By Ekemini SIMON
THE Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has assured citizens of the state that it would investigate the allegation of corruption and crisis bedeviling Peacock Paints Limited.
The assurance by the state legislature comes on the heels of the John D. and Catherine T. MacAuthor Foundation and ICIR-supported investigative report carried out by The Mail Newspaper where deep-seated corruption and misappropriation of state government intervention fund in Peacock Paints Limited by the management was exposed.
The Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Aniekan Bassey noted that the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly would not allow the matter to be swept under the carpet. “After resumption from the strike by Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), we would act on the report.
“That is what we were elected to do. The committee chairman is in the know. He has indicated interest and he is eager to work on it,” Hon. Bassey said in a phone interview on Monday, April 19, 2021.
In the same vein, the chairman of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly’s Committee on Trade and Investment, Hon. Kufreabasi Edidem disclosed in an interview that the House of Assembly has received calls from the public to look into the report of corruption in Peacock Paints Limited.
Edidem, whose committee has oversight powers on the state government investments, said he has kick-started personal investigations into the issue prior to official investigation by the committee at the time the House will resume plenary.
He said: “We will have to undertake preliminary investigations to verify the facts in the report, find out other facts and the position of government. Without this report, we would not have been able to work.
“Before we invite people, we will have to gather adequate facts so that we know what question to ask and who to direct the question to.
“Even though we are yet to resume, as the committee chairman, I have begun asking questions.”
Edidem assured that the public would be kept abreast of developments from the probe by the House.