GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

Akwa Ibom State is a culturally diverse state in Nigeria, with various ethnic groups coexisting within its borders. The major ethnic groups in Akwa Ibom State include the Ibibio, Annang, Oron, Eket, and Obolo, among others. This study examine three specific objectives which includes to examine the impact of ethnic politics on political appointment, infrastructure development and empowerment programme in Akwa Ibom State which were in line with the Research Questions and Research hypotheses. The study adopted the Style and Behavior Theory propounded by John B. Watson, and Constructivism Theory as the theoretical frameworks. The study adopted the survey research and descriptive design with a population of 4,000,000,000 having a sample size of 400 using Taro Yamani as the sampling techniques with primary and secondary sources of data, while the method of data analysis was Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Based on the findings of the study, it is concluded that ethnic politics has a significant impact on Governance, Ethnic politics has a significant impact on infrastructure development, and Ethnic politics has a significant impact with empowerment programme in Akwa Ibom State. The results of this study demonstrate that ethnicity plays a significant role in shaping governance and political dynamics in Akwa Ibom State, which has three major ethnic groups; the Ibibio, Annang, and Oro, ethnicity can influence governance in several ways. From the result of the findings, it was recommended that Ethnicity should not be introduce into the politics of the state, That the Akwa Ibom State government should provide infrastructure to all parts of the state and finally, that the state government should ensure that empowerment programmes are distributed equally to all section of the state irrespective of gender.

Keywords: Ethnic Politics, Governance, Infrastructure, Political Appointment, Infrastructural Development, Empowerment Programmes