By David Augustine
The Akwa Ibom state governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel
has corrected the impression among the people of the state that the immediate
past governor of the state, Senator Godswill Akpabio, commissioned the Four
Point by Sheraton at Ikot Ekpene. The governor some weeks ago while briefing
attendees at the monthly government house prayer session said that on the
contrary, what the former governor commissioned was just the building, which
does not amount to a hotel.
The governor accused the people, who accuse
him of abandoning Akpabios projects of not understanding the differences
between a building and a hotel. He stated that the state government still needs
$7.2m, about N2, 577, 600, 000 at the current exchange rate, to turn the
already commissioned building into a hotel.
"For Ikot Ekpene hotel, that one I cant
help it. We must still put in more money. But the issue there is that hotel is
not a building. They say that the former governor has already opened the hotel.
Sorry! A building is different from a hotel o! A building is not a hotel,"
he emphasized to the worshippers.
Throwing more light on the controversy
surrounding what the people saw as the abandonment of the hotel, the governor
went on to say, "I need 7.2 million US dollars to turn that building into
a hotel. And as at today, I have deposited the sum of 4 million US dollars,
leaving a balance of 3.2 million US dollars and I am still looking for the 3.2
million dollars to pay so I can turn that building you see into a hotel. It is
not yet a hotel."
The governor pleaded with the people of the
state to understand that government is like a building block, where one is put
on the other until all is built up, adding that it was not a personal thing and
nobody should view it as such.
"Some people dont understand some of
these things. They will write that Udom has abandoned all Godswills legacies.
Sorry! It is nothing personal. Dont try to create problems where there are
none," the governor admonished.
The 4 Points by Sheraton Ikot Ekpene, was
commissioned on Tuesday May 26, 2015 by Out-going governor, now Senator
Godswill Akpabio, who during the occasion took guests, including Gov. Udom
Emmanuel, who was then awaiting swearing in as governor, round the facilities
of the 14-Story Oval shaped edifice , reputed to have 146 rooms, 14 suites, a
600-seater banquet hall, six meeting rooms, swimming pool, terrace, fountain, a
presidential wing, among others. Akpabio had praised the contractors for
delivering the project on time and showed off existing facilities around the
hotel.
On January 13, 2017, as reported by Ibom
Reporters (www.ibomreporters.com retrieved on Nov. 17, 2017), in a report
written by Henshaw Nyong and Ruth Essien; Akan Okon, Udom’s commissioner for
special duties, who at the commissioning of the hotel in 2015, was the
commissioner for finance under Akpabio, while “debunking the rumors that
facilities and equipment were brought from Ibom Le Meridian Hotel and Golf
Resort, for the purposes of commissioning the hotel in 2015”: the commissioner
(Akan Okon) said, “Le Meridian is still operating today, not so? Now how come
we have materials there and here at the same time?” He was reported as asking
rhetorically.
Okon went on to tell the reporters, “It is a pity that what
thrives in our state is rumour. People rarely verify information. Thank God you
people; men of the fourth estate of the realm have seen the true position here
and you can differentiate between rumors and what you have seen here. I am sure
you will also help us to inform our people properly that this place is at the
stage of its usage, after we must have finished putting finishing touches in a
few departments.”
See more pictures below...
No comments: