Recently we set out to laud the Government of Akwa Ibom State under the leadership of Mr Udom Emmanuel
over the Eket –Ibeno road which the administration was constructing to
link the entire state with the oil producing communities of Eket to
Ibeno.
However, in recent weeks, there has been series of campaigns
noticed on the media and in formal discussions that the road was not
constructed by the state government, and that in fact it’s being
constructed by the Exxon Mobil, a multi-national oil company doing
business in the oil rich coastal communities.
It is not out of place,
for an oil company to set out and execute projects as part of its
corporate social responsibility.
However, it is very disturbing to be
imagined that a road claimed to be executed by the State government is
actually majorly funded by a private company.
To this end, we have
carried out an independent investigations, analyses and survey of the
roads project and we can categorically state as follows:
1. Over
46.5bn naira has been used to execute the 19.5billion dualised
Eket-Ibeno Road project that comes with at least four new bridges and
some dredging work and reclamation of swampy terrains for roads.
2. Following a post oil spillage crisis that shut down the operations
of Mobil in 2013, the company agreed to pay the community a palliative
amount of N26.5 billion to curb the menace of the oil spill and pacify
the enraged communities.
3. That only N5 billion of that amount
was actually meant for the four core oil communities to execute targeted
development projects.
4. N8billion was paid directly to the
CCECC, the company handling the Eket –Ibeno road in 2013 as part of the
oil spill palliative to the affected communities.
5. The
remaining amount of N13.5 Billion was promised by ExxonMobil for the
construction of a trauma center in University of Uyo Teaching Hospital,
an Engineering Facility at University of Uyo Permanent Site, the
development of the Ibeno beach and a Fabrication Company in Eket. None
of these has been executed till date.
6. Of the total N5Billion agreed for the Communities, only 50% of that amount have been remitted to the communities till date.
7. We also discovered that the N8Billion that was paid to the CCECC had
long been exhausted before the advent of the administration of Mr Udom
Emmanuel, hence the company stopped had since stopped work on the road
project until the arrival of Mr Emmanuel to recommence the project.
8. It's on record that in 2013 the former Governor, Senator Godswill
Obot Akpabio did the ground breaking ceremony for the road and awarded
the contract to CCECC, and Mobil’s /Community Support fund came to the
Construction firm in 2013. If the money was relevant, why then did the
firm suspend work on the project before May 29, 2015?
Half-truths are as good as lies. In raising their sign post of N8Billion
contribution on Eket-Ibeno Road Exxon Mobil has attempted to undermine
the onerous efforts of the government of Akwa Ibom State in executing
the project and openly ridicules the efforts of the State government on
the Eket-Ibeno road construction while disdainfully spitting on the
peaceful environment she operates on.
It’s then perceived in all modesty
that Exxon Mobil was either economical with truth or outrightly
mischievous by erecting a sign post indicating her contribution to the
Eket-Ibeno road while ignoring to also give credit to the Akwa Ibom
State government.
A professional multinational entity like Exxon Mobil,
assumed to have strong working ethics should have thought beyond
selfishness and ego masturbation while seeking fame from a state
government executed project.
It's absurd that their Community and Public
Relations department had not taken into consideration the impact of
their rushed glory seeking signage and the insult it can cause on the
sensibility of communities.
The Mandate Eyes recommends the
immediate removal of the controversial signage from the Eket-Ibeno road,
a stoppage of the ongoing media campaigns, with an open apology to the
Government and good people of Akwa Ibom State for such ill intended
advertisement explaining the true position of the Eket-Ibeno road.
It is
also worthy of note that the project which is billed for commissioning
by the state government few weeks from now, has become a subject of
negative publicity masterminded by the public affairs department of the
company to cast a smear on the government of Akwa Ibom State.
We
therefore wish to hereby advise the oil company to desist from being
used by politicians to attempt any act that can fuel tension and disrupt
its peaceful operations in Akwa Ibom State.
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