Bassey Anthony, Uyo
Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang, has said that it is imperative for the Federal Government to adopt multilateral sources to fund the Calabar-Itu-Odukpani road project.
He said the push for alternative sources of funding became necessary because of the inadequate budgetary allocation for the road in federal budget.
According to him, the N1.1billion approved by the National Assembly in the 2019 budget was grossly insufficient to construct the road hence the need to seek other funding sources.
Speaking with reporters in Uyo on Friday, Enang said:”What I am doing now is looking at multilateral sources of funding the road. I have written and I am requesting funding support from the Suku Bond through the Debt Management Office(DMO) and Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing so that they could help the road with funding.
“Suku Bond is one of the avenues of funding major projects. I am also making requests to relevant authorities so that we can look for some other sources as we are raising bonds and loans for other projects so that this could be included as one those projects to be funded,”
Enang, however, lashed out at Akwa Ibom and Cross River State governments for not showing enough commitment to the actualization of the project.
He particularly accused the Akwa Ibom State of playing politics with road and using it as weapon of blackmail against the APC-led federal government.
“The state government of other political parties go to the President, ministers, and the Ministry of Budget to lobby for projects in their states to be included in the federal budget.
“But the state government is complacent and instead using it as a political instrument against the APC government. The political instrumentation is bad enough.
“In Akwa Ibom State it has gone so bad that if your father or mother is in the APC you will be punished. It is now being used to punish the people,” he said.
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