Joe Effiong, Uyo
Residents of Uboro Oro rural community in Urue Offong Oruko Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have petitioned House of Representatives over some Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) road projects abandoned by contractors.
The petitions addressed to Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) was signed by Bassey Isong, chairman of the project committee of the Uboro Oro Progressives Union (UPU).
Other signatories include Asukwo Mkpesit, secretary; Okwong Otioro, legal adviser, and Ofong Effiong Unanaowo, traditional ruler of the area.
The interventionist agency had awarded a N90 million contract to a construction firm for a one-kilometre road spanning from the East-West Road at Umume in the same local government area.
The petitioners also said the 18-kilometre road awarded by the NDDC to the tune of N2.6 billion to another firm with the initial mobilisation cash of N300 million, was also abandoned.
The road, the petitioners explained was to begin from Oyoku Assang in Okobo Local Government Area through Okiuso and Eweme in the same council with a spur of nine kilometre from Umume on East-West Road through Uboro-Oro into Mbo Local Government Area.
The contracts, they recalled, was flagged-off with fanfare on Wednesday, July 17, 2013.
They noted that the affected communities were forced to petitions when discovered that the contractors in collusion with the NDDC officials had taken photographs of another completed projects and presented same “as evidence that the jobs had been completed.”
They, therefore, urged the House of Representatives and the ICPC to investigate the matter with a view to compelling the contractors to return to sites, especially now that the NDDC books are being subjected to forensic analysis over years of frauds and contracts scam.