Hehehe..who we go believe sef....The immediate past Minister of Finance,
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Sunday described as untrue the allegation
that a substantial part of the $1bn Chinese loan obtained for a railway
project was diverted.
Okonjo-Iweala, in a statement issued by
her media adviser, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, also said that contrary to the
allegation, the Kano-Lagos rail project was not part of the projects
listed for funding for the Chinese loan.
President Muhammadu Buhari had last
Monday queried the Ministry of Finance over alleged diversion of the
foreign loan obtained for the rail project by the administration of
former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Specifically,
the President was seeking clarification on the alleged diversion of
$600m, which was part of a $1.005bn loan obtained from the China-Exim
Bank for the construction of a standard gauge rail line linking Lagos to
Kano.
The funds were said to have been moved elsewhere.
But while reacting to the allegation,
Okonjo-Iweala, who spearheaded the negotiation of the loan during her
time as finance minister, said the China-EximBank kept and disbursed
funds for approved projects to contractors based on milestones.
The funds, she added, were not domiciled with the Finance ministry.
Giving a breakdown of the loan and how
it was utilised, the former minister said that $500m was used for the
expansion of four international airport terminals in Lagos, Kano, Abuja
and Port Harcourt, $500m for the Abuja light rail project, $984m for the
Zungeru hydro-electric power project and $100m for the Galaxy backbone
project
Okonjo-Iweala, in the statement, noted
that even if the alleged project was on the list of China-EximBank
funded projects, diversion of any Chinese funds would have been
extremely difficult because the terms of the contract and the processes
would simply not have permitted such action.
The statement reads in part, “We have
continued to receive media inquiries regarding an allegation reportedly
made by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Alhaji Mohammed
Bashar, that a substantial part of a $1bn loan obtained from the
China-EximBank by the Jonathan administration for a Kano-Lagos rail
project was diverted to other projects.
“I want to state categorically that
there is no truth in the reported allegation. Anyone who is interested
can cross-check with the China-EximBank or the Chinese Embassy.
“It is noteworthy that even though
President Buhari, in his reported comments on the allegation, made no
reference to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, rightly stressed the need for due
process and transparency in the execution of public projects, a
sponsored media campaign has once again been launched by political
elements to make the former minister the culprit in a non-existent
scandal.
“The alleged diversion has no substance
for the simple reason that the Kano-Lagos project was not even among the
projects presented for funding by the China EximBank for several
strategic infrastructural projects across the country. In fact, it was
the Lagos–Ibadan rail project, not Lagos-Kano rail project that was
proposed in the original application to the China-EximBank. But in the
end, no funds were assigned for the Lagos-Ibadan rail project by the
China-EximBank.”
The funds, according to her, were
released directly to the Chinese firm executing the contract only after
the presentation of a duly certified proof of work by the Federal
Ministry of Transport, based on the agreed milestones.
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