The construction of 2nd Niger Bridge
through a Public Private Partnership
involving Julius Berger -NSIA Consortium
and tolling the Igbo people for 25 years
thereafter is another 419 on the Biafran Igbo
citizens of South East Nigeria. According to the
terms of this fraudulent business, the project is a
Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Transfer
(DFBOT) model to cost N117 Billion naira with
the Federal Government contributing a paltry N30
billion naira while the consortium will raise the
rest of the funds and thereafter hold the Igbo
people to ransom by collecting a 25 year toll tax
for raising the rest of the funds offshore.
President Jonathan speaking at the ground
breaking ceremony at Onitsha in March 2014
said that “as part of our administration’s
Transformation Agenda in the road sector, we
have set out to construct two very important
new bridges, across our Nation’s two great rivers
– the River Niger and River Benue.These are the
Loko-Oweto Bridge linking Nasarawa and Benue
States,which is progressing satisfactorily, and
this 2nd Niger Bridge, connecting Anambra and
Delta States.” It is worthy to note that the other
bridges are being constructed by Jonathan
regime without any PPP and without any toll tax
on the people of Benue and Nasarrawa States.
This means that all President Ebele Jonathan
can do for the Igbos since they gave him
unprecedented support since 2010 is to
contribute only N30 billion naira while some
Shylock consortium raises the rest of the money
and milks the Igbo nation for 25 years.
Experts have told me that the bridge is not
supposed to cost anything above N50 billion ,
going by Nigerian standard of cost inflation,
including the 11 km access roads. However, this
contract cost was doubled overnight to N117
billion naira to justify the financial heist on
Ndigbo. The fraudulent construction will cost
N117 billion for a 1.5 km bridge while the 1.3 km
Lekki-Ikoyi suspension Bridge cost only N29
billion naira. Thus the thieves jerked the cost of
constructing the 2nd Niger bridge to 4 times the
actual cost just to justify the rape on the over
grateful Igbo nation.
Informed sources within Ohanaeze and among
Igbo leaders and All Progressive Grand Alliance
(APGA) have continued to echo that this 2nd
Niger Bridge business venture is actually
between Julius Berger, Ebele Jonathan and Peter
Obi and that Mr Peter Obi’s 2nd Niger Bridge
business venture will yield at least N12 billion
naira annually. Reliable sources have revealed
that whenever the bridge is finished, all heavy
duty vehicles will pay N1000 toll fee while cars
and mini buses will pay N500 naira. Tricycles
will pay N200 while cyclists will pay N100 naira
each time they pass through the bridge.
This criminal toll gate will yield the corrupt
business consortium and their secret sponsors
about N1 billion monthly. This means that in 4
years, the thieves would have recovered N50
billion which is the actual over-exaggerated cost
of constructing (going by the Federal Ministry of
Works Corrupt Standard). Going by the Governor
Fashola Run Lagos State standard, the bridge
will not cost anything above N30 billion naira
and thieves will take about two years plus to
recover their investments and the rest 22 years
will be excess profit.
The financial interpretation of this criminality is
that for 25 years with static revenue of N12
billion annually (ignoring the tendencies to
increase the toll fee after 2 years) , the thieves
will make N300 billion naira turnover with 250
billion naira as profit. This means that their
investment is recouped within 4 years and the
rest 21 years is profit. If the cost of such
offshore long term cost is factored, usually 2.5
-5% per annum, and its future value for 25 years
is factored, it cannot get any anywhere near N60
billion naira and yet the financial bandits are
bandying N117 billion naira as cost of
constructing the bridge.
The implication is that some politicians within
the presidency and Anambra State Govt House
have done 419 on the Igbo nation and we are all
smiling like charmed drunks. If the entire Igbo
nation is charmed, I am not. God will definitely
disgrace the thieves that want to put the Igbo
race into a slavish bondage of paying through
the nose for a Niger Bridge when all the rest of
Nigeria, from Benue to Kogi , Calabar to
Lagos,Maidugeri to Sokoto and all over Nigeria
has bridges, dams, silos, roads etc built with
Federal Government money while the defeated
Biafran Igbos of South East will have theirs built
and tolled for 25 years.
For all the support Ndigbo gave Ebele Azikkiwe
Jonathan since 2010, a PPP modeled 2nd Niger
Bridge is far worse that what Awolowo did when
Ojukwu released him from Calabar prison and he
promised to declare Oduduwa Republic, but
chickened out at the deceptive offer of Gowon.
This time around, this disappointment is not
from a Soyinka nor Obasajo nor Tinubu, rather it
is under the supervision of “our cousin” Ebele
Azikiwe Jonathan, and our former Chairman,
Board of Trustees of All Progressive Grand
Alliance (APGA) ‘Igbo Party” Peter Obi and world
acclaimed Igbo Economist Okonjo Iwuala whose
economic wisdom failed to notice the injustice
and criminality in this transaction.
Condemning the fraud called 2nd Niger Bridge,
former governor of Anambra State and serving
senator, Dr Chris Ngige said that “The first is
that the bridge is being built on a Public Private
Partnership(PPP) deal, with overseas financiers.
For that reason, the cost of the bridge suffered
double inflation, both from the Nigeria end and
the financiers who alleged cost of fund.
“The bridge, which should have cost N70 billion
is now to cost N114 billion, that was why I told
the South-East Senate Caucus that I was not
going to be a part of it”. Ngige even got it
wrong-the bridge should have cost between
N30-N50 billion naira, and factoring cost of
funds it should be t around N40-N60 Billion if
PPP should be used.
Ohanaeze and all Igbo leaders should condemn
this enslavement of Ndigbo through this over-
bloated and fraudulent construction of a bridge
and must demand immediately the cancellation
of this PPP Design, Finance, Build, Operate and
Transfer model .
Jonathan led Government should takeover the
responsibility for the full construction of that
bridge, and settle off the fraudulent consortium.
This fraudulent 419 2nd Niger Bridge should be
revised for a full scale Federal Government Built
arrangement before another scandal erupts.

Obinna Akukwe
profetobinna2@yahoo.com

[url][/url] saharareporters.com/2014/12/19/fraudulent-construction-2nd-niger-bridge-–-another-419-igbo-nation-obinna-akukwe

Rubbish!!!