By Bassey Nkponam
UYO
As part of the Akwa Ibom government’s determination to salvage the Nigerian Correctional Centre in Uyo from collapse,Gov Umo Eno has approved the expansion of the scope of work on the Uyo-Ewet gully reclamation and beautification project.
GovernorEno, who gave the approval, Monday, during an unscheduled inspection of the project, at the Dominic Utuk Avenue axis of the project site in Uyo, assured that the State government will intervene to avert imminent collapse of the Correctional Centre facility, with the hope of getting refunds from the federal government through appeals.
Eno was appreciative of the fact that the contractor handling the reclamation work, Bulletin Construction Company, has opened up the area to expose the devastating erosion menace behind the Correctional Centre facility, assuring of his administration’s commitment to maintaining a healthy relationship with the President Tinubu-led administration in the country, to foster development and ensure the people of the state benefit optimally from being a federating unit of Nigeria.
“That’s why I keep saying to people, you can’t fight the federal government, you can only partner them. Any governor that decides to fight the federal government is doing so at the peril of his people.
“As you can see, this is a federalprison, but we can’t just allow it go. We know the effect. God forbid if this collapses, there’ll be jail break and you will have these people back to the society. We need to work on it”.
The governor applauded the commitment and giant strides recorded by the contractor on the job, particularly, for identifying hazards in the process of execution of the project and for taking initiative to solve problems beyond the original scope of the job, saying that the project, when completed, will serve the interest of Akwa Ibom people.
“I decided to stop by for an unannounced visit. That’s how you get to check some things and know if your contractors are serious. I thank him so much. He is not just concentrating on the scope. He has gone beyond the scope and I want to thank him.
“Honestly, I never knew the devastation was this much. All of this was covered by bush, and you won’t even know the extent. This is literally taking down the walls of the prison. That’s the tower and it’s very close to collapse. If we don’t intervene on time, you will wake up one morning and it’s gone”.
The state chief executive officer said the project is beyond a reclamation of the gully menace to creating a tourist site and hoped that it will be delivered on scheduled time.
“This is not just a reclamation, it has become a tourism site. He told me he will deliver this on December for us to use. You don’t know the amount of joy I have that we are beginning to create a message out of this mess. That’s a whole joy for me”.
The managing director of Bulletin Construction Company, Chief Faysal Harb, thanked the governor for his approvals and kind words, and restated the commitment of the company to deliver the job by December, as agreed.
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