October 20, (THEWILL) – A contractor with Akwa Ibom State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency (ASKEPWMA), Umoh-Umoh Motors, has raised the alarm that the debt burden of N1,696,000 owed the company by the government agency, has crippled his business.
The vendor, who spoke to some journalists Wednesday, refused to leave the government premises, insisting that the debt must be settled after five years of contractual engagement.
The Managing Director of Umoh-Umoh Motors, Elder Cyril Umoh, said the Chairman of AKSEPWMA, Prince Akpan Ikim, approached his company and requested him to apply for leasing of Hilux (Toyota) with registration number AGL 174 FK, for a period of 6 months at the rate of N12,000 per day.
Umoh said the company wrote an application letter as demanded by the Agency and was replied to through an offer dated 4th October, 2018, and his company released the vehicle to the waste management agency to work for six months.
The letter reads in parts: “The Akwa Ibom State Environmental Protection and Waste Management Agency (AKSEPWMA), is in receipt of your letter dated 3rd October, 2018, above refers. The lease will last for 6 months with effect from 3rd October, 2018, to 3rd April, 2019.
“You are by this letter directed to make the above-mentioned vehicle and its particulars available to the Transport Officer of the Agency
“Your offer of N12,000 only as daily cost of hire is accepted.”
Narrating his ordeal, Umoh explained that the waste management agency paid his company the sum of five hundred thousand (N500,000) on 10th June, 2019, as part payment of two million, one hundred and ninety-six thousand (N2,196,000), only leaving a balance of N1,696,000 to liquidate the financial obligations of the waste agency.
Continuing, Umoh said after waiting in vain for five years, he wrote a letter to the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, to complain about the attitude of the chairman of the state environmental and waste management agency and pleaded for his intervention.
He said when the secretary to SSG saw the letter, he quickly called Prince Akpan Ikim and he pleaded to pay the money immediately.
“Since then, Ikim refused to pay the money to my company. We have suffered as a result of this debt. We are owing salaries and are indebted to other people doing business with us.
“Governor Udom Emmanuel wants indigenes to stand up and help themselves through the “Dakadda philosophy. But some bad eggs in his government are pulling us down in our little endeavours
“I am here to collect my money, if Ikim does not pay me today, I will sleep here. I can’t go back”, Umoh insisted.
When contacted, the chairman of the waste management agency, Prince Akpan Ikim, confirmed the contract documents, but insisted that the vendor won’t be paid immediately.
“Yes, we hired Hilux from the contractor who comes from the community where we operate, but as I speak now, we don’t have money to pay him, as soon as the governor gives money to the agency, we will pay”, he explained.
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