Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has advised management of the abandoned Amakpe Refinery in Eket to begin work or refund the state government investment in the project.

Akpabio stated this while answering questions from Akwa Ibom State indigenes in Miami, Florida, United States of America, USA, on the Amakpe project.

He disclosed that the state government had invested $10 million into the project though it was private sector-driven.

Akpabio said: “The Amakpe refinery was a private initiative that was supposed to have started way back. Negotiations for the establishment of the project were concluded by the previous administration.

“Towards the tail end of the life of that administration, the state government that granted the approval instituted a lawsuit against it, demanding for the withdrawal of its 25 per cent equity from Amakpe investment.

“So, I inherited a liability from the previous administration right from the beginning.”

He explained that although approval for the project was granted by the administration of Obong Victor Attah, its operators have not found it necessary to get it off the ground many years after issuance of license., adding that the project was a liability his administration inherited from the previous administration.