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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