The establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) a couple of years back by the federal government was a welcome development by many as the region has been criminally neglected in terms of infrastructural development by the various administrations the country has witnessed almost five decades after independence, despite the huge contribution of the region to the national economy. It could be recalled though that the previous administrations had also established similar agencies for similar purposes, but as always the case, lack of seriousness and sincerity became the trailing marks of those agencies.
After several years of agony, due to the extremely poor condition of the said road, came a big sigh of relief for the people of these communities stretching six villages from Ikot Ebiere in Onna LGA to Ukam in Mkpat Enin LGA, several visits and representations spearheaded by Asong community, the worst hit, had been made to the NDDC to come to the rescue of the people. God in His infinite mercy answered the fervent prayers of the people and in December 2004, a multi-million Naira contract was awarded to CENTESIMAL AND CONSULTANCY LTD for the construction of the 11km road, including a bridge of about 12m long, to alleviate the sufferings of the people. Now, good people of Akwa Ibom, ask me to what extent has the job been done almost four years after, in spite of the huge sum of money paid out as mobilization fee?
Many dry seasons have been witnessed since. Where is the contractor? Who was even the contractor that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) could not know, visit and then interrogate the culprit to explain what has happened to the two hundred and fifty million naira (N250, 000,000.00) that was paid out as mobilization fee? Are we even sure the contract was awarded to a genuine and competent contractor? Because genuine and competent contractors that could boast of equipment for road constriction do not really know rainy or dry seasons when given a job to do. I recall in my interactions with the people from the area, it was revealed that the governor of the state at the time the contract was awarded, Obong Victor Attah, had agitated for the contract to be awarded to MOTHERCAT firm, a company with a good track record of performance, but that useless thing then so called Abuja and home fronts came into play and the contract was awarded to the company of the deputy governor at that time, Dr. Chris Ekpenyong, though he lived in Akwa Ibom but belonged to the Abuja front. He personally went to the community and boasted to the people that the governor had wanted the job awarded to MOTHERCAT, and so because of that, he was going to deliver a job as good, if not better than what MOTHERCAT would have done within a time frame of eighteen (18) months. But four years after, where are we? What is the situation? Only God, the company CENTESIMAL and the contractor, Dr. Chris Ekpenyong can provide the answers.
In situations of this nature however, there are always problems of some demands by the community. I am not claiming ignorance of such in this case, especially in the area of appointing the Community Liaison Officer (CLO) in which the community insisted on appointing somebody they claimed is “exposed” and who of course is quite older than the contractor. They went as far as fixing how much the CLO would be paid. But I think as a matter of fact the contractor has the prerogative to choose anybody he wants to work with, provided the fellow is from that area. All these however are issues of no interest now as the case had since been taken care of by the High Court in Eket, when it struck out the case for want of jurisdiction and lack of locus standi.
So now, where is our contractor? What is the fate of these six villages that share this road? I have a feeling that when somebody has reached a certain level in life, such a person should think more of his name and integrity than any other thing, but unfortunately, our people tend to run after shadow much more than their image.
It is the more annoying that after the mobilization fee had been paid, the contractor was then busy putting up one of the best hospitality outfits in Uyo which could easily be passed for a 5-Star Hotel and then went as far as inviting the executive governor of the state, Chief Godswill Akpabio, to perform the opening ceremony of the outfit named EEMJM HOTEL & SUITES. How I wish the governor had known of this abandonment of a multi-million naira project meant to develop the state before hand.
On the part of the NDDC, I do not know what criteria the commission uses to award contracts. As a matter of fact, award of contracts should never, for God's sake, be done on sentiments, it should rather be something done purely on merit and pedigree. The commission could compensate its contractors with jobs they can easily handle and not road construction which requires the use of heavy duty equipment that they will start to look for where to hire one old caterpillar that can hardly last two to three hours without breaking down. In fact, let me use this opportunity to drum it to the ears of NDDC that none of its projects in villages around this area, including electricity project in Atanuk-Ikot Obio Ekpong Ikot Ekong has been executed long after the contracts were awarded.
May I suggest to NDDC that a monitoring unit, if there is none already, would be very helpful for the commission? Such would be saddled with the responsibility of going about inspecting the projects of the commission and then report back to the commission and where there is poor or no performance, like in the case of Ikot Ebiere Ukam Road, the commission should as a matter of discipline waste no time in revoking such contracts and re-awarding same to a more competent company; otherwise, we would end up having low quality jobs or outright abandonment and the essence of establishing the NDDC would have been defeated and the people keep suffering unnecessarily.
Lack of seriousness and sincerity has been the bane of poor infrastructural development in the Niger Delta region of the country over the years and when the people get fed up with the situation and start raising protests in form of militancy and youth restiveness, we start 90blaming them, but we forget so soon what roles we played in the game that led to these vices. The people in the affected communities must however be commended for their maturity and patience in this case.
If I were a contractor, I would politely negotiate and let out a job I cannot handle to another person who can do it. If for a job worth about One Billion Naira (N1 billion) make a profit as much as Fifty Million Naira (50,000,000.00) what do I lose? Definitely nothing! So, our dear contractor in his capacity as a senior citizen of this state should do everything humanly possible to redeem his already battered image, by moving to the site immediately now that the rain is almost over and ensure that a good quality job, as good as what MOTHERCAT would have done should better be delivered in the shortest possible time, for peace to reign.