The governor also vowed to remove the managing director of government parastatals that are not making profits.
Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State said he will investigate the activity of the state-owned electricity company, Ibom Power Company (IPC) Ltd.
“I’ll probe and understand why Ibom Power Company has remained in losses till now,” Mr Eno remarked on Monday at the foundation-laying ceremony for Aviation Village at the Victor Attah International Airport in Uyo.
The governor fired Meyen Etukudo, the company’s managing director, last week after Mr Etukudo, in a statement, attributed a prolonged power outage in the state to Savannah Energy’s cutting off of gas supply to Ibom Power Plant over a claim of underpayment.
Mr Etukudo had also cited a fault on a transmission line that supplies power to the state via the national grid.
The Akwa Ibom State Government had said in a statement that Mr Etukudo was sacked because of “restructuring exercise”.
But the governor’s remarks at the ceremony offered more insights on the sack.
“Last week, we had a disruption in power supply in the state that had to do with TCN, and then, of course, we had gone ahead to talk with them. I’d like to thank them for rectifying that.
“But beyond that, I’ve read a few things about IPC. I am not going to make statements now.
“But let me say this, no one would run government infrastructure as their private enterprise. Not under my watch. If you are posted or have been appointed to work in any government facility, we will hold you accountable that you deliver and produce results. If not, we will fire you.
“We don’t care (about) the blackmail, we don’t care how you want to do it, we don’t care how much you pay people to write in the papers.
“I’d like to announce that I am, in the next couple of days, setting up a high-power investigation and probe into the activity of Ibom Power Company Ltd,” he said.
In a statement by the Commissioner of Information, Ini Ememobong, on Sunday, Mr Eno directed the State Ministry of Power to undertake a comprehensive audit of the power company to determine its liabilities to its strategic stakeholders, including Access Bank, Savannah Energy, and Afrexim Bank.
‘Don’t take my simplicity for stupidity’
At the ceremony, the governor re-echoed his earlier directives, saying he would “get to the root of the matter and would know why Ibom Power is not making profits, why we are owing Afrexim, why we are owing gas suppliers.
“We would know why the MD of a company has to go on leave and appoint a contractor servicing the plant to take over from him,” Governor Eno said in a live-streamed Facebook video that captured Deputy Governor Akon Eyakenyi’s facial expressions and head gestures expressing shock at the governor’s revelations.
Mr Eno said he is a simple man but warned that no one should take his “simplicity for stupidity”.
“I’ll probe and understand why Ibom Power Company has remained in losses till now.
“Not only Ibom Power, as we begin to consolidate next year, any parastatal of the government, any investment of the government that is not producing profits, we will also remove the MD and reorganise the place.
“We cannot keep investing – investing, every time we are pumping money and then we are not getting profit, that is not how I was raised and I will not continue to put government money in a hole that keeps leaking, it will not happen.
“I don’t care (about) the blackmail. I don’t care how many people you hire to write for you but we are determined and we will get to all of them,” the governor said.
Speaking further, the governor mentioned the managing director of Akwa Savings and Ibom Fadama and urged them to keep their books ready.
Mr Etukudo joined the power company in 2016 and served throughout the two terms of the immediate past administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel.
When contacted, Mr Etukudo declined to comment on the allegations leveled against him by Governor Eno.
However, an article written by a writer and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Akwa Ibom, Etim Etim, quoted Mr Etukudo as having said that the Akwa Ibom State Government was not funding Ibom Power, but was putting much more money into a “leaking hole,” referring to the government funding of Ibom Airline.
