BEVERLY HILLS, January 08, (THEWILL) – Effiong Akpan, head, Town Planning Department, of the Uyo City Capital Development Authority, has blamed the government of Akwa Ibom for not releasing funds for the demolition of Reigners Bible Church, Uyo.
Akpan made the disclosure on Friday in Uyo while testifying before the Commission of Inquiry set up by the state government to investigate the cause of the collapse of the structure revealing that the church building had been marked for demolition five different times.
THEWILL recalls that the Church building collapsed on December 10, 2016 during the ordination of its founder, Akan Weeks, killing at least 26 worshippers and injuring several others.
Akpan said that UCCDA had once demolished the structure at foundation level and warned the developer to desist from erecting any structure on the site stating that the land and the entire area where the church was built had since 2002 been mapped out by the government as conservation area.
He said that on May 4, 2015, UCCDA applied for funds from the government to procure cranes, excavators, bulldozers and security coverage to demolish the structure revealing that though the governor approved the money, the then Accountant-General of the state refused to release the funds.
“We marked ‘X’ on the structure on March 6, 2013; it was covered by paint; we did the same on July 16, 2014; March 1, 2016; July 20, 2016, and Aug 16, 2016,” he revealed.
“The developer ignored all the markings by covering them with paint.
“We later issued 21 days ultimatum to remove the property failing which the authority will remove the structure and cost born by the developer.
“The developer used heavy pillars for the construction. After the expiration of the notice, we did not have the capacity to remove the heavy pillars and roofing used for the construction.
“We needed cranes, excavators, bulldozers, money, security coverage and vehicles to carry out the demolition.
“On May 4, 2015, we requested for funds and security coverage for the demolition; the money was approved by His Excellency but we never accessed the money.
“The then Accountant-General did not release the money for us to embark on the demolition.”
He said that UCCDA needed the security coverage, as its employees were molested when they came to the site earlier to demolish the structure adding that the owners of the Church threatened to liaise with the government to dismiss any of the authority’s employees who made attempt to embarrass workers on the church site.
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