Why we want to build 18-floor Ibom Towers in Lagos – Akwa Ibom Govt

Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno has reacted to the PREMIUM TIMES report that the state government is planning to build 18-floor Towers in Lagos amidst the food crisis in the state.

On Monday, at a foundation laying ceremony of Ewet Luxury Gardens – an estate in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital, Mr Eno hinted that his administration was about to start building an 18-floor tower to be called “Ibom Towers” in Lagos, south-west Nigeria.

In its report published on Tuesday, this newspaper queried why the state government would embark on such a project in Lagos State while residents back home were grappling with skyrocketed food prices triggered by the removal of petrol subsidies by the federal government.

The report triggered criticisms from members of the public, prompting a response from the state government.

Government’s reaction

In its first official reaction, Governor Eno said the issue has been “politicised and several unsanitised and sensational angles drawn.”

The governor’s reaction is contained in a statement on Friday by Ekerete Udoh, the spokesperson to the governor.

Mr Udoh said that the governor first disclosed the plans to embark on the building in his first-anniversary speech. Besides the proposed Ibom Towers in Lagos, he also said the governor has also told the people of plans to build a three-star hotel in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

“We will undertake the construction of Ibom Towers, an 18-storey commercial property on Aboyade Cole, Victoria Island, Lagos. This will serve as an income-earner for the state, in the nation’s commercial capital. We will also build a medium-density housing estate in Ewet Housing and sell the homes to high-income earners. A three-star hotel will also be built in Abuja where our current Liaison office is located,” Mr Udoh quoted the governor as saying in his first-anniversary speech.

The project, Mr Udoh said, is an audacious plan by the state government “to tap into the bullish Lagos and Abuja real estate markets, by converting hitherto state-owned moribund properties into commercial investments, to earn income for the State.”

“The 18-storey proposed Ibom Towers will consist of thirty-one, one and two-bedroom flats, and business suites that would be sold to high-income earners and the proceeds sent to the state’s treasury,” Mr Udoh said.

Eno’s achievements

Reeling out Mr Eno’s achievement in his one year in office, Mr Udoh said the governor, a “tested and successful businessman”, has been dubbed “Senior Advocate of the Needy” for his support to the people in need.

“One year plus since becoming the Governor, he has been the advocate for the downtrodden, the forgotten, the poor and the vulnerable. Today, every month, the elderly and the infirm receive N50,000 monthly for their upkeep. Through the Bulk Purchase Agency and the free food voucher programme, over 100,000 families have been touched. Also, AKWACARES, a programme that takes care of the neediest and those on the Social Register have impacted the lives of thousands of families in the State.”

The governor, he said, has paid over N20 billion as gratuities to state and local government retirees and has also augmented to the tune of N5 billion the palliatives earlier rolled out by the federal government to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy.

According to Mr Udoh, over N2 billion have been given to traders to expand their businesses, with N500,000 each given to the 800 trainees of the state Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme scheme.

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“Free medical outreach programmes have been conducted across the state where surgeries and other medical needs were undertaken free of charge to the patients, most of them the most vulnerable.

“The Governor has undertaken the construction of Arise Humanitarian Homes – a two-bedroom housing scheme built, furnished and donated to the most vulnerable in each of the 369 wards in the state. This gesture has been celebrated all over the nation.”

Mr Udoh said the proposed 18-floor Ibom Towers and the three-star hotel in Abuja are great investments that would guarantee solid income to the state government.