Akwa Ibom State governor Umo Eno has terminated controversial contracts on some failed road projects awarded by his predecessors, including former Governors Godswill Akpabio and Udom Emmanuel.
He directed the commissioner for works and fire service, Prof Eno Ibanga, to evaluate the job done so far and force the contractors to refund the balance.
Speaking during a media briefing to mark his one year in office, the governor explained that there were many discrepancies, including the contractors’ incompetence, before the government decided to terminate the contracts.
He listed the affected projects, which include the Nsit Atai-Oron local government area stretch of road, Ndon Eyo road in Onna LGA, and two others, awarded over the years by successive governments before the current administration.
He said, “I have to say things the way they are without mincing words. The Nsit Atai-Oron Road contract is terminated. The project was delayed because the contractor never showed competence in handling the road. We have to terminate it, and others.
“We will engage our valuers to quantify their work so far. We also request that they return our money at the end.”
The governor, while fielding questions from newsmen at the media briefing, invited the works commissioner, Prof Ibianga, to brief journalists on the progress of work on the ongoing road contracts, including the popular “China Market in Eket LGA, awarded by Emmanuel, in the immediate past administration.
Eno recalled that the 30 percent of government funds committed to the “China Market” project in Eket would have gone a long way to complete the entire project before the COVID-19 pandemic, even as he expressed anger the Chinese firm handling the project had gone and refused to return to site.
He said, “I have studied the legal provisions in the contract and have fully briefed that it never favoured the government. But you can’t terminate the ‘China Market’ contract because of the legal implications.
“The Chinese contractors have deliberately refused to return to the site. Maybe they are trying to ambush us based on the legal provisions, but we will soon call for a review of the contract terms and make a decision.”
Reeling out his achievements in the last one year at the Uyo township stadium yesterday, Eno gave himself a pass mark in all the sectors of the state’s economy, including infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, security, power, and human capital development.
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