Former Commissioner under Gov Udom tackles him over borrowing, alleged contract racketeering

Former Commissioner for Economic Development in Akwa Ibom, Prof Emmanuel Onwioduokit has condemned the excessive borrowing of the present administration and huge debt profile therein.

Onwioduokit who spoke in the wake of Gov Udom’s proposal to borrow N150 billion from the money market said despite the colourations given by both the Executive and the legislature for the loan, the state would be subjected to paying back with huge interests.

Meanwhile, the state House of Assembly has already approved the loan request from the governor but Onwioduokit insists, “No state government can create money through the instrument. Any form of instrument that a state issue is debt because it would involve a payback with interest, to that extent, it is a loan. Only the private sector can issue equity and shares, which makes you an owner with the company.”

Onwioduokit also noted that the debt profile of the state government is over N400 billion and wondered how the state would wriggle itself out of the menace.

The University Don challenged the governor to defend the N18 billion borrowed for the installation of CCTV cameras in the state.

“This same government borrowed the sum of N18b for installation of CCTV Cameras across the state to help in the fight against criminality. Where are the cameras? where were they installed? what happened to the money?” He queried

Speaking on the spate of abandoned projects and lack of due process in awarding contracts, Prof Onwioduokit said, “it was impossible to prosecute defaulting contractors who were not subjected to proper processes of bidding before being awarded contracts.

“Why are they not bidding for the roads? why do they sit down and allocate contracts to their friends? Even the procurement law requires bidding and competition before contracts are awarded. The state is further deprived by the shoddy approach to contract awards because even the bidding process would have attracted some revenue to the state.

“The likelihood now is that when your friend whom you awarded the contract without due process defaults, you cannot prosecute them. Are there ongoing court cases to recover funds from defaulting contractors? We do not even know how much was involved in all the projects across the state.”