Daily Independent (Lagos)
Chesa Chesa State
21 November 2008
Abuja — The $8.3 billion (N980 billion) railway contract awarded to a Chinese firm by former President Olusegun Obasanjo was stopped by President Umaru Yar'Adua because it was illegal and due process was not followed.
Chief Economic Adviser to Yar'Adua, Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, disclosed on Thursday in Abuja at the Abuja Business and Investment Roundtable.
Kurfi explained that the rail project and its budget was never presented to the National Assembly, and could not be retained by Yar'Adua because of his insistence on the rule of law and due process.
"For an administration that prides itself in the rule of law, I don't see how an illegality will be strictly adhered to in the name of continuity", he declared.
The contract has now been transferred from the Presidency to the usual custodian, the Federal Ministry of Transport which has now factored the project into next year's budget.
He added that "the 2009 budget has paraded sufficient allocation for dredging of the lower Niger, and that there will be rehabilitation of East-North and West-North rail lines as well as the Warri-Ajaokuta route which will be completed in 12 months.
"This is intended to reduce the burden on road transportation".
The Adviser also disclosed that 91 per cent of the capital expenditure in the 2009 budget will expended on developing critical infrastructure because Yar'Adua believes that inadequate infrastructure has adversely affected the cost of doing business in Nigeria.
According to him, "this administration did not just stumble on the seven-point agenda. It is a well thought out set of solutions to address micro and macro economic challenges in the country.
"Our problem has for long been lack of competition with cost of doing business in Nigeria higher than in other places. Businesses have had to provide their own infrastructure. The seven-point agenda is a response to the dilemma."
He added that investment in gas pipeline projects is predicated on the belief that availability of gas would transform the nation's economy, with an expected investment of over $1.5 billion.
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You lament that "the total value of the railway project would've doubled up from $8.3Billion to maybe $16 Billion if ..." What else do you expect from those far-North lazy drones (Babangida included). They were brought up in a feudal environment and know nothing else. Nation building to them means something completely different from the rest of the world. It means siphoning away the nation's resources with impunity, strengthening the oligarchy and impoverishing the rest. They keep laying claim to the leadership of Nigeria but all they have accomplished in almost 40 yrs out of 48 yrs of independence… [Read Full Text]
It took him 18 months to realize that due-process was not followed and by the time the said due process is lined up, say in another 2 years, given Malam Tarry-A-Doer's go-slow approach, the total value of the railway project would've doubled up from $8.3Billion to maybe $16 Billion if annual inflation factor is applied to Labor Cost, and Other Direct Costs such as materials and parts.
With the current global financial crisis, where is he going to get the fund to finance the project when the price of crude-oil would dropped into the tens or 20 (if we are… [Read Full Text]