Akwa Ibom dismisses allegations of multi-billion naira fraud

The Akwa Ibom state government says a recent investigative report alleging multi-billion naira fraud against Udom Emmanuel, the governor, and Emmanuel Ekuwem, secretary to the state government, and other officials is false and faulty.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Akan Okon, commissioner for economic development, explained that an earlier audit report from the auditor’s general’s office, was found to have contained erroneous data inputs which was officially withdrawn via a circular dated September 2, 2020 to all ministries, agencies and departments (MDAs).

According to Okon, the Akwa Ibom public accounting format adopts IPSAS protocol which entails the usage of a thorough coding method which must be accurate and cannot be falsified, insisting that it was impossible for government to spend any money outside the approved sum by the state assembly.

“Every money that was spent in that financial year was in line with the provisions of the budget. There was no extra budgetary expenditure outside what was originally approved by the House of Assembly,” he said.

He said a document revealed that the allegation that N5.04 billion was spent on the maintenance of the state aircraft, a bombardier global 5000, based on the faulty 2019 financial report earlier withdrawn is also false as the corrected version of the state’s financial statement shows only N2.5 billion was budgeted and spent for the same purpose for the financial year that ended December 31, 2019.

Nsikan Nkan, commissioner for finance, restated the government’s commitment to ensure transparency in governance.

He said the governor has done a good job in managing state resources, adding that there will always be transparency on issues of budget and expenditure.

On his part, Ini Ememobong, commissioner for information, said it was not out of place for a media investigation about the budget to be conducted, but he alleged that this particular investigation is misleading.

He said that it was necessary for the issue to be addressed, adding that such is a criminal allegation and should not be taken lightly.

He advised journalists to always clarify facts from his ministry so as to have the authentic and up-to-date information they need in order to carry out their constitutional duty professionally and efficiently.