As his May 29 exit date draws closer, concerned indigenes of Ukanafun local government area of Akwa Ibom State have commended Governor Udom Emmanuel for the impactful policies and programmes of his administration.
The indigenes said his completion agenda would not be total, if the only cottage hospital at the council headquarters in Ikot Akpankuk, which was abandoned by successive governments suffer the same fate under him.
At a press conference yesterday, the indigenes under the aegis of Ukanafun Professionals’ Association (UK-PRO), lamented that the abandonment of the hospital project has caused deaths of pregnant women, children and the elderly due to lack of access to medical care in nearby locations.
Addressing the forum, the public relations officer (PRO) of the association, Comrade Omasco Ekeke, appealed to the governor to ensure the completion of the project in order to stop avoidable deaths, especially in this hard time of excruciating cash crunch.
He recalled that the project had been stalled for 15 years, adding that several appeals to revive it could not yield any appreciable response and, therefore, urged Emmanuel, to use his good offices to compel contractors to return to site, as such facility would serve as a lasting legacy and big parting gift to the distraught people of Ukanafun.
He said, “After several calls we have been launching since September 2022, to the state government to cause resumption of works at the site of the project, which was initiated and abandoned about 15 years ago, nothing has been done as at today, which is about 38 days to the end of the Udom Emmanuel eight-years’ administration.
“May be, it is proper to state that the only thing done to the knowledge of the public remains a statement issued by the Akwa Ibom State information and strategy commissioner, Comrade Iniobong Ememobong, on January 27, 2023, that the work at the site of the hospital has reached advanced stage, and would soon be commissioned.
“Till date, the fact remains that the site of the project is now dilapidated and bushy. It is the considered view of the UK-PRO that time has come for the proposed Ukanafun Cottage Hospital to be declared a failed completion agenda.
“For those who have been following the activities of UK-Pro, the declaration of the failed completion agenda, is not a hasty conclusion. Maybe, it is exhaustion of our patience since the Udom Emmanuel administration has about 38 days left and this uncomplimentary, but truthful remark stems from failure to complete a project that commenced and curiously got terminated in the early days of the previous administration.
“The fact that government is a continuum does not translate that a project that should normally be completed within a year or thereabout should be dwelt upon indefinitely by every succeeding administration in the state.”
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