The hope of Akwa Ibom State becoming the hub of technological innovations as envisioned in the Ibom Science Park project has been dashed, as the project remains a still dream 24 years after its conception.
Our correspondent who visited the project site, located along Uyo village road in Itu Local Government Area of the state, reports that weeds have overtaken the premises, while the uncompleted physical structures are in their various stages of dilapidation due to severe weather condition.
This is as fresh concerns have emerged from a cross section of the people of the state over the abandonment of the multi-billion-naira project.
The project was initiated by former Governor, Victor Attah, “to create enabling environment for start-ups, small and medium scale enterprises, SMSEs, as well as be the harbinger to industrial revolution in the state.”
However, the project was not completed before Governor Attah exited office in 2007, after a whooping sum of N5.3 billion was reportedly paid to the contractor.
Governor Attah’s immediate successor, Godswill Akpabio, now Senate President, however did not see the need to revisit the project and therefore abandoned it after he inherited it.
Akpabio’s reasons for abandoning the project were two-proned, namely: that the location of the project was proned to manipulation by gully erosion and secondly, that the project was susceptible to investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, after payment of N5.3 billion out of a total contract sum of N6 billion had allegedly been paid to the contractor, while the work on ground was not up to N400 million.
