Nigeria, June 17 -- When Governor Umo Eno reconstituted Akwa Ibom's Direct Labour Committee in March 2024 and named himself chairman, few anticipated the scale of projects that would come under its watch. Today, the committee oversees some of the state's most expensive public projects and stands to gain new powers that could evade accountability under a proposed procurement law.

The committee took charge of the construction of model primary healthcare centres spread across local government areas. It oversaw the construction of model schools and the administration's widely publicised ARISE Compassionate Homes. Now, it is supervising the rehabilitation of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Complex.

Yet one question lingered in the back...