By Imó Etim
THE 12.15km Ikot Akpan Abia-Oboyo-Ikot Ita-Enen Nsit Road in Akwa Ibom state has absorbed billions of naira, yet there has been little progress. Despite substantial budgetary allocations and releases, the road remains virtually impassable, causing profound despair among the affected communities of Nsit Ibom and Ibesikpo Asutan, Imo Etim reports.
In what was anticipated to be a beacon of hope for the residents of Nsit Ibom and Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Areas (LGAs), the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, symbolically flagged off the construction of the 12.15km Ikot Akpan Abia-Oboyo, Ikot Ita-Enen Nsit Road on a promising Wednesday in April 2018. The event spurred hope among the communities, as it signalled an end to their years of enduring dilapidated and impassable roads.
At the flagging off of the road construction on April 18, 2018, the governor said compensation will be paid to property owners affected by the construction. Additionally, he stated that the contractor had already received mobilization funds to kickstart the project promptly.
Fast forward to the present day, five years since that project was commenced, the Akwa Ibom State government appears to have faltered on its commitment to the people of Nsit Ibom and Ibesikpo Asutan. The road that was meant to alleviate their sufferings has, instead, become a stark reminder of unfulfilled promises and growing hardships. The 12.15km road winds through the heart of communities in both local government areas, yet its condition continues to deteriorate, leaving the residents in despair.
The contract, awarded by the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Works and Fire Services to Hensek Integrated Services with undisclosed terms for a stipulated 30-month timeframe, has languished in abandonment for a staggering 64 month.
Wastage of public funds
Investigations reveal consistent budget allocation of N1bn per fiscal year by the state government for the road project dating back to 2018, excluding 2020 when N800 million was allocated. Despite these allocations, progress on the project has been stagnant since late 2019.
Upon further examination, it was revealed that only N885 million out of the N1bn budgeted in 2018 was actually disbursed for the project. In 2019, the project enjoyed a full budgetary release of N1bn. An investigation conducted by TheMail Newspaper highlights that the work done on the road is far from being comprehensive. Road construction-related work has only taken place in 6 communities along the corridor of the road.
Specifically, in areas like Ikot Akpan Abia, Ikot Iko, Ikot Akpa Edu, Oboyo Ikot Ita, and Mbiakot, ditches excavated on both sides of the road have been overwhelmed by flooding and heaps of mud. Some parts of the road have been constructed up to the stone base level, yet the final asphalt overlay is lacking. In locations such as Ikot Ikọ, Ikot Akpa Edu, Oboyo Ikot Ita, and Obo Atai, the road remains at the laterite level, with only a small portion containing granite.
Mbiakot, Ikot Ọbọk, and Ikot Enwene have seen minimal work, where the topsoil has been excavated but left in a deteriorating condition. Notably, work at a bridge under construction at the boundary between Mbiakot and Ikot Obọk has been at a standstill for months. This has severed these communities from vehicular and economic activities, painting a grim picture of the project’s overall progress.
Agony and plight of the people
On the fateful day of June 5, 2023, Amaitem Mbebeng should have been celebrating his 21st birthday, a milestone that could have marked the culmination of his educational journey. With his studies behind him, he might have been on the cusp of eagerly awaiting his call to the National Youth Service Program. However, these bright prospects were tragically cut short on the notorious Enen Nsit Road, a stretch plagued by its deplorable condition.
Four years earlier, at 17, Mbebeng, was not only a diligent student pursuing Building Technology at Heritage Polytechnic, Eket but also a prodigious saxophonist. On Monday, March 25, 2019, He was making the journey back to his academic pursuits in Eket from Ikot Enwene in Nsit Ibom LGA. He chose to travel by commercial minibus due to its efficiency and convenience.
Tragedy struck as the vehicle, attempting to navigate the treacherous road conditions riddled with potholes, swerved off course. In a desperate bid to avoid the potholes, the minibus careened into an oncoming vehicle, colliding head-on.
Mbebeng died, his life cut short. The dreams he held close—a fervent desire to be an engineer and the harmonious melodies of his saxophone—were abruptly silenced.
While speaking with TheMail Newspaper, the father of the deceased, Ini Mbebeng, expressed profound sorrow over the tragic loss of his son. He lamented that his untimely demise was a direct result of governmental negligence, and the pain of this loss continues to haunt him.
He also noted that despite his community’s contributions to the state, it has been left wanting in terms of essential infrastructural development by the state government.
“The Ikot Akpan Abia- Enen Nsit Road is important to us in Nsit Ibom and Ibesikpo Asutan, because that is the easiest way to access the Uyo township to sell our agricultural produce, and other goods.
“We produce palm oil, palm kernel, fruits and vegetables which are highly perishable and easily get spoilt if we don’t sell them quickly. The bad state of the road has worsened our fate and made us incur more losses. The state government should quickly step in and complete these roads to prevent such unfortunate and painful occurrences,” he stressed.
