By Chibisi Ohakah,Abuja

The relative silence of na­tional lawmakers from the South East geopolit­ical zone over the controversy trailing the alleged slashing of funds for the second Niger Bridge project in the 2017 bud­get is fuelling a new specula­tion that they are in cahoots with their colleagues.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola shocked the nation recently when he alleged that the Na­tional Assembly had tinkered with the provision made for the bridge, among others, in the 2017 budget. According to Fas­hola, the lawmakers slashed the budget of the 2nd Niger bridge from N15 billion to N10 billion even after the cost had been defended and agreed upon without consulting them.

“If after we have defended the budget and we had gone and the legislature unilaterally changed the budget, what is the purpose of deliberation?’’ queried the former Lagos gov­ernor, who insisted that “it is unfair to Nigerians after public hearings were conducted with tax payers’ money and consul­tations with the lawmakers only for the budget to be al­tered, cut or padded.”

But the national assembly responded swiftly, explaining that the cut in the budgetary allocations to some capital projects was for prudence.

House of Representatives’ Committee on Media Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas, said that the proposed fund for the proj­ect in the 2017 budget was reduced from N12 billion to N7 billion because the money would not be spent, following the failure of the Presidency to spend the N12 billion budget­ed for the second Niger bridge in 2016.

His words: “The truth is that in the 2016 budget, N12 billion was appropriated for the 2nd Niger bridge and not a kobo was spent by the ministry. Not a kobo. The money was returned. The ministry could not provide the committees of the national assembly with evidence of an agreement on the public private partnership (PPP) or a contract for the 2nd Niger bridge.

“The National Assembly, in its wisdom, decided to fund other projects from the south-east leaving N7 billion for the 2nd Niger bridge that may yet be unspent. The projects include, N2.5 billion extra for Enugu/Onitsha road; N1 bil­lion more for 9th Mile/Nsukka/ Makurdi road; additional N500 million for Oturkpo- Makurdi to take care of evacuation of agri­cultural produce up to Maidu­guri; N1 billion more for Ikot Ekpene-Aba-Owerri road, etc. These are strategic roads in the south-east and north cen­tral parts of Nigeria that had inadequate allocations.”

Senate spokesperson, Sena­tor Sabi Abdullahi, also argued that the National Assembly’s controversial budget slash was done to measure the country’s needs against available re­sources and concluded that it would be more prudent to chan­nel public funds towards small­er projects that were necessary for the citizens but might not be commercially viable.

“What we reduced from La­gos-Ibadan Expressway in the 2017 budget estimates was spread on Oyo-Ogbomoso road in the South-West, Enugu-Onit­sha road in the South-East, and two other critical roads in the North-East and North-West. This was done to achieve equi­ty,” Abdullahi, an APC member from Niger North district, stated.

The Senate spokesman said the picture Fashola painted was “a deceit of the highest order,” stressing that the min­ister knew that the projects would not be completed in 2019 even if their respective funding were untouched.

“Just going by the last two years of funding where an av­erage of N30 billion per annum was released, then the nation would have to wait for the next six years for completion of the work,” the senator said.

According to him, the law­makers voted N40 billion for the expressway, which is the busiest in the country, in 2016, only for the administration to release N26 billion and divert the rest.

However, efforts by Orient Daily to get the views of some senators and their House of Rep­resentatives’ counterparts on what transpired with the most important infrastructure project in their zone was unsuccessful as they declined interview.

Some of the lawmakers contacted refused to discuss the 2nd Niger Bridge project, while others requested that the questions be sent by text, and had not replied as at press time. Others contacted refused to pick their calls. Some of the lawmakers contacted to com­ment on the allegations of the minister include Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, Senator Enyin­naya Abaribe, Hon Linus Oko­rie, Hon Nnenna Ukeje and Hon Uzo Abonta.

A reliable National Assem­bly source, however, said it is not expected that the lawmak­ers would agree to discuss the matter. “There is a silent pact among lawmakers in the Na­tional Assembly, currently, not­withstanding political or ethnic or regional affiliation. Once any of the Chambers decides on an issue, whether national or regional, every lawmaker falls line, notwithstanding his origi­nal opinion and convictions.

“Remember what happened to the former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume when he disagreed with the decision of the Senate on the Economic and Finan­

cial Crimes and Commission (EFCC) chairman, Ibrahim Magu, and held a private press conference to discredit the Sen­ate. So, if you say the lawmak­ers from the South East, who should naturally champion the cause of the 2nd Niger Bridge, have joined the conspiracy against the project, you may be correct,” the source said

Another National Assembly source posited two schools of thought on why the lawmak­ers tinkered with the budget for the 2nd Niger Bridge. “You heard when the minister said what he got back was a bud­get littered with boreholes and healthcare centres. The law­makers may have thought the boreholes more important than the 2nd Niger Bridge hence they reduced the budget allo­cation and created space for the smaller projects. Unfortu­nately, the minister said most of the boreholes, roads and health centres were state designated projects, not federal.”

The other possible reason, the source volunteered, relates to the counterpart funding pro­posal for the 2nd Niger Bridge. The project is being construct­ed under a Public Private Part­nership (PPP) scheme. A Con­sortium of the operators of the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), the Nigeria Sov­ereign Investment Agency (NSIA) and Julius Berger (JB-NSIA), is working on the project based on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT), at a concessionaire’s total cost of N108 billion, reviewed down from N138 billion by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). The federal government is said to be committed to contribute 28 per cent of the project cost. The remaining 72 per cent will be raised by the consortium under a 25-year concession.

The second Niger Bridge, a major gateway shared be­tween the Eastern and West­ern parts of Nigeria, which has been on the drawing board outliving many administrations in Nigeria since the early 70s, seemed to be jinxed.

Observers say the project clearly, but unfortunately, found itself in Nigeria’s political mill, and had become a political item between parties and interests.

The road and bridge together is estimated to be 11.9 kilome­tres long, and the bridge itself spanning 1.59 kilometres, ac­cording to Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), the federal government depart­ment in charge of the project. The design includes a toll plaza on the Asaba end. The bridge will have six lanes, three in each direction.

The federal government claims it has so far committed N18.31 billion. Out of this, N10.4 billion has been disbursed leav­ing a balance of N7.94 billion. A team of local and internation­al consultants was engaged through a rigorous and com­petitive procurement process. The NSIA say they have spent the sum of $2.21 million on con­sultancy and another $247,586 on due diligence to determine project viability.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Agency (NSIA), Uche Orji, at a media interaction in Abuja re­cently, hinted that “the NSIA will this year alone invest $760 mil­lion in the second Niger Bridge project in continuation of federal government’s investment being undertaken under a Public Pri­vate Partnership (PPP).”

Our source’s second school of thought is that the lawmak­ers believe that given the larg­er chunk of the funding for the 2nd Niger Bridge come from outside the federal government budget, the project could still go on even after tinkering with the original budget. “They also believe that even if the origi­nal allocation was allowed, the ministry would still not release the whole sum, and the projects would outlive the budget year”

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