From Magnus Eze, Enugu
The Ebonyi State Government has denied discriminating against any contractor. It discredited reports on the social media suggesting that a certain contractor from Anambra State was owed for a job his company did at the Chuba Okadigbo Airport, Onueke, because he hailed from Anambra.
One Aka Jean-Philips Ifeanyi, who claimed to be Chief Executive Officer of AkaJean and Company, in the said social media post, accused the Ebonyi State Government of refusing to pay him 15 per cent balance of a supposedly executed total contract sum of N68.8million, which he entered into with the previous administration in the state.
Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Jude Okpor, explained that the new government was still reviewing what it inherited from the predecessor, noting that those already authenticated were being settled. Okpor said that it was uncharitable for a contractor to deploy social media and playing the indigeneship card in seeking payment when he was supposed to approach the relevant ministry with his documents for verification. “The State Government, in line with its fiscal responsibility and public interest spending, will definitely do justice to all claims whose authenticity is eventually established by due processes and necessary investigations. These may include Ifeanyi’s claims.
“Moreover, we wish to state that many contractors like Ifeanyi, most of whom are indigenes of other states, including Anambra, whose claims have been completely verified and authenticated through the contracting ministries and agencies of government, have started receiving their claims. “We, therefore, wish to employ this medium to advise Ifeanyi to approach the government through the Ministry of Aviation with all relevant documents to justify his claims rather than resorting to cheap blackmail.”
“Once his claims are verified, in line with established processes, he will be paid like others in his shoes who have started receiving theirs,” the commissioner stated.