A’ Ibom seeks refund of N140bn spent on federal roads

Government of Akwa Ibom has urged the federal authorities to refund the N140 billion it spent on repair of federal roads in the state. Governor Udom Emmanuel renewed the appeal on Friday at Ibom International Airport on arrival from official assignment in Abuja.

Emmanuel said that the refund was necessary to help the state government to add value to its infrastructure consolidation programme now that the dry season was at hand. The governor said that he would appreciate if the Federal Government would reimburse at least 50 per cent of this amount to the state. He, however, expressed regret that the power sector was in dire need of attention and called on the Federal Government to intervene and save power distribution from imminent collapse.

“There is the need to intervene especially in the area of transmission. States like ours are able to generate, but cannot transmit. It’s a problem,” Emmanuel said.