Secret Reporters No place to hide
The cold war brewing between the Akwa Ibom State government and the Niger Delta Development Commission, has been taken to a whole new level following cases of sabotage of roads in the state.
Ever since the appointment of Obong Nsima Ekere as Managing Director of the NDDC, the AKSG has been involved in numerous spats with the commission owing to the fact that the MD of the commission, who is from the State might contest for the governorship seat come 2019. As such, it is believed that the state government will stop at nothing to make sure all developmental efforts by the commission must be sabotaged or discredited because of the man at the helm.
Secret Reporter investigations reveal that recently, hoodlums are reportedly being paid by the government to create potholes and damage roads and projects done by the NDDC in the State at the detriment of the citizens who are crying out for tangible development. This is a case of giving a dog a bad name just to hang it.
Recently, the State commissioner for works, Mr Ephraim Inyang chased away workers from an NDDC construction site over what he alleges as non-quality jobs being executed by NDDC contractors. This is seen as an effort to discredit the achievements of the NDDC in the state and rubbish the image of the NDDC on the whole.
In a state where no visible development can be seen, it’s astonishing that the government who are supposed to be cooperating with the NDDC to bring development to the state, are the same people depriving the citizens of much needed infrastructural development courtesy of the NDDC all in the name of partisan politics. Obviously, it’s the masses who’ll end up bearing the brunt of the cold war.
Efforts to reach the Commissioner for Information proved abortive as he didn’t respond to calls and SMS sent to his phone lines.
