₦airaland Forum

nnamdijonathan:
Commissioning of the Onitsha river port any time soon is facing another problem again

Conclusion Of N4.5bn Onitsha River Port Concession Mired In Controversy

…Anambra govt protests procedure
By Godwin Oritse
GOVERNMENT’S bid to concession the Onitsha River port may have been mired in controversy as parties challenge the integrity and fairness of the bidding process.
Investigations by Vanguard Maritime Report also indicated that the supervising ministries in the exercise may have forced a brake on the conclusion of the process.
Consequently, though the implementing government agency, the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, said it has concluded the exercise since last month, it has not been able to communicate to the winner of the bid officially till date.
Some of the parties involved in the concession exercise are accusing NIWA of flouting court orders and disregarding ministerial directives on cancellation of the entire process.
A source in the Federal Ministry of Transportation told Vanguard Maritime Report that a department of the ministry had recommended cancellation of the report of the evaluation of the technical proposals submitted by bidders in December last year, due to some irregularities in the exercise.
The supervising ministry accused the Bid Evaluation Team constituted by NIWA of failing to adhere to the evaluation criteria and inexplicable discrepancies in the application of the scoring matrix established by the Evaluation Committee.
Also, the ministry queried the involvement of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in the bid evaluation process which, according to our source, had led to a “serious conflict of interest”.
Furthermore, the ministry directed that a new evaluation team be constituted to re-evaluate the technical proposals and, in addition, advised that the technical evaluation report should not be circulated among the bidding companies and other stakeholders.
Vanguard Maritime Report was also reliably informed thatthe Federal Ministry of Finance which has oversight responsibility on the process had directed that a meeting of all stakeholders should be convened to address complaints from various quarters.
Vanguard Maritime Report further gathered that NIWA went ahead to conclude the remaining stages of the bidding process and announced the selection of two firms as prospective concessionaires for the river port, but without disclosing the names.
According to NIWA’s Acting Managing Director, Barrister Danladi Ibrahim: “The concession has been completed. We opened the financial bid on the 3rd of July and we have picked the most competitive concessionaires and any moment from now they will take over the cargo handling operations of Onitsha port.”
On the name of the selected concessionaires, he said, “We cannot reveal it now because the award letter has not been issued but two companies were pre-qualified for the financial bid and it will be concessioned for 25 years.”
The Onitsha Port was built by ex-President Shehu Shagari, in 1983 and rehabilitated with over N4.6 billion by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012, but it has remained unutilised since then.
The current concession initiative started with a ministerial approval to advertise for expression of interest (EoI) from prospective investors, made public by the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Tuesday, 25th July 2017 at the Second NIWA International Conference and Exhibition (ICE) held in Lagos.
The Port concession process which was scheduled for conclusion by the end of March this year has been bedeviled by series of irregularities leading to numerous complaints from bidders and pending litigations at the Federal High Court, Awka.
Some parties in the process are also alleging that the concession process has been compromised with one of the bidders being favoured.
It was learnt that a total of 9 companies expressed interest in the concession, but only four were shortlisted to bid.
The companies that expressed interest are Le.Ejinkeonye Nigeria Limited, based in Anambra State, International Trading and Contracting Limited, based in Lagos, and Port Harcourt based Marlin Maritime Consortium and Logistics Resources Ltd.
Others are Universal Elysium Consortium in Abuja, Inland Container Nigeria Limited based in Lagos, Oranto Petroleum also in Abuja.
The four shortlisted bidders according to documents made available to Vanguard Maritime Report, include Inland Containers Terminals Limited, currently running the Kaduna Inland Container Depot, Elysium Consortium, International Trading Company, ITC, and Oranto Petroluem owned by one Prince Author Eze.
But the promoters of ITC felt aggrieved after it was disqualified from the bidding process and went to the Federal High Court in Awka, Anambra state to protest its disqualification.
A source at ITC told Vanguard Maritime Report that it was disqualified because it requested for an amendment of some document it needed to use for the bid process adding that it duly made the request.
According to the source, ITC met about 98 percent of the bid requirement of the both commercial and
financial bid process adding that if due process was followed, it would have won the bid.
Speaking on the development, Mr. George Ugwu, the Transaction Adviser to the Onitsha River Port concessioning project, said that he could not comment on a project whose process is still ongoing.
“The transaction is still ongoing, it will be unfair if I make any comment on an ongoing process”, he stated
In a petition date 15th May, 2018, to Minister of Transportation, the promoters of ITC noted that NIWA intentions with regards to the project have remained unclear, conflicting and confusing.
Part of the petition reads: “We refer to our letter of appeal dated 30th April 2018, in connection with the above matter and write to thank you for your timely intervention and restoration of confidence in the ongoing River Port concession process.
“Sir, we must let you know that we were greatly disturbed by the unclear circumstances surrounding a certain mail purportedly sent to us by NIWA that was returned undelivered and NIWA’s continued refusal to release the returned mail or disclose its content to us, despite three attempts by the consortium to retrieve the mail in question from the agency’s office in Lokoja- thereby fuelling our suspicion of possible attempts somewhere to create ground for disqualification of the ITC Consortium from the bid for the concession of the Onitsha River Port.
