Why Rivers state can become the ‘Qatar of West Africa’

BY EBENEZER WIKINA

In November 2022, en route to New Delhi, India, for a meeting, I had a brief layover at the Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. This was amid what some people (e.g. Messi fans like me) consider the greatest World Cup of all time, the first in the Arab world. It was my first time on Doha soil, and all I heard about this young peninsula nation dwarfed in comparison with what I saw – it left me completely astounded.

We got on this driverless airport tram that took us from one terminal to another. Even when I got to my terminal, I didn’t get off because I just wanted to see more and marvel at what the Qataris had built in the desert in 3 decades.  For someone who had previously travelled to 10 countries, I sure felt like “Osuofia in London”. It wasn’t just the tram, though, and it wasn’t even like I got into the country because transit visas had been suspended during the World Cup; it was everything else I could see around me at the airport and the city skyline. The ambition, the intent, the physical embodiment of what can happen when we dream as humans against all odds.

“The way we did it in Qatar, you can do it…”

Before I left Doha, I went on LinkedIn and typed, “The next Governor of Rivers State must measure up with the Arab world, not compete with smaller states in Nigeria…”. I used the hashtag #Rivers2050 because, during my work as Advocacy Coordinator at PIND Foundation, where I worked on a team that supported states to design 30-year development plans, I always wondered why Rivers State didn’t have a development plan since its last development plan elapsed in 1980, despite all the human and mineral resources it possessed.  In the 2022 LinkedIn post, I ended by saying something like, “If the government does not make a plan, maybe we should do it as citizens. Would you join me?”

Fast forward to November 2024, after the birth of my son, Sean Kisi Omieibi Wikina, I started to feel a certain restlessness while watching him at night during his colic stage. I wondered what kind of State and country he would grow up to live in; the astronomical inflation, the petty politics, and the lack of vision. All through the Christmas celebration, I could not shake off this feeling of restlessness and resentment about Sean’s future.

So on February 14, 2025, I decided it was time to do something about how I was feeling. To keep my promise in 2022 and to show love to my state and my country. After obtaining the approval of my fellow founding team members at Policy Shapers, we launched the Rivers 2050 Vision Project, a citizen-led, youth-powered development visioning initiative that seeks to create a development blueprint for Rivers State, Nigeria, for the next 25 years.

“The way we did it in Qatar, you can do it… You must do it…” was the message from Habes Howail of the Qatar Foundation when he joined us in May 2025 for the first edition of the Rivers 2050 Town Hall series. He reminded us that what makes Qatar’s success special isn’t just hydrocarbon wealth, it’s clarity of vision, national will, and intergenerational commitment to lead a successful future. And those, he said, are things Rivers State can choose to emulate as we seek to create a new story for the state.

Where is the $2.7 billion?

As part of the 13% derivation, a constitution-backed profit-sharing mechanism for states with natural resources in Nigeria, Rivers State received 2.76 billion USD (N1.05 trillion) between 2009 and 2019 to improve the lives of Rivers people in oil-producing communities.

This same amount, when utilised by other countries abroad, has been used to deliver public goods that are marvellous to behold. Qatar spent approximately $1 billion to complete the Doha Metro Red line, which runs from Hamad International Airport to Lusail in the north, where the World Cup final was played. It has 18 stations and covers a span of 40 kilometres. Rwanda has estimated that it would cost about $1.2 billion to build the Kigali Innovation City, a Silicon Valley-like cluster in Kigali with hotels, universities, data centres, technology hubs, etc. Uganda’s Bujagali Hydropower project, a 250MW project on the Nile, cost around $900 million to build.

I could go on for the next few hours listing public projects that cost less than $2 billion from Singapore, the UAE, China, South Africa, etc. What we have lacked in Rivers State for a good part of the last 58 years is not money, it is vision. A vision that stretches beyond four-year cycles and election slogans. One that treats Rivers people not just as voters, but as co-architects of their future.

A Citizen Manifesto for the Future

This is why I invite you to join us on this historic mission. At the end of this visioning project, we shall be launching the ‘Rivers 2050 Vision Book’, which will be the first of its kind in Africa — a citizen-authored, youth-driven, cross-sector development vision which will be the product of:

– A state-wide survey reaching thousands of citizens at the grassroots to itemise their needs and wishes for the future.

– Town halls that bridge generations and geographic boundaries, including conversations with His Majesty King Alfred Diete-Spiff, all the former Governors of Rivers State, Futurists from Singapore, UAE, Qatar, to mention a few

– Focus Group Discussions with expert practitioners from within and outside Rivers State, featuring insights on how Rivers State can grow across 15 focus areas of education, healthcare, blue economy, food security, youth development, to name a few.

– Visual futures created by Artificial Intelligence, showcasing the possibilities of the next 25 years, driven by technology and people like us.

– Sector snapshots, data-driven analysis, and projections of the 15 thematic areas

– Policy pathways, citizen priority lists, and actionable steps that policymakers, the private sector, and citizens can play to deliver the Rivers State of our dreams.

This is not just a book. It is a manifesto of possibility, a tool of accountability, and a call to action. It will place Rivers State and Nigeria firmly on the global foresight map.

As Rivers State turns 58, I am taking a moment to honour the future by investing in it today. Together with a team of over 100 dreamers, thinkers, and doers who believe that the future doesn’t just happen, it is created.

This is not glamorous work. It will require thankless hours of late-night labour. But it is our labour, and it is for our tomorrow. For our Children and their children. So I invite you, Rivers people, from Andoni to Asari-Toru, from Omoku to Obio Akpor, to join us. Lend your voice to this movement by taking the ongoing state-wide survey at www.rivers2050.org/survey.

Let’s build the glorious future that Rivers State deserves.

A new chapter of our story begins now.

Ebenezar Wikina, a senior partnerships specialist at Nguvu Collective, is the convener of the Rivers 2050 Vision. He can be contacted via [email protected]