Sarah Udofia, a resident of Mbiakot village, has had a fair share of bad experiences on the road. Trapped by impassable routes, she reveals the stifling impact of the road on her daily life. She said local markets, including Etaha, Urua Obot, and Urua Mbiakot, are now a shadow of themselves with little or no economic activity taking place.
She said: “Once thriving markets like Etaha, Urua Obot, and Urua Mbiakot are now distant memories. Every Tuesday, my journey starts at 5:00 am, trekking to Ikot Udo EkopVillage.
“There, I hope to find transportation for my fruits and vegetables to Afaha Market in Ibesikpo Asutan local government area. The cost of this trip is N700 to reach the market and about N800 for the return, totalling N1,500.”
Sarah also said her children’s education has also taken a hit due to the poor state of the road.
“My children were regulars at Migrant Primary School in Mbiakot Village but now they rarely go to school due to the fact that their teachers only show up when they can. When it rains, no teacher would show up due to inaccessible roads.”
More sad tales
Mbiakot, a village in Nsit Ibom, stands as one of the most severely affected areas. It is plagued not only by deteriorating access roads but also by profound gullies stretching over 15 feet wide, cleaving the road into halves. The gullies, aggravated by excavation during construction, mark a worsening state. Also, areas used as borrow pits and left without remediation now obstructs entryways to compounds and amplifies the inconveniences faced by residents. This scenario contrasts starkly with the expectations when Hensek Integrated started work in 2018.
During this reporter’s visit to the community on July 8, 2023, it was observed that only bicycles and, occasionally, motorcycles could navigate the narrow pathway connecting the community. This limited means of transportation further highlights the challenges residents face when traveling to neighbouring communities for economic activities.
At Oboyo Ikot Ita community, the Divisional Police Station can only be accessed by foot due to the dilapidated nature of the road. During the visit, a police officer on duty who craved anonymity for fear of being victimized said conducting surveillance or effecting arrests becomes an arduous endeavour due to the bad road.
“On the long run, this significantly impedes our crime-fighting efforts within the communities,” he said.
“If I must be sincere with you, a lot of people do not know that there’s still a police station here due to bad roads. A lot of people no longer believe it’s still a functional police station because of how the entrance is. Sometimes, when we go to effect an arrest, we have to park far away, and somehow information gets out to the people beforehand. They scamper for safety, only to return to perpetrate more crimes. We are helpless due to this situation. We are calling on the government to come to our aid,” he said.
A vulcanizer in Obo Atai village, Christopher Joshua, shared his experience of returning from Uyo after purchasing some work materials only to find that flood had swept away some of the motorcycle tires he was supposed to work on. He had to embark on a search to recover them before his client returned to discover the unfortunate incident.
Ndifreke Akpan, a patent medicine dealer in the community, shared his personal account, highlighting the adverse impact of the road project’s abandonment. He lamented the decline in patronage his business has experienced since the road project halted. He also expressed grave concerns about his children’s ability to attend school during rainy days.
“This road used to be just sandy, and we used to manage our movement before the commencement of work. After that, they brought machines to work on the road. Today, it has been abandoned, and there is no road for school children to pass to school. On two occasions, my kids fell into stagnant water on the road while going to school, and their books and uniforms were wet,” he stated.
Opacity surrounding the contract
Contract signboards, commonly displayed at project sites to convey essential information, were conspicuously absent in this instance, contrary to established global norms and that of the Akwa Ibom State Procurement Laws Guiding Principles clearly indicating that; “all procurement carried out by all procurement entities in the State; shall in all cases be executed in a transparent, timely, equitable manner that shall ensure value for money, fitness for purpose and conform with the provisions of this Law and regulations deriving from it.”
These signboards typically offer crucial details such as the contractor’s identity, project duration, contract supervisor, and the awarding authority, fostering transparency. The absence of such information raises an initial concern, signalling a potential lack of transparency in the project.
The glaring absence of transparency on this project violates the State Procurement Law as enacted and duly signed by former governor Udom Emmanuel on Thursday, July 23, 2020.
Although the state works and fire services ministry claimed Hensek Integrated as the contractor for the project awarded in 2018, a subsequent investigation conducted by TheMail Newspaper revealed that the road contract was initially awarded to HP Constructing Company Limited. A government published magazine titled; “Superior Performance Digest—Pictorial facts of Udom’s Superlative Performance”, a compendium of the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Works (Vol.3 No 12) published in May 2019 indicated HP Constructing Company as the contractor in charge of the road project.
Corroborating the fact, Akparawa Ephraim Inyaneyen, the former Commissioner for Works in Akwa Ibom State from 2015-2020, told this reporter that HP Constructing Company Limited, a Lagos-based firm, won the bid but later subcontracted the project to Hensek Integrated Services, citing challenges in mobilizing logistics and personnel.
