Daily Independent (Lagos)
Okey Maduforo
7 January 2009
Anambra and Delta States have backed out of the second Niger Bridge project, valued at N10 billion, although the Federal Government has put on the table its N4.3 billion counterpart funding.
Both states were to contribute N6.7 billion.
Senate Works Committee Chairman, Julius Ucha, said Anambra and Delta argued that they were forced into the deal by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, whereas they have not even one kobo to contribute.
The Committee once visited the old Niger Bridge at the Onitsha end where it expressed displeasure over its rehabilitation and queried the contract award.
During the inspection, Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, noted that "the traffic on it is too heavy and worrisome. Even truck drivers complain to us about its vibration.
"The second Niger bridge is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in which Anambra and Delta States are supposed to contribute 10 per cent each, the Federal Government 20 per cent, and 50 per cent borrowed by the contractor.
"We commenced a meeting between the three governments. The last meeting was held over a year ago. So they can't be doing meeting without inviting us when we have paid 10 per cent. That will amount to a fraud.
"How can they say that they have awarded the contract when we have not been attending meetings and nobody has ever invited us. What they did is a fraud.
"If you flag off a contract you award it and mobilise the contractor. If you go to the site now there is nothing there. We want the bridge to be built and we are prepared at any condition to build this bridge."
The reported missing of the documents on the bridge is described by Ohanaeze Ndigbo as a deliberate attempt to frustrate the development of the South East.
Ohanaeze President General, Dozie Ikedife, said the project was singled out because questions were raised about sharp practices.
"This is indeed an act of sabotage," he maintained.
"Have they lost the contract files of Ajaokuta Steel, have they lost the contract documents of Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road dualisation? What has happened to the Maduguri International Airport project? You cannot tell me that the documents are only one copy. It should be more than one copy.
"It is also ridiculous that a contract of this nature would have its papers missing. Are the Ministry of Works and Transport telling us that the papers grew wings and fled out of the window?
"Simply because we have started asking questions, some persons or group of persons went and removed the papers. Why must it be contracts or projects that concern people from this part of the country?
"Since the end of the civil war, we have struggled to rediscover ourselves in all sectors of life and some people who are apprehensive of this growth are also not happy that we are getting a second Niger Bridge.
"We in Ohanaeze insist on a full scale probe of what happened and those behind it should be brought to book. It should not be treated like one of those things because it does not affect them and their people."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Daily Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
