An investigative report by Ekemini Simon and Abasifreke Effiong has won the maiden edition of Ray Ekpu Investigative Journalism Prize in Akwa Ibom state.
The investigative journalism prize winner commissioned by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) was announced at Dinner and Award Night of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State Council, held on December 10, 2021 in Uyo.
The award instituted by Inoyo Toro Foundation, a non-profit organisation working to promote quality education and boost capacity of Journalists in Akwa Ibom State, is designed to honour Ray Ekpu, a founding member of the renowned Newswatch magazine who hails from Akwa Ibom state.
The award-winning report, ‘Akwa Ibom Governor, SSG in Multi-billion Naira Scandal’ was done by Ekemini Simon and Abasifreke Effiong with funding and support from The ICIR.
The report is an investigation, which exposed questionable expenditures to the tune of ₦10 billion in the 2019 financial report and audited statements of Akwa Ibom State.
The report revealed how the state government published that it bought 15 units of Prado Jeep TXL at the cost ₦4.864 billion, representing ₦324.3 million per unit cost at a time the market survey value for the car was ₦34 million.
The story further highlighted how the state government posted the expenditure of ₦5.04 billion for the maintenance of the governor’s private jet, a Bombardier Global 5000. This expense was made against the ₦2.5 billion approved by the House of Assembly and in disregard to the cost published by airline operators, which kept the cost for 400 hours a year as approximately ₦693.88 million.
The investigation also revealed how the state government spent ₦2.70 billion to run generators and fuel the governor’s and deputy governor’s cars as well as those of their family members and appointees. This was against the ₦1.3 billion approved for the item coupled with ₦689.7 million traced as the actual expenses incurred.
The story further exposed how the state government spent ₦120 million on the production of ‘security encoded ID card’ for intending pilgrims whereas these reporters found out from Christian pilgrims and the State Pilgrims Management Board that no ID card was produced for pilgrims that year.
The report by Simon and Effiong had caused the Akwa Ibom State government to withdraw her 2019 financial reports and audited account and publish a new one.
The investigation stirred state-wide discussions, petitions by citizen groups, and rose an unusual interest in the state government’s expenditure and caused the House of Assembly to set up a committee to investigate the claims made by the report and also review the 2019 audited statements which it had passed four months earlier.
The report later snowballed into a three-part investigation that exposed loopholes in the new financial report published by the state government and how ₦1.057 billion posted as expenditure for constituency project in 2019 was diverted.
They were all published by The ICIR, The Mail and Dune newspapers between November and December 2020.
The Ray Ekpu Investigative Journalism award has a prize money of ₦500,000, and a laptop each to the winners.