“Our fears, worries and suspicions arose from the fact that the transaction governing the document the Request for Proposal, RFP, states amongst other things in Sub-Clause 30.1 that ‘during the examination, evaluation, and comparison of proposals, NIWA may at its discretion, ask the bidders for clarification of the of their proposals’ and goes on to assert on page 34 that ‘In the event that one of the items (or document submitted) is incomplete or improperly submitted, NIWA/FMoT at its sole discretion may ask the bidders to resubmit the item, failure to resubmit the item at the request of NIWA/FMoT may be ground for disqualification”
“It was this fear of NIWA’s unclear intentions-especially in the face of conflicting information and instructions emanating from the Lokoja office of the Agency willingness to release the said mail-that prompted the ITC Consortium to approach the Federal High Court, Awka on 3RD of May, 2018 where we sought, amongst other things, some relief to ensure that the concession process is govern by the RFP rules”.
Besides the protest by the ITC group, the Anambra State Government also frowned at the way and manner of the amendment of the bid proposal.
In the letter with reference number ANS/SSG/M.627/04, dated 30th, April 2018 and addressed to the Minister of Transportation, the State government said that it was in partnership with ITC group for the purpose of bidding for the port.
Part of the letter reads: “In August last year, the State-through the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, ANSIPPA in conjunction with International Trading and Contracting, ITC, Limited and Afrinvest West Africa Limited under the International Trading and Contracting Limited Consortium participated in the request for Expression of Interest, EoI in the concession of the Onitsha River Port.
“The consortium’s expression of Interest was endorsed personally by his Excellency, the Governor of Anambra State Chief Willie Obiano and submitted in association with ANSIPPA and other Consortium parties.
“Based strictly on merit, the consortium was pre-qualified for the next stage concession process and requested to submit its Technical and Financial proposals on the 22nd of December, 2017
“Unfortunately, after the submission of the proposal, the Consortium discovered an error in the bid Bond issued by one of the supporting banks.
“The error was rectified as soon as it was reported to the bank’s top management and the amended copy was re-submitted by the Consortium to the Concessioning Authority on the 31st of January, 2018 with a request for withdrawal and return of the first bid bond submitted earlier in December last year.
“Recently, the Consortium was constrained to send to the NIWA for the return of the first bid bond, with an appeal for consideration of the re-submitted copy, since no feedback has been received from the Concessioning Authority”.
A memo from the Federal Ministry of Finance to the Acting Managing Director of NIWA, Mr. Danladi Ibrahim noted that the bidding process had failed to conform with the principles and guidelines of the Procurement Act of 2007.
The memo dated 27th of April 2018 and signed by Barrister Tor Tsavsar, Director Technical services department of the Federal Ministry of Transport, stated: “You may further recall that the Department only received the opening and Evaluation Report of the Technical bids on the 28th of March, 2018.
“The Report has been reviewed by the Evaluation Ministry and found to have failed to conform with the principles and guidelines of the Procurement Act, 2007”.
The report of the Technical bid prepared and submitted by the Transaction Adviser, Green Stratos, noted that every other bidder was given a pass mark except ITC who the report said to have failed in the submission of its bid bond in a separate envelope.
In its reaction the management of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, said that ITC submitted a Bid Bond bearing a different name that did not have any link with the ITC Consortium and could not be linked with their bid legally.
The Bid Bond’s validity according to the Director General of the Commission, Engr Chidi Izuwah, was also less than what was required in the RFP.
He said: “This company has written numerous letters to the HMT (Honourable Minister of Transportation), NIWA, ICRC etc appealing for intervention to enable them to participate further in the process.
“The ITC is one of the successful companies that was issued an RFP, they responded and submitted their technical and financial proposals.
“The company submitted a Bid Bond bearing a different name that did not have any link with the ITC Consortium and could not be linked with their bid legally.
“The Bid Bond’s validity was also less than what was required in the RFP. This infraction is clearly captured in different parts of the RFP as grounds for disqualification”.
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/08/conclusion-of-n4-5bn-onitsha-river-port-concession-mired-in-controversy/

mtchew..they always find a way to delay the project because they know that if onitsha port start working. Some people gonna loose big time and this people ave made it a goal to delay and delay it till eternity

Which kind nonsense be this one kwanu

Through zoo. Filled with baboons and monkeys. Tufia

Handsomegod:
I know IPOB has released a long explanation stating the reason of their refusal to join Nigerian politics. I read that before and could not fault their position. Again,Nigerian politics is toxic. It pollutes everything it touches. Who would have believed that Adam Oshoimole will one day be on the side of the Oppressors of Nigerian masses! Who would have believed Femi Adesina will one day sing the praises of a killer regime? That's toxicity of Nigerian crude politics. Furthermore,have you seen what Niger-Delta agitation for better deal for their people have turned to the moment they allowed politics in it? The whole agitation has turned to a mockery and jamboree. That's the polluting power of Nigerian politics on all things hitherto pure.

thank you. Iyc ave now turned themselves into political tools. There was this news about how they hack themselves to death because of APC and PDP. I think two or three people died

pazienza:
https://www.nairaland.com/4703701/lagos-state-highest-foreign-debt#up

What's up with our rising debt though. As bad as T. A Orji was, he kept Abia debt manageable, now under Ikpeazu, it's