•The 178-year-old slave boat in Akwa Ibom
Akwa Ibom State Government in partnership with the National Association of Akwa Ibom (NAAKIBOM) USA has unveiled a Slave Boat of 178 years old at the Marina Beach, Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort at Nwaniba, a coastal community of the state.
According to the State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Sir Charles Udoh, the slave boat was confiscated from the slave masters by the natives of a coastal community of Nwaniba in Uruan LGA of the state towards the end of the slave trade era in the world.
Speaking to the press yesterday in Uyo, the tourism commissioner said, the Slave Boat is believed to have voyaged from Liverpool to berth in Nwaniba, Uruan, in 1846 where the Slave Masters resided to transact in the nefarious business.
In a statement made available to The Frontier, Udoh stated that, irked by the excruciating pains of slavery and the inhuman treatment of the slave masters, the angry natives confiscated the slave boat in a gorilla warfare.
Capturing his Release – ‘The Slave Boat: A Voyage from Liverpool to Nwaniba 1846 – To Present Day, (178 Years in Nwaniba and still counting)”, the commissioner emphasised that the slave boat is one of the remaining relics of the colonial masters slave business in Akwa Ibom State.
He disclosed that, the restoration and preservation project of the slave boat located at the Marina Beach, Ibom Hotel & Golf Resort was funded by investors brought in by the National Association of Akwa Ibom (NAAKIBOM) USA and expressed deep appreciation to the association for partnering government in the development of tourism in the state.
Udoh reiterated that, Akwa Ibom is endowed with virgin untapped tourism potentials across the length and breadth of the state including: the longest coastline in the region, of 129km and numerous tourist sites with historical perspectives beckoning on investors.
He therefore called on other indigenes of Akwa Ibom State in the diaspora, as well as public spirited individuals, to join the government in the development of tourist sites as a major revenue generation sector of the economy.
