Press Statement in Eket-Ibeno Road Expenditure Refund
It has come to our attention that the Federal Government has, dutifully but very recently, indicated its intention to refund the money spent on the construction of Eket-Ibeno Road, including the N8bn being part of the money deducted from Oil Community funds.
The road construction was originally a Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) project, of which the body had spent about N4.5bn before
ExxonMobil and Akwa Ibom State Government voluntarily joined in 2013, in order to turn it into a dual carriage way.
However, the sum of N8bn was eventually deducted by the state government from the 2014 ExxonMobil oil spill compensation meant for the four Oil Producing Local Governments and used for the construction.
As a responsible organisation, which is concerned about the welfare, social well-being and community development of her people, we in Eket Intergrity Alliance (EIA), welcome this positive development and promptly commend the Federal Government for this gesture.
Eket-Ibeno Road is the only land access to Qua Iboe terminal, Stubb creek natural habitat, Ibeno beach, and a social and economic development enabler of four oil-bearing local governments of Eket, Esit Eket, Onna and Ibeno.
We, therefore, hasten to plead with Gov Udom Emmanuel to use part of that anticipated monetary refund to complete the Eket-Ibeno Road to its specification, as some parts of it are still uncompleted and the street lights yet to be installed.
We also urge the state government to actualize her avowed resolve for grassroots development by injecting the entire N8bn into meaningful projects in Eket, Ibeno, Esit Eket and Onna, conscious that this N8bn was originally their money.
It is our belief that reinvesting that N8bn into community development projects in the four core-oil producing local government areas will improve the lives of the people, while also portraying the governor as a lover of his people, a Christian who practices the christly injunction of giving unto Caeser what is Caeser’s and a man determined to leave the local communities better than he met them. The N8b is specifically Eket, Ibeno, Onna and Esit Eket money and should therefore not be taken to any other place. We in EIA believe that this is the right thing to do and proper to ask for.
In focusing on the development projects, we suggest each of the four core-oil producing local governments should be duly consulted on what would be suitable for them, as each has specific needs arising from their natural and socio-cultural peculiarities.
We, at this point, commend Gov Emmanuel for eventually harkening to various calls to embark on on-sight project inspections, as that will give him the true mileage or otherwise of his achievements in two tenures.
