Governor Umo Eno, has commissioned the reconstructed 3.3km Idua road and the emergency intervention works at the collapsed Afia Nsit road in the Eket local government area of Akwa Ibom State.
He has also directed a review of the Afia Nsit gully reclamation project to ensure that the outfall drains are properly channelled into a river.
Speaking at the commissioning, the Governor noted the importance of the two projects in connecting the different parts of Eket and neighbouring local communities and reassured of his commitment to completing projects initiated by the preceding administration.
He noted that the gully reclamation cannot be terminated in its current location, because, “if we terminate them where they are, in another few years, we will be facing another problem. We will continue and take them to a river to have that project last for a long time.
“For the one they have done, we are here to commission, but I have directed that the contractor extends the outfall drain and make sure they connect them to a river.”
The Governor therefore announced his approval for the construction of a bridge to connect Ikot Ekpene Udo in Nsit Ubium to Eket through the South-end of Idua road as well as extending the road on the north end to join the Udom Emmanuel Boulevard, as well as an intervention on the collapsed portion of Grace Bill road in Eket.
Governor Eno used the occasion to thank the Eket people for supporting his emergence as governor and cooperating with contractors to ensure the successful execution of government projects in the area.
“We would like to thank all our leaders, starting from the Paramount Ruler for all of the work that they have assisted us to do here. I promised our people that we will continue with projects by the immediate past administration, and we are keeping to it. Some of these projects were at various stages of completion, but today we are taking them to a logical conclusion to exit this projects,” Governor Eno affirmed.
He admonished Akwa Ibom youths on the importance of self-development, reassuring them of his administration’s commitment to supporting value-adding development programmes for youths, such as the Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme (EAP), which has recently graduated the first batch of 800 trainees with N500,000 start-up grant and soon to commence another.
The Akwa Ibom Chief Executive highlighted the need to unbundle the Ministry of Youths and Sports to create a designated ministry for youth development, as he expressed dissatisfaction with the level of attention given to youth development under the Ministry’s current structure.
On industrialization, he said the Akwa Ibom State Government will continue to ensure a safe and investment-friendly environment in the state for businesses to strive while doing due diligence to the general well-being of citizens.
However, for the moribund Qua River Hotel in Eket, he requested a full brief to enable the government to make the right decision.
“I want to ask the leadership of Eket, through the President of the Eket Union, to give us a full brief so that we can understand the situation of Qua River Hotel. We need to develop that hotel.
“There is no reason why it should be like that,” he said.
Presenting an overview of the projects, the Commissioner for Works and Fire Service, Eno Ibanga, said the Afia Nsit gully reclamation has a 3-metre double cell culvert, with 200m road restored across the area to reconnect the road, thereby reconnecting the two sections of Eket, while the work on Idua road has treated the root problem of excessive volumes of water causing incessant road collapse.
Some stakeholders in Eket, including the Local Government Transition Committee Chairman, Akaniyene Tommy, Paramount Ruler, Edidem E. C. D. Abia, Assam Assam, Helen Esuene, President of Eket People’s Union, Samuel Udonsak, all spoke in glowing tribute to the governor, affirming that the Eket people have been impressed by his strides in less than a year in office.
(Ends)
