By Favour Nnabugwu
Undeterred by the huge state projects and the lean resources to execute them, Akwa Ibom State government has expended N100million to carry out repair and reconstruction works on federal highways in the  state.

Aside the N100million expended on federal highways, the state has executed 717 new projects in Akwa Ibom in the last four years with over 211 new roads and five new hospitals.

Secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government, Chief Okon Uwanna  who disclosed this at a dinner organised by the state for Ministry of Works management team led by  its Minister, Mike Onolememen who were in the state for a two-day retreat, told the Minister that Akwa Ibom was committed to building  good roads networks.

Uwanna said the state had purged itself of any separation between federal and state roads as the well being of Akwa Ibom people was paramount to the government pointing out that  “and that is why in Akwa Ibom, there is no distinction between state and federal roads. We have committed close to N100million to upgrade road infrastructure which are defined as federal roads.

“Akwa Ibom State is the only state in Nigeria that has been able to allocate 80 per cent of the budgetary  allocations to capital expenditure and only 20 per cent to recurrent expenditure. It is therefore not surprising that a lot is happening in the state in terms of road infrastructure and five brand new hospitals that we have completed in the last four years.

“Today, the facts speak for themselves. Anybody who comes to Akwa Ibom can see and tell the difference. We thank God we have a leader with vision, a leader who dreams and who can turn those dreams into concrete reality and Akwa Ibom has become better for these dreams.

When Nigerians visit Akwa Ibom today, they will know that there is hope for Nigeria. We have completed 211 brand new roads and delivered according to specification of the highest quality in Nigeria.

“In Akwa Ibom, we have since abolished the dichotomy that existed between federal and state roads because as far as the administration of his Excellency, Governor Godswill Akpabio is concerned, whatever will benefit the people of Akwa Ibom State, whatever will benefit Nigerians, we ensure that it is properly done”, Uwanna noted.

Governor Godswill Akpabio corroborated the claims of Chief Uwanna when  he stated that the state government has had to intervene in federal roads by dualizing the roads  which span about   198.8 kilometres.

Some of the federal roads dualized by the state government include 25.6 kilometres Abak to Ikot Ekpene Road, 20.8 kilometers Ekim Itam to Ikot Oku Ikono Road which the government uplifted to 41.8 kilometers; the 34 kilometres Afaha to Obong to Etim Ekpo Road with bridge; 21.3 kilometres Uyo to Oron Road that was upgraded to double carriage way of 43.6 kilometer and Ikot Asua to Odobo Airport bye pass to 9.0kilometres.

Akpabio said, “on our part, we have had to intervene and add value to some federal roads in the state that were impassable in the last 15 years by upgrading them from single lanes to double carriage ways totally about 198.8 kilometres, bringing them up to the standard that will help complement Nigeria’s vision of being one of the developed economies by the year 2020”

In his response, the Minister remarked that the entire team of the Ministry of Works was impressed with the quality of road constructions in that state, above all with the quality of the state roads including the federal roads which the government carried out.

According to him, “our coming to Akwa Ibom State was born out of the understanding of the giant stride the state government has made in the last four years and we wanted to see things for ourselves and I tell you that we are not disappointed at all rather what we saw what surpasses our expectations.

“After the inspection of some federal roads which the state government has intervened and we saw the quality of works the state government did in those roads, Akwa Ibom is the flagship of the creative collaboration that we seek between the state governors and the federal government and Akwa Ibom State will continue to be a reference point for other state governments

“I want to assure you that the commitments you have made on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Works and by extension, the federal government will be adequately rewarded because we will not shy away from our responsibilities as we urge you not  to rest on your oars because I still see the opportunity for more collaboration between Akwa Ibom State government and the federal government in fixing a number of federal infrastructure in the state”, the Minister said.