Controversy has surrounded the Host Community Development Trust Fund (HDCT) in the Esit Eket local government area of Akwa Ibom State about the NNPC/MPN Joint Venture’s empowerment programme under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
The Esit Eket Trust was established in August 2024 and was a part of EMOIMEE, which stands for the oil-producing Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Eket, Mbo, Onna, Ikot Abasi, Mkpat Enin, Esit Eket, and Eastern Obollo. The trust completed two projects: it awarded scholarships to students and bought 95 minibuses and 95 motorcycles for the communities.
However, the way the two initiatives are being carried out is creating a lot of controversy in the community since some stakeholders are questioning the standard by which the recipients were chosen and the calibre of the empowerment programme.
They also want the entire exercise to be held accountable.
A former youth leader in Esit Eket named Jacob Jacob felt forced to bring the fund administrators before the Federal High Court in Uyo in order to demand accountability and transparency due to the alleged opacity in their operations.
Jacob claimed he raced to court when it appeared the committee was determined to release the names of scholarship recipients in each hamlet, the selection procedure, and the recipients of both buses and motorbikes in a phone chat with newsmen over the weekend.
Although the village chiefs and other community members were not contacted or had their NEEDS assessments completed prior to the exercise, Jacob expressed trust in the court’s handling of the case.
In his words:
“Right from scholarship, we don’t have the record of any beneficiary in my village and up till now they have not published the beneficiaries from my ward so that we know if our people actually benefited.
“This is a public fund which has to be published so that communities will know what you are doing. I’m saying that the total arrangement is not pleasant.
“My prayers to the court was for them to publish the beneficiaries and how they selected them and I know the court is capable of handling it.
“The committee should have had town hall meetings and the people of Esit Eket should have had a hand in nominating the beneficiaries, village by village. There is no village head that will say he has a hand in nominating the beneficiaries.
“But all those ones were nominated by the trust funds executive through their personal discretion. What we are agitating is to let them publish the beneficiaries, it’s not their personal fund.
“Let us know the amount of money you have collected so far, the amount coming to the local government, it’s not your money. Let us know how much is remaining in our purse and they owe us accountability for that.”
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cc: Daily Post Ng
