FG Begins Probe Of Second Niger Bridge Contract

The Federal Government is scrutinizing the contract cost and conditions surrounding the second Niger Bridge. The Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Aminu Diko, disclosed this to State House correspondents after making presentations to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
 
According to him, the Ministry of Works has been asked to review the contract cost of the project. He also said the Commission has also identifies some errors in the project. He said: “The second Niger Bridge is one of the projects that we discussed with the President.
We did say yes it is in the commission for regulatory oversight. We have been discussing the transaction with the ministry of works. But before it can be finalized, the commission has to give a certificate of compliance, but we haven’t given that because we have seen a lot of issues that we are uncomfortable with.
 
“We are talking with the ministry of works for them to correct it. The communities around that area are clamouring that their lands have been taken and that they have not been compensated adequately. “As a matter of fact we got a letter from Onitsha traditional council complaining that they have not been adequately represented in this transaction.
 
These kind of issues we are not saying that something has not been done properly but we need to be convinced that these few problems are sorted out properly. “We will also talk about the actual cost of the bridge, eventually we have asked the ministry of works to review it and justify how much the project should cost.” The Nation

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