…Say No One Would Be Allowed To Sabotage Good Intentions Of State Govt.
Lack of capacity, accountability, experience, technical know-how, equipment and site have been listed by the critical stakeholders in Ikono Local Government Area as a few reasons they ordered Zee Construction Limited; contractor handling the 21.5km Ikot Ayan Ediene – Ikot Ntia – Urua Naira – Ikot Nseyen – Nkwot – Nung Ukim road with 45M Span bridge to stop work.
The Ikono leaders took the decision on Saturday after an on-the-spot assessment of the massive road, which traverses over five (5) wards in the area.
The inspection team had a former parliamentarian of the Nigerian Senate; Distinguished Senator Aloysius Etok, a former member representing Ikono State Constituency in the State House of Assembly; the Rt. Hon. Victor Udofia and the former member, House of Representatives; Hon. Iboro Ekanem.
Others were: the immediate-past Senior Special Assistant on Petroleum Matters to the Governor; Sir Victor Etefia, former Chairman of Ikono Local Government Council; Hon. Itoro Columba, among others.
However, our checks revealed that the aforementioned road was first awarded by ex-Governor Godswill Akpabio sometime in 2010 to STEMCO, which was abandoned, before the immediate-past Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel rewarded in November 2021 to ZEE, with a-24 month completion time.
“After traversing the entire road for over 4 hours today, what we saw was poor quality and shoddy job that will not last up to 5 months if we keep quiet, therefore, Ikono people who are the direct beneficiaries of the project are saying the contractor should stop work immediately because it appears they want to sabotage the good intentions of the State government who awarded the contract,” Rt. Hon. Udofia noted while fielding questions from newsmen during the inspection.
Continuing, he said, “apart from many other wrong actions we saw, there is a one kilometer that the contractor did a drainage on top of a mud and what baffled us the stakeholders was that the Council Chairman (of Ikono; Hon. Nyakno Okuibo) confirmed that the drainage was on top of the mud; it’s on record that he knew about it. However, the contractor later said it was a mistake.
“But, come to think of it; which contractor has ever made a drainage on top of the mud?” He asked rhetorically, adding: ” In this whole drama, we are asking, where is the supervising Ministry of Works? Are they not supposed to have a supervising team at that site? Why are they paid? Where is the 1.050 Billion Naira that the contractor received in two tranches and two two months to the completion time of the road, he hasn’t done up to 30 per cent?
“So, Ikono people are saying, no! The job must stop, we as the direct beneficiaries of the project will meet His Excellency the Governor and present our report of what is on ground to the Governor and beseech that he send an external supervisors to the project for confirmation.”
The stakeholders maintained that the issue of the increase in construction materials was an attempt to conceal the truth and siphon the over 1 Billion Naira they received because the money was paid long ago before the increments
“Before the increments, you had the State funds with you, what did you do with it? Again, the Public Procurement Act states clearly that until you execute an Advance Payment Guarantee (APG) fund that is given to you, you are not entitled to a review because the over 1 billion Naira the State Government gave was to be put into the project and not to lavish and after that, you rush to the site and do shoddy job with two wheelbarrow and shovel because you need another money.
“So, the stakeholders are saying that for the ARISE Agenda of the Governor to see the light of the day, those who are saddled with responsibilities should not sabotage efforts of Government. On this note, we are sending a strong warning to the Commissioner for Works (Prof Eno Ibanga) not to release any other naira to Zee Construction Company, else, we would invite those who are experts in Financial Crimes to do their job on this matter.
” Our position is that since the contractor is inexperienced, not accountable, has no good equipment and not done a job that is commensurate with the huge funds that was released to him, the contract should be terminated and let him return the 1.050 Billion Naira to the State Government who would then give the job to an experienced company for the good of our people.”
Rt. Hon. Udofia, who used the occasion, on behalf of the inspection team, to give kudos to the many success stories and achievements of Governor Umo Eno, pledged Ikono people’s support and cooperation to the Governor’s ARISE Agenda.
