government, by federal institutions, and by multinational corporations operating in its territory. These grievances are real and justified.

But the more important question now is this: How do we convert grievance into agency?

How do we use what we already have—our geography, our resources, our host-community status, our political representation—to achieve concrete developmental outcomes?

This shift in thinking is critical.

Power, Jobs, and the Oil & Gas Value Chain

Consider electricity. Stable power is the foundation of modern economic life. Without it, there can be no industries, no serious SMEs, no technology hubs, and no value-added processing.

A forward-thinking House member should be asking:

• How can Mbo leverage its host-community status to attract embedded power solutions?
• How can state-level influence be used to fast-track approvals for independent power projects?
• How can public and private capital be blended to power industrial clusters?

Then consider jobs.

Empowerment programs that distribute sewing machines and tricycles may have short-term value, but they do not solve youth unemployment at scale. Sustainable jobs come from industries, not giveaways.

Which leads to the oil and gas value chain.

Why should Mbo remain a bystander in an industry that extracts wealth from its soil and waters? Why can’t Mbo have equity—real ownership—in downstream or midstream assets?

Serious questions must now be asked:

• Can Mbo, through collective vehicles, take equity in a Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) plant?
• Can host-community capital be pooled to acquire stakes in marginal oil fields?
• Can we move from protest to participation?

These are not fantasies. Communities elsewhere are doing this.

The Deep Seaport Question

The Ibom Deep Seaport, located in Ibaka, Mbo LGA, is perhaps the single most transformative opportunity available to the area in a generation.

Yet a port does not automatically transform a community. It must be deliberately integrated into local economic planning.

A competent House member should be asking:

• How do we attract investors and logistics companies around the port?
• How do we ensure Mbo youths are trained for maritime, logistics, and port-related jobs?
• How do we secure equity participation, not just casual labour?

This requires advocacy, negotiation, and sustained political engagement—none of which can be done by a representative without vision or capacity.

Choosing the Future

The next election is not about personality, sentiment, or rehabilitation. It is about direction.

Mbo must decide whether it wants:

Another four years of symbolism and excuses, or

A strategic representative who understands leverage and knows how to use it.

This is not about perfection. It is about seriousness.

The stakes are too high for experimentation. The future of Mbo’s economy, its youths, and its relevance within Akwa Ibom State depends on making the right choice.

If Mbo gets it right this time, the benefits will outlive any single term. If it gets it wrong again, the cost will be paid by another generation.

The choice is clear. The time is now.