A Senior Adviser to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State on Governmental Business, Chief Assam Assam, SAN, has said that the aversion of Governor Umo Eno to wastage and diversion of government resources are the signposts to the new way of doing things which are meant to benefit the generality of the people of Akwa Ibom.
Chief Assam made the assertion during an interview at his Uyo residence where he dismissed insinuation of money diversion leveled against the Commissioner for Lands in Akwa Ibom State, Captain Iniobong Ekong, Rtd, that about one billion Naira which was supposed to be paid in by BUA Group over a land lease agreement, cannot be traced.
The Director General of Governmental Business in Akwa Ibom State said that no such money was missing as was being speculated by those he described as mischief makers, noting that nobody will be able to steal government’s money under Governor Umo Eno’s watch.
“No money paid to any government department of this State, as far as Udom Emmanuel’s administration and the present government are concern has been diverted from the purpose for which it was paid. People just speculate. The Ministry of Lands is under the watch of the governor, and the Commissioner is a telephone call away. The Governor could have asked the Commissioner for Lands for explanations if there was any such problem” the Senior Advocate of Nigeria stated.
He explained that as a Senior member of the State Government and the PDP, he had over-arching information on some of the things to advise people about, and recalled that the BUA Group took a piece of land in Eket to build its facility in 2021 and was given a Revenue Account number of the Akwa Ibom State Government, run by the Office of the Accountant General, to pay the monetary compensation into.
The Senior Adviser stated: “The Account Number was not that of Ministry of Lands, it was the account number of Akwa Ibom State Government. That account is the Revenue Account in the Accountant General’s office, which is being managed by the Accountant General. Even though it was the Commissioner for Lands that gave the instruction that the money be paid into that account, the Commissioner for Lands himself has no access to the said account. The money is in the Treasury of the Akwa Ibom State Government. It is when the demand for it is made that the relevant vouchers will be prepared and the money can only be paid from the Treasury”.
The former Ambassador to Russia asserted that the Governor Umo Eno that he knows and had served as the Director General of the Campaign Organisation that brought him into office was averse to wastage and would not want anything that would taint his tenure which is devoted to wholesome service to the people of Akwa Ibom State.
His words: “I believe that the morning tells the day. It is what you see today that you are likely to see tomorrow. And if the Governor is the person I know and has seen him to be, one of the things we will enjoy in this State is that anyone will find it very difficult to steal money, because he himself is not going to steal it”.
Speaking on how people may view the governor’s resource management style, he noted that some people may not be comfortable with the new order but should appreciate the fact that the government they brought into office has developed their communities and be satisfied by that.
“You must be satisfied with the fact that the dividends of democracy is in your home; that it is because of you that a hospital has been built in your locality, and not to say that it was because of you that the money could have been used to build the hospital and been given to you to put in your pocket”, he counseled.
The Director General of Governmental Business in Akwa Ibom State explained that the attitude of wastefulness has gone and that anyone who thought the State would go back to what he called status quo ante must do a rethink.
Efforts to reach the Commissioner for Lands and Town Planning, Retired Capt. Iniobong Ekong to comment on the issue as at the time of this report proved abortive.
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