Several attempts to establish contact with HP Constructing Company Limited, proved abortive, as the legitimacy of the company’s existence could not be definitively ascertained. A search for the company on the Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigeria’s official companies registration agency, showed that HP Constructing Company is not a registered entity.
This breaches the Public Procurement Act2007. Section 16 subsection 6(d) which states that “All bidders, in addition to requirements contained in any solicitation documents, shall have fulfilled all their obligations to pay taxes, pensions, and social security contributions.”
The award of a contract to a non-existent contracting company also contravenes Sections 417–424 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020, which state, among other things, that “every company must make and deliver their annual returns to the CAC every year”.
The Akwa Ibom State government appears to have a consistent approach of shrouding contract terms in a veil of secrecy when it comes to its procurement practices. Vital details, including the monetary value and timeline of road construction projects, are closely guarded.
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to Hensek Integrated Services, requesting for project details such as contract approval letter, cost of contract, contract duration, stage of work executed, and location covered, as well as records of payments received from government along with corresponding dates was greeted with silence. Follow up phone calls and text messages to Hensek Integrated went unanswered.
The Executive Director of Hensek Integrated Services Limited, Engr. Uwem Okoko, responsible for overseeing the project, proved equally elusive. Neither he nor his company acknowledged calls or text messages, nor did they respond to the FOI letter dispatched on July 5, 2023. Despite unwavering efforts, a barrage of calls and text messages sent between June 26 and August 14 yielded no substantive engagement. Further efforts to reach him via his social media handles still haven’t yielded result or any response.
Engr. Okoko is one of the known government cronies whose presence at state government events is usually so conspicuous that one would believe he was a government appointee. Notably, on August 20, 2021 he was drafted in to lead the political campaign train as the Local Government Steering Coordinator of the Maintain Peace Movement (MPM), In Ikot Abasi Local Government Area, a campaign team that berthed Pastor Umo Eno as governor in the last general elections. He was also seen being adorned in a political party’s attire with a glaring Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) logo well embossed on his shirt.
His sheer neglect towards critical questions, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests bothering on the crawling nature of work on the 12.15km Ikot Akpan Abia-Oboyo-Ikot Ita-Enen Nsit Road reeks of the impunity exhibited by people with connections in high places. It also inches closer to confirming the alleged ‘romance’ between him and the Akwa Ibom State government going by the continuous patronage his company keeps enjoying from the state government despite shoddy and uncompleted job(s).
The most recent one is the construction of Ndiya-Akpan Andem Market Road awarded to his company at the dawn of the Umo Eno administration only to be used as a political scoreboard to mark the governor’s 100 days in office without questioning previous jobs left undone.
Analysis of the Accountant General’s Report and Audited Financial Statements of Akwa Ibom State shows that the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel in 2019 (page 37)and 2022 (page80) had obtained N13.59bn (N5bn in 2019 and N8.59bn in 2022) loan in the name of Hensek Services from Zenith Bank where he (Governor Emmanuel) served as Executive Director before running for governorship election.
Analysis of the financial statement of 2022 reveals that as at December 31, 2022, the government of Akwa Ibom State is still indebted to Zenith Bank to the tune of N8.21bn specifically for the loan obtained for Hensek Services. These contravenes the guiding principles of Akwa Ibom State Procurement laws under part IV, Section 16 and subsection 7 (ii) which stipulates that all “procuring entities shall possess the required financial capacity to carryout procurement contracts.”
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request sent to the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Works and Fire Service, addressed to the Commissioner, a professor Eno Ibanga, and the Permanent Secretary, Elder Effiong Essien, were acknowledged but no response was received as at the time of filing this report.
Checks revealed that Elder Effiong Essien was the one running the Ministry of Works before Ibanga was recently reappointed as commissioner from Udom’s government into Umo Eno’s to continue, and he was present at the flag-off of the road construction in Nsit Ibom in 2018.
Rt. Hon. Eric Akpan, the current representative for Nsit Ibom State Constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and former Local Government Council Chairman when the road contract was awarded in 2018, initially responded to a call from the reporter on August 7, 2023. However, once the road project was mentioned, he deferred further discussion, promising to get back to this reporter.
On August 14, 2023, the legislator told this reporter that the contractor, Hensek Integrated Services, decided to pause the road construction and concentrate more on a bridge construction at Ikot Obok Village.
“I am aware that work on that road has been ongoing for a while now, but the contractor decided to pause the work and concentrate more on constructing a bridge at Ikot Obok.
Further questioned about his knowledge of the plight of his people resulting from the impassable state of the road, he said “I cannot tell the depth of pain and how bad the road is, I would need to conduct an on-the-spot assessment to comment further.”
Unfortunately, further multiple attempts through text messages and calls, have yielded no response from him regarding this matter as of the time of filing this report.
According to Akparawa Ephraim Inyangeyen, a former Commissioner for Works in the state from 2015 – 2020 who has an in-depth understanding of the contract, Hensek Integrated Services received two payment instalments in 2019 and 2020, before the onset of the COVID-19 lockdown. These claims align with publicly available records, which indicate that a significant sum of N2.885 billion was disbursed for the project in 2018 and 2019, the last fiscal years that capital expenditures can be accessed in the financial statements of Akwa Ibom State.
“That road project was pushed for by two former military officers from the area, Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga, former Military Governor of the State and General Paul Isang (Rtd), husband to current Surveyor General of the state, Grace Isang. Sadly, the former military governor passed on in December 2020,” he added.
He further emphasized that project abandonment in the state primarily results from insufficient or inadequate funding, rather than issues related to supervision. He clarified that the project had not encountered any contract variations in terms of the amount allocated, which could have hindered its progress.
Corroborating these insights, Abasiama Akpan, a Community Liaison Officer from Oboyo Ikot Ita Village, said the contractor had repeatedly expressed concerns about the lack of sufficient funds to propel the project to completion.
“According to my conversation with the contractor, the Akwa Ibom State Government had ceased funding the contract, leading to the current situation,” Akpan lamented.
Dire impact of the abandonment
From an economic perspective, the condition of the road has resulted in significant financial losses for the communities along the corridor of the road. According to residents, approximately 10 lorries (tippers) used to frequent Obo Atai and Mbiakot communities, purchasing sands at N15,000 per trip and making at least two trips daily. However, the current situation has led to increased costs, with sand now being transported at N30,000 per trip and gravels at N50,000 per trip. This price hike has been necessitated by the need to supply materials to various clients involved in diverse construction projects. Unfortunately, the deteriorating road conditions have forced these economic activities to relocate to alternative areas.
Amid these challenges, the impact on local commerce has been severe. Specifically, three viable markets have ceased operations, and a fourth one is teetering on the brink of closure. Markets like Fionetok, Uruabom, Obot, and Mbiakot markets have all borne the brunt of the road’s deplorable condition.
Among them, Fionetok market in Oboyo Ikot Ita, which once attracted traders from neighbouring communities and local government areas, continues to operate at a reduced capacity. On one the visits by this reporter, Godwin Dan, a trader who deals on wrappers and women attires decried low turnout of customers culminating in low sales.
“The diminished customer turnout is directly attributed to the deteriorating condition of the road, which has had a cascading impact on the economic vitality of these markets,” Dan said.
Expert opinions on depth of losses
In a conversation with this reporter, Liberty Oseni, the Executive Director of MAWA Foundation, emphasized a critical point. He said procurement fraud, particularly in Nigeria, often involves a disturbing collusion between contractors and government officials. This alliance is based on a troubling practice he aptly refers to as “co-creation.” It involves the allocation of contracts not solely for the public good, but as a means to either compensate the Board or government officials involved. This practice not only erodes trust in the system but also raises serious concerns about the allocation of resources meant for the betterment of society.
“In most cases, some contracts are awarded to individuals or companies who already had negotiations with the government officials to re-award such contracts to persons of interest. Every time a road is awarded and abandoned or re-awarded, it is always a case of money exchanging hands. What normally happens when another government comes in is that such contracts are re-awarded to another contractor without questions being asked about the money initially spent,” he said
On what is envisaged to complete such contracts, it was gathered that factors like the level of work done before abandonment, status and credibility of the construction company and most importantly, the exchange rate in the market as at the time of re-awarding such contracts were said to be key factors.
Expanding on the issue, Samuel Dairo, a road construction contractor, underscored several critical factors that play a pivotal role in expediting the completion of road projects. These include the vital considerations of desilting gutters and drainages, the depth of the stone base applied to the road, the extent of work completed in kilometers, and fluctuations in the prices of materials during the course of the project, as well as instances of abandonment.
He elaborated, “Any road that lacks asphalt is essentially a fresh project. When contractors are called upon to resume work on such roads, most often, they must restart unless the road already has a stone base in place, indicating that the initial groundwork, like stumping and grubbing, has been completed. It’s essential to factor in the dynamic exchange rate between the dollar and the naira.”
“Just five years ago, the daily rental rate for an excavator stood at approximately N80,000. Today, that figure has surged to N150,000 per day. Moreover, consider the price of diesel, which now sits at N845 per litre, compared to the range of N250-310 it held five years ago. This substantial price variance translates into a significant financial requirement for the project.
“Considering the extent of neglect and abandonment over the past five years, it’s becoming evident that completing the road would demand a financial commitment that is twice the amount initially invested, especially when taking into account the current economic conditions.”
This report is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).