Akwa Ibom seeks N144b refund on FG projects

Akwa Ibom State Government has appealed to the Federal Government to refund about N144 billion owed the state as money spent on intervention and construction of federal projects in the state, including roads.

The state’s Commissioner for Works, Mr. Ephraim Inyang-Eyen, who stated this yesterday in Uyo, said the Federal Government had given approval for the refund of about N78.4 billion from the total sum.

“We were owed N144 billion or thereabout. Half of it was approved. We were supposed to get N78.4 billion but as I speak, Akwa Ibom has not received the money.“They are two different things, giving approval and receiving the money. Anybody who says otherwise should give us evidence of such payment to the state.

“The Senate has given approval, the President has agreed, we don’t know where it is hanging. The truth is that Akwa Ibom has not received the money,” he said.The commissioner said the work done on road infrastructure in the state had sealed the lips of the critics, stressing that the present administration’s focus was on road construction.as such would attract investors to the state, thereby actualising government’s cardinal programme of industrialisation.

“My mandate as commissioner for works is to ensure that local councils and communities that had not benefited from road infrastructure from the previous administrations from 1999 to date have government’s presence and a sense of belonging,” he added.