Akwa Ibom Deputy Governor, Moses Ekpo has expressed shock at the number of projects listed for inspection by the Senate Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development.
”Most of the projects were neither known to the government nor were their needs and locations assessed and rationalized,’’ Ekpo said.
The deputy governor who stood in for Governor Udom Emmanuel stated this when the Senate Committee paid him a courtesy call at Government House, Uyo on Tuesday.
He, therefore, called for a closer collaboration with the federal government and its agencies in the execution of projects in the state.
According to him, there was need for the federal government and its agencies to always build confidence in the states and ensure proper consultations towards the success of such projects for the purpose of proper synergy and needs assessment.
”The need for such consultations and periodic reviews, according to the governor, became necessary to enable the two governments align their resources towards a common goal,’’ Ekpo pointed out.
The deputy governor noted that given the present inflationary trend occasioned by uncertainties of the global economy, there was utmost need to ensure that government had value for resources committed into projects.
He stressed the imperatives of adherence to timelines in the course of project delivery in order to enhance full benefits to the end users, adding that these are the very factors that have informed project successes of the Akwa Ibom Government.
Mr. Ekpo commended the Senate Committee for their visit and described the visit as an opportunity to ‘eye mark’ what the executive arm of government had earlier earmarked.
He further used the opportunity to call on the federal government to continue to carry Akwa Ibom State along in the distribution of its developmental projects in the country while assuring them of the state government’s preparedness to partner with them at all times.
Earlier, the leader of the team and former governor of Ebonyi State, Senator Sam Egwu had said they were in the state as part of their oversight function to inspect finished and ongoing federal government projects within its jurisdiction.
Egwu lauded the visible developmental projects that the Udom Emmanuel administration has executed in the state, and described the state-owned Ibom Air services as the best in the nation’s aviation sector.
Other members of the team were Senator Ashiru Oyelola, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, Senator Kabiru Gaya, Senator Danjuma La’ah and Senator Cleopas Moses.
In the course of their oversight, the team would visit the sites of 40 projects located in different parts of the state.
