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Jonathan Govt Blew N34b On River Niger – Amaechi

Published

8 years ago

May 5, 2017

AFTER paying a contractor N34 billion for the dredging of the River Niger, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration failed to get the job done.

The Muhammadu Buhari administration is spending N100m on the job, Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi said yesterday in Lagos. It was at the opening of a conference on Fast-tracking Port Reforms hosted by The Nation in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Epsilon Limited.

The minister said: ”When the River Niger was first approved for dredging by the previous administration, it was approved for N47billion and N34billion was paid to the contractor. Dancers were called in and there was a party.

“We are not dredging the River Niger with billions of naira; we are dredging the River Niger with just N100m. When we flagged it off recently, did you see us dancing? Was there a party? I just went to see the governor and told him that the project will start today and will be finished in one month.

“The governor said he will accompany me, and I said ‘ok’. So, I asked the governor to flag it off since it’s located in his state.”

Amaechi went on: “People are wondering how on earth we are going to dredge the River Niger for N100m when the previous government awarded same contract for N47billion? But we are going to dredge the River Niger, using dredgers owned by the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).

“NIWA has dredgers, but the previous government preferred to give contractors money to dredge the river with private dredgers while NIWA’s dredgers were lying idle somewhere in Port Harcourt.

“The NIWA MD told me the agency has dredgers, but it’s been hired out to somebody in Port Harcourt. So, we had dredgers, but the previous administration hired them out to some persons in Port Harcourt while paying a contractor billions of naira to use privately owned dredgers at a very high cost.

“I told the NIWA MD that I will look for money to fuel their dredgers, and work has started. That is why we are dredging the River Niger with just N100m,” Amaechi said.

In 2011, the Jonathan administration approved the Lower River Niger Dredging Project from Warri, in Delta State, to Baro, in Niger State, to four contractors — Fung Tai Eng Company Nigeria Limited, Dredging International Service Nigeria Limited, Van Oord Nigeria Limited and Williams Lloyds Technology Company Limited.

Last year, the Nigerian Indigenous Ship-Owners Association (NISA) accused NIWA of bungling the dredging contract of the Lower River Niger.

NISA President Aminu Umar told a national daily: ”We keep hearing that the River Niger has been dredged down to Warri, but how has that improved the traffic of vessels along that route? I don’t think that river was dredged.

“If truly NIWA dredged that River, then there ought to have been increase in movement of goods along that route. Nothing has changed before and after the so-called dredging that they claimed to have done.

“To be honest with you, from the shipping community, we don’t think any dredging has taken place on that river.

”How can the Federal Government approve N43 billion for the dredging of the River Niger and nothing would have changed? How can such money have been spent on that river and it still looks like that?

“Please help us ask NIWA to make public the draft of the River Niger before and after the dredging. We need to know what such money was used for because we are talking of hundreds of millions of dollars if it is converted into foreign currency.

“NIWA should come out with details of what they did with N43 billion on that river between 2011 and 2015.”

Addressing over 800 participants at the forum, Amaechi said $186m had been approved by President Buhari for the fight against piracy and other criminalities on the waterways.

Part of the money, the Minister said, would be spent on three helicopters and three other aircraft, among others.

His words: “Mr. President has approved $186million to fight piracy in our waters. The funds will be used to buy three helicopters, three aircraft, 12 vessels stationed in the water. In the next three months, all of them would be deployed to fight piracy on our waters.

“We promised change. Change is not talked about; it is felt. That is why we asked that the people should give us time.”

To be continued….

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