Mr. Oshiomhole said in a statement by his chief press secretary, Peter Okhiria, that he stood by an earlier statement that $700 million was drawn from the sovereign wealth funds for the project.
“Rather than crucify Comrade
Oshiomhole for the disclosure, former Minister of Works should direct
his energy and explanation to the managers of the Sovereign Wealth Fund
who have depleted the savings on the explanation that it was meant for
the 2nd Niger Bridge,” the statement said.
Mr. Oshiomhole said, “The revelation
came from those who were managers of the Sovereign Wealth Funds and not
figures manufactured by anybody”.
“They told our committee that about
$700m dollars were taken from the Sovereign Wealth Fund for the Second
Niger Bridge project,” Mr. Oshiomhole said.
Mr. Onolememen had on Friday in a
statement denied the allegation. He said Mr. Oshiomhole was misleading
Nigerians with “wild and spurious” allegations.
The former minister said, “The
Federal Government of Nigeria, guided by the Transaction Adviser,
Roughton International, agreed to provide a refundable Catalytic Funding
of N30bn. By May 2015, N10bn Catalytic Funding was paid from the
Federal Ministry of Works’ SURE-P Budget to fast-track the early and
sub-structural works of the bridge. This implies that the successful
concessionaire, JB-NSIA Consortium, has responsibility for the design,
finance and construction of the project, as well as its operation.”
He added that the total project cost
is N108bn (excluding duties and Value Added Tax) with a completion
period of about 48 months. This cost was arrived at, after the Bureau of
Public Procurement’s review of the concessionaire’s submitted cost of
N138bn, the former minister said.
However, Mr. Oshiomhole said since
the former minister was aware that no reasonable work had been done on
the second Niger Bridge, he and the mangers of the sovereign wealth
funds should simply explain to Nigeria what they did with the huge
amount that was withdrawn for the project.
“The real people who should
apologize to Nigerians for their many sins against the country are those
who expended so much of our resources without any corresponding
achievements to show for it,” the governor said.
The governor accused the former minister and the past administration of destroying existing roads rather than rehabilitate them.
He said, “In Edo state, the Aduwawa
end of the Benin-Auchi road is almost impassable especially during this
rainy season. As we speak, erosion has cut off the Benin-Auchi road into
two and motorists are going through hell passing through that road.
What about Benin- Abraka road; one hell of a road completely abandoned
and vandalized. In the name of politics, they came trying to impress Edo
people but ended up depressing all of us.”
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