No amount of hatred and dislike will stop the good works of this administration from going on. Whether its haters like it or not, the Udom Emmanuel-led administration has fared better than the previous. A quick glance at the acclaimed “five star” record of performance of the inglorious past administration will reveal nothing but misappropriation and high handedness.
With the attraction of 18 functional industries to the mainstream of economic development in the state, Governor Udom Emmanuel has positioned himself as a wonder and surprise to the APC and fans of Senator Akpabio.
The Rice Mill, Kings Flour Mill, Plywood factory, Fertilizer blending plant, Syringe factory and others are testaments to this fact. Except they are without eyes, these industries are real, producing and employing sons and daughters of the state.
It is both visible and on record too, that Governor Udom Emmanuel, since the commencement of his administration, has undertaken a giant leap in road construction. So far, over 1700 km of roads and 40 Bridges have been undertaken in addition to rehabilitation of many rural roads across the state some of which are: dualization of 19.5km Eket-Ibeno road, construction of 2.1km road around State Secretariat annex and Believers Assembly, Mbiabong Etoi, Uyo; Construction of 6.41km Nto Edino-Ekwere Azu road with 2.45m span bridges in Obot Akara; Construction of 1.5km Nsikak Eduok -Tropicana outfall drain, 6.1km Atan offot road in Uyo, Idiaba- Nda Nsit- Ikot Abasi (Nung Udoe) road in Nsit Atai, 5.0km Ikot Usop- Ikot Edeghe – Ikot Ekpuk road with 30m span bridge in Mkpat Enin, 3.5km Ikot Udom road with 15m span bridge in Ibiono Ibom, construction of gully erosion control facilities at Oron/ Isangedighi road, Oron Urban and several others including intervention projects scattered across the State, not excluding the massive projects done inspite the economic meltdown.
Whereas, the past administration has a record of careless spending spree such that the former Finance Minister, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had wondered what Akpabio did with the huge monthly allocations it got with nothing to show for it.
The total amount of money disbursed for the Ibom Specialist Hospital from the state fund for instance, was N41billion whereas, the structure put up is worth just N7billion. The remaining N34billion have remained unaccounted for till date.
According to records, the multi-specialty hospital which “is a five-storey edifice with an underground block that connects to the administrative block and mortuary” was supposed to have a tunnel linking buildings within the Hospital premises and a guest house where relatives of patients can stay for the duration of their Ward’s treatment. This justifies the huge amount of money allocated which has obviously been stomached yet, it was left non-operational, an eyesore and subsequently, an abandoned project prior to the close of the previous administration. But for the present Government’s magnanimity, the ISH would be one of the forgotten projects in the state. What about the Uyo/Ikot Ekpene road? That would be a story for another day.
Is it not laughable that they have suddenly changed their music tune from “Ibom Air is a scam” to “the aircrafts in the IbomAir fleet and King Flour Mill are not owned by the Akwa Ibom government?” having failed to attain believability about the reality of Ibom Air, their next resort is to attribute it to an inexistent element. Let them mention who owns the aircrafts if they mean it.
As stated before, when a pet is badly injured in an accident, it becomes aggressively violent, pushing from pillar to pole, even with its owner anyone attempting to offer assistance. Of course, this is what some naysayers are doing, attempting to discredit the Governor Emmanuel’s administration from all angles, but to no avail.
Akpabio will till tomorrow be remembered for the corruption he glorified in his time. He will indeed be remembered for massive looting of our resources and for awarding contracts on papers. Let his hirelings rant on and on. It won’t change his inglorious identity.
The Nation News Lead
