Politics of 2nd Niger Bridge,Another Greekgift from an ijaw man who used igbonames,aziki we ebeleme jonathan to fool thepeople of the south east to get their votes tofight his ijaw agenda,he is back with his greekgift,now that 2015 is near,the ijaws aresomewhere laughing,saying ijaws nor dey carrylast,but ibos did. According to sources, thisproject will cost N117 billion naira. Federalgovernme nt will only contribute N30 billionnaira. Julius Berger and other businessconsort ium will contribute the rest. In return,they will build a toll gate and collect moneyfrom commuters for 25years. The constructionwil l take 48 months. Questions: 1.Why is thePresident starting this bridge construction now,less than a year to another general election, ifnot to use it as another ploy for South Eastvotes? If he had Igbo interest at heart, whydidn’t he start this project since 2011 when hewon his first presidential election? Why wait tilltowards the end of his first tenure? 2.Comparethe federal government contribution of (N30billion naira, that is N7.5 billion naira yearly in4 years) to a project that would last 48 months,to an allocations in the 2014 budget for NigerDelta militants alone. (A) Stipends andAllowances to 30,000 Niger Delta Militantsunder the Presidential Amnesty Programme:N23.6 Billion (twenty three billion, six hundredmillion Naira). (B) Reintegratio n of TransformedEx Militants: N35.4 Billion (Thirty Five Billion,Four Hundred Million Naira) Federalgovernme nt under Goodluck Jonathan budgetedN59 billion naira alone in 2014 for about30,000 Niger Delta Militants, but the samefederal government is only willing to contributeN7.5 billion yearly for a bridge that wouldbenefit Over 30 million user (mainly Igbos) .3.With toll collections, life would be moredifficult in the South East. Inflation will rise,cost of living would go up. Imagine a bus driverplying Onitsha to Asaba daily, he would have topay each time he crosses the bridge. To achievea balance, the federal government should builda toll gate on the 3rd mainland bridge which isabout 11 kilometres and other bridges. Note:the 2nd Niger Bridge will be 1.8 kilometreslong. 4.The Igbos are building this bridgeindirectl y since they will pay toll to use it.Precedents: No government (federal, state, orlocal government) project(s) has ever beenconcluded according to original plan and time.This cannot be an exception. ThereforePresid ent Goodluck doesn’t intend to completethis project during his tenure, that is if he winsthe next election.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 08:02:18 +0000
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