Udom, Julius Berger at war over Govt House Maintenance

...company vows to shutdown Hilltop Mansion 

Governor Udom Emmanuel

BY KENNETH JUDE

Except Governor Udom Emmanuel retracts his position against construction giants, Julius Berger the company will make good its threat to ground activities at Government House. The construction company is at loggerheads with Governor Udom Emmanuel over what they described as the State chief executive’s refusal to honour the pact entered into with his predecessor as regards the maintenance of the Government House facility.

The Government House project was the brainchild of Chief Godswill Akpabio who is now the Minority Leader of the Senate. Having handled the Government House project, Julius Berger was mandated to ensure the proper maintenance of the facility, an agreement which was kept during Akpabio’s tenure but the company says Governor Udom Emmanuel has deviated from the original agreement by failing to pay them in line with the contractual agreement.
Consequent upon this, Julius Berger have concluded plans to lock down the Government House if the Governor continues to maintain his stance of not paying them. Governor Udom Emmanuel is said to have told Julius Berger to go ahead with their plan of shutting down the Government House since, according to the Governor, he has little or nothing to lose as most of his personal belongings are not within the facility.
Udom’s statement has allegedly drawn the ire of the company who have vowed to stall activities at the Government House. A staff in the company, who spoke with our reporter in Uyo, observed that Governor Udom is daring the company, noting that the Governor’s position is a total departure from the original agreement they entered into with his predecessor, Chief Godswill Akpabio. He added that since the Governor has refused to comply in line with the contractual agreement, they will do everything legitimate to get whatever is rightly theirs.
 As at the time of filing in this report at about 8:45 pm yesterday, the Commissioner for Works, Mr Ephraim Inyang did not comment on the development as SMS sent to his phone was not responded to.