In what looks like leaving the main drum to beat its sides, Akwa Ibom State government has misfired on the accusations of Policy Alert.
Alert, a Civil Society Organisation that promotes fiscal and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, had raised some controversial appropriations made in the Akwa Ibom State 2023 Supplementary Budget.
The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly had, in September, passed a Supplementary Budget of N150 billion in addition to N700 billion earlier approved, bringing the total revised budget to N850 billion for 2023 fiscal year.
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A breakdown of the Supplementary Budget shows that N50.3 billion was appropriated for Recurrent Expenditure and N99.69 billion for Capital Expenditure.
But, a press release signed by the organisation’s Programme Officer, Fiscal Reforms and Anti-Corruption, Faith Paulinus, reveals that a bulk of the capital expenditure on the supplementary budget was made on projects already inaugurated by the past administration.
The already inaugurated projects that received supplementary appropriation included a budget of N1bn for the Dualisation of 19.8km Ikot Oku Ikono Junction-Etinan Road with flyover at Ikot Oku Ikono, N500m for the Construction Etinan-Ndon Eyo road, N1.2bn for Eket-Etinan road, NIbn for Uyo-Ikot Ekpene road, and N6.5bn for Construction of International Terminal Building at Victor Attah International Airport.
“The provision of a supplementary budget for these projects after they had been clearly inaugurated by the previous administration raises a red flag and demands answers” the organisation stated.
The statement added “It is also disturbing that the Government of Akwa Ibom State prioritised provision of furnitures for new State House Members and purchase of utility vehicles in the supplementary budget, whereas the allocation for these items in the original budget were already sufficient and far above comparable rates.”
“In the supplementary budget, the purchase of 90 Jeeps for Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) had N2.8bn supplementary budget totaling N5.55bn in the revised budget while the purchase of 90 Pick Up Trucks for the office of the SSG had a supplementary budget of N1.2bn totaling N2.6bn in the revised budget for the year.
The statement added that the State Assembly had a supplementary budget of N200m for Assembly Complex Landscaping, N750m for file cabinets for the Assembly, and N200m for office furniture, wondering why these items needed supplementation having been appropriated in recent times.
“While there is nothing wrong with having a supplementary budget, the amount and the target areas on this particular supplementary budget leaves a lot of unanswered questions.
“Akwa Ibom’s total revenue stood at N388.5bn as of the third quarter of 2023. This raises doubt that the State will be able to raise the N850bn revenue it has projected in its revised budget. The N150bn supplementary budget will, therefore, adversely affect the budget credibility of the State.”
Gov Eno dismisses the report
Instead of the governor and his media aides revealing the sums expended on the controversial projects in the Supplementary Budget and the sums owed contractors resorted to dancing round the Policy Alert’s allegations and attacking the persons involved in uncovering the report.
Reacting to the report, Akwa Ibom Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, dismissed as spurious and unfounded, the allegations of controversial appropriations in the 2023 Supplementary Budget credited to Policy Alert, saying that his administration will remain focused on delivering dividends of good governance to Akwa Ibom people in line with the ARISE Agenda.
Eno who fielded questions from Government House correspondents at Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo before he left the state for an official engagement, reaffirmed his resolve to pursue the implementation of his development blueprint and positively touch people’s lives.
“The truth is that this government will not be responding to frivolous allegations. I won’t be distracted. I have a mission to serve Akwa Ibom State in line with the ARISE Agenda. I’ll keep to that mission and let Akwa Ibom people judge at the end of the day,” he said.
On the issue of revisiting old projects and frivolous borrowing, the governor reiterated his campaign promise of completing all yet-to-be-completed projects initiated by past administrations and funded with the people’s money, while challenging the publisher to show proof of any borrowing by his administration.
“What’s wrong with funding old projects? These projects are for Akwa Ibom people. For example, we have to get Airplanes for Ibom Air, these are continuous things that we should do. And even while doing all of that, we haven’t borrowed a dime.
“We will soon take delivery of ten brand new Airbus planes that we ordered . And I know we have to pay them, there is a payment plan and as it is due, we pay. We’re meeting our financial obligations,” he added.
Governor Eno however clarified that it was not out of place for the government to borrow out of necessity, if it has to do with meeting the needs of the people of the State.
“…they talked about borrowing, I challenged them to show me one piece of document that I’ve signed to borrow one Naira since I became governor.
“I’ve not borrowed money and I don’t intend to borrow money until I present the budget, maybe next year. If we borrow at all, it would be for specific projects.”
He further clarified that he has been running government with vehicles inherited from the previous administration because he has not purchased any vehicles since assumption of office.
He stressed that even vehicles for Legislators which he acknowledged as a necessity, were yet to be provided due to the present economic realities.
“Since I became governor, I’ve not bought one vehicle, you can see my vehicle. The House of Assembly members too have not got new vehicles because of the rate of inflation in the country and I’ve been appealing to them to hold on.
“Even the SSG has no new vehicle. So where did they see ninety vehicles? Who signed it? How?” Governor Eno queried?
Usen ‘misfires’ too
Anietie Usen, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Governor, in his reaction, did not provide figures and other facts to counter the report but attack the persons who reported it, thus fuelling more suspicion on the activities of the state government.
A press release by Usen stated “Part of the problems that the young minds at Policy Alert have is a shortfall of knowledge and understanding of how government works. For instance, most if not all the projects that PA listed as ‘already inaugurated but still budgeted for’, are projects that the government is still owing contractors and budgetary provisions must be made for the instalmental payment across possibly many budget cycles.
‘‘One good example is Eket-Etinan Road, one of the most beautiful roads in the State, which former president Olusegun Obasanjo commissioned in the last days of the very accomplished Governor Emmanuel’s Administration.
‘‘The contractors completed the job perfectly well and allowed it to be commissioned under what is called ‘good faith’ money. Good faith money is a deposit of money into an account by a contractor or buyer to show that they have the intention of completing a deal.’’
Writing under the headline: WHEN POLICY ALERT IS FALSEHOOD, he stated ‘‘Government is still owing these contractors and debt payments in most cases can span and spread across many budget years as the government struggles to walk the tightrope of balancing pressing public needs with lean financial resources.
‘‘The good news in the Akwa Ibom case is that the budgets for these roads and other projects are all in the public domain. Thanks to the nationally acknowledged and applauded transparency of the Udom Emmanuel administration, what has been spent and the balance to be spent in all projects are there for the public to see.
‘‘These are all public documents and absolutely nothing new. That’s why there are terminologies like budget deficit, budget surplus, budget performance, etc. Budget, after all, is a mere plan, estimate, and proposal of the government, organisation, and even individuals, that depend on a number of factors that are sometimes beyond human control, to be executed. The fact that projects, programmes and services have been budgeted for does not mean that they have all been executed within that budget cycle. This applies to the budgeted vehicles that PA raised a needless alarm about,” he concluded.
