Akwa Ibom expresses worry over N140Billion federal indebtedness

The Akwa Ibom State Government has expressed concern over N140billion debt the Federal Government owed the state for various federal roads projects it executed.
 
In an interview with The Guardian in Uyo on states of roads in the state, Commissioner of Works, Mr. Ephraim Inyang, said the government has done so much in opening the state for investors and the people and called on the Federal Government to pay what it owes the state to enable it achieved more.
 
Inyang put the total debts the federal government owes the state on roads refund at N140billion, out of which N68billion has been confirmed ready for payment.

“The last administration did perfect documentation and I believe if the N68billion that is ready for payment was paid, Governor Udom Emmanuel would have used it to do so much work.”

Inyang stated that the major challenge facing the state is funding, saying: “If God decides to bless the state like He has done before, which I hope He will do again, and we have the kind of resources that were previously available, I can bet my chest that when the governor leaves office in 2023, Akwa Ibom will be a different place that the indigenes will be so proud of, because the governor is proactive, focused and predetermined to get result.”

“If the Federal Government pays the N68billion, being part of our refund, this state will wear a different outlook.”The commissioner, however, frowned at the attitude of some federal agencies, such as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which duplicates projects in the state without due consultation, saying: “If the state government has awarded a road, the intervening agency does not need to go and award the same road. We are not in a competition.”