The Managing Director and Chief Executive Director of the Akwa Ibom Investment Corporation (AKICORP), Mr Imo-Abasi Jacob has condemned the act of unauthorized selling of government properties insisting that such acts constituted a criminal offence punishable by law.
He made this known when he met with the management staff of the DAKKADA Cottage Industries at the AKICORP board room.
Mr Jacob who spoke through the Director, Other Investments, Barr Ben Udowa, stressed that selling of assets would leave the business in a weakened financial state and eventually, bankruptcy.
The AKICORP boss warned that any individual or group of persons that sold Government assets without due approval has contravened relevant laws and was liable to consequences which included imprisonment.
He regretted that the cottage industries were not yielding the expected returns due to poor management, even when the previous administration, had, with good intentions, established the industries. Jacob said that such investments, if properly managed, would have been a viable source of revenue for the state.
He stressed that Governor Umo Eno expects those industries to function at maximal capacity and urged the management of the estate to rise up to the challenge.
The Executive Director Agricultural Investments, Pastor Godwin Ukwat, affirmed that the cottage industries were part of the laudable people- oriented initiatives of the government and lamented that it was being mismanaged. He said absentism by workers was totally unacceptable as it was considered abusive to the employer. He posited that posterity would not be kind to the estate management should the estate be run aground under their watch.
In his response, the manager of the DAKKADA Cottage Industries, Mr Friday Moses, identified some of the challenges militating against the investment and promised to deploy measures towards addressing them, holding that the company still had prospects.
