Fun fact. Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Ikot Ekpene occupies the grounds of the old colonial prison. Mr Chido Nwakanma, CEO of Brandhaus threw in this tidbit at a strategy session organised by the Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination Division of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board at the magnificent hotel. He said the grounds previously housed felons and, tongue in cheek, said he was now living in the most beautiful prison!

The hotel lightens up Ikot Ekpene’s landscape. And the town’s scenery – well laid out roads with good sidewalks, complements the landscape. Here are the five things I noticed from the three days I spent at Ikot Ekpene.

Four Points by Sheraton, a phoenix in Ikot Ekpene’s skyline

“The hotel is beautiful outside and even more so inside. Sheer steel and glass on the outside, rising up 12 floors; the view from the rooftop is majestic, the inside is pure luxury! My room was so clean, the facilities sparkling and smelt inviting, that I asked whether I was the first ever guest to be lodged in the room.”

For me, the most arresting sight was viewing Ikot Ekpene from the rooftop of the hotel. It’s fascinating. The rooftop also has a bar that opens only on Fridays. I didn’t get the chance to savour the rooftop bar offerings. Our strategy session ended Thursday; departure was early Friday so as to catch the first flight out of Uyo, the state capital.   

The hotel was commissioned in 2015 by Senator Godswill Akpabio, who was as at that time the governor of Akwa Ibom State. It was a great vision turning the old prison grounds to this magnificent edifice that is no doubt contributing to growing the town, which is also called the Raffia City. I was told he is Annang, who are the predominant tribe in Ikot Ekpene.

Take a bow, Senator Akpabio. You did well.

A well thought-out strategy session

It is rare to find agencies of government opening up their activities/initiatives for review, rarer still to invite resource people who will tell the public officials where they may have gone wrong and how best to improve with a view to delivering on their mandate. That was exactly what happened.

With a stellar cast of resource persons that included Dr Austin Tam-George, Founder/Executive Director, Institute of Communication; Mr Pacer Guobadia, Partner at EIR Advisory and Mr Nwakanma, among others, it was clear that NCDMB’s Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination Division was keen to improve its work and be a lot more effective.

But, it doesn’t end there. Choosing the hotel as the venue for the two-day event showed how serious the division is. The ambience of the hotel is cool and welcoming, and Ikot Ekpene is a calm town. There were no distractions, you know (wink), the types you’d find when such events are held in big cities (Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt?). There was total focus from all the participants, and rightly so.

For organisations planning a retreat and also desirous of holding and keeping the attention of attendees, they cannot find a better location than Ikot Ekpene’s Four Points by Sheraton.

Haaa, the Annangs

The Annangs are reported to be the second biggest ethnic group in Akwa Ibom State, occupying eight of its 31 Local Government Areas. Although I didn’t get to move around a lot – the strategy sessions were back-to-back, leaving no time at all to savour the town, I still took out time to jog in the morning.

First are the people. Most of the people I came across greeted me with a smile; one even gave me a thumbs-up. I wondered: Are all Annangs this friendly, with a gentle, welcoming disposition?

I believe they are generally nice and clean people. The roads and gutters were neat; indeed, I saw a woman cleaning one of the roads as early as 6.30am. Although I didn’t get to ask, I suspect many of the hotel staff are Annangs as they are generally friendly and eager to serve (read: help). Christopher, the butler that took me to my room, told me to ask him for anything, that he wanted to ensure that I enjoyed my stay. When I heard this, I did hmmmn, wondering the extent he could go to really make my stay enjoyable in view of the palatable stories, of people (especially the male folks) forgetting their roots when they visited the Akwa Ibom/Cross River axis.

Another fun fact: Akwa Ibom and Cross River states were once one state until the split. The people share a common heritage – food, culture, genial disposition, among others.

Every food is a delight. Almost

The much I know of Nigeria, I believe the Akwa Ibom/Cross River axis has the best collection of foods you can ever imagine. And these foods are served with lots of love. Way back in the late 90s, Ephraim, my friend then, who was working with Cakasa, an engineering firm in Warri, would cook delicious meals. I learnt how to cook without water from Ephraim, with waterleaf as the base of the soup. He is an Akwa Ibomite. Yes, I can cook edika ekang because of Ephraim. I digress.

I asked the waiters at the hotel which was the most native food of the Annangs. There were several candidates, with atama catching my fancy (the name, perhaps? It sounded exotic when pronounced by the staff). Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to eat the atama until the next day, and even at that, we were pressed for time. I didn’t get the full measure of the soup. It, however, tasted nice, looked very green – packed full with vegetables, and healthy.

The other meals – I had okra the previous afternoon, were all well prepared and quite tasty. Good food could top the list as one of the best offerings of raffia city. I wonder the rate of marriage between Annang women and men from other tribes. If their women are as delectable as their foods, then the rate would certainly be trending north.

No beach? Oh, no!

The thought that kept lurking in my mind when I arrived the hotel and was being checked in was: ‘Where’s the beach?’ So, I asked Christopher: ‘I hope there is a beach close to the hotel?’, to which he told me ‘no’. He said the closest beach was in Eket! Trust me, it was one of the most disappointing negative responses I’ve ever gotten.

How can a hotel this beautiful, so well appointed in a serene environment, not have a beach that is a walking distance? What would it take to build one? Is there a river close by that could be transformed to a beach? I mean, if beaches could be built in Dubai, surely, it can be done in Ikot Ekpene.

“My overall experience? I’d recommend Ikot Ekpene’s Four Points by Sheraton 10 times out of 10 to organisations that really want to do serious strategic dive – good environment, no distractions, good food and attendees can really bond.”

Adewole Ojo is CEO of Four Points Communications, a marketing communications agency based in Lagos.

Meiza Nigeria