CALABAR CHANNEL DREDGING PROJECT IS A GIMMICK The other some of my friends were praising President Good luck Jonathan and Liyel Imoke because of the fact that the Minister of Transport, Idris Umar visited Calabar to commission the contract awarded for the commencement of the dredging of the Calabar last week. However my investigation has established that President Jonathan and Governor Imoke do not deserve any accolade because this is the second time contract in the last eight years to be awarded for the dredging of the Calabar Channel by the Federal Government of Nigeria. So, this latest one cannot not be a big deal. There is yet no indication that this latest contract for the dredging of the Calabar Channel would be completed if past contracts awarded for the same project is anything to go by. So it is not yet uhuru! It is only in Nigeria that when a road is constructed or when a school is built by government the people will start praising the President or Governor or Local Chairman profusely and showering accolades on them. The former President Olusegun Obasanjo‘s administration awarded contract for the dredging of the Calabar Chanel in 2006 for to two Dutch firms, Van Oord Limited and Jan-de-Nul for N9.8 Billion. Van Dord got $25m to dredge from Kilometre 0-46; Jan-de-Nul got $30million to dredge from kilometre 46-84. The project was consequently mired in controversy and litigation and substantial part of the contract was not executed by the two companies, who left the project site in December, 2006. Until this moment nobody has questioned why these two companies abandoned the project! It is also worthy to note that the Federal Government of Nigeria under the leadership of late General Sani Abacha awarded a contract for in 1996 awarded a contract for the dredging of the Calabar Channel in 1996 for the sum of N3 Billion but the contract was never executed. The latest contract was awarded to Calabar Channel Management Company Limited for N20 Billion. It is not a big deal for the Federal Government to invest such money on the dredging of Calabar Channel. Recall that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison Madueke spent N10 Billion to lease private jets on her wasteful globetrotting trips overseas. So from my investigation the Federal Government of Nigeria between 1996 till this moment has spent the whooping sum of N32.08 Billion on awarded of several contracts for the dredging of the Calabar Channel project. It remain to seen whether or not this latest contract will be executed. So awarding a contract of just N20 Billion for a project in Cross River State by the PDP controlled Federal Government, can never be adequate compensation for 15 years of our people unalloyed support for PDP. Okoi Obono-Obla
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 05:10:36 +0000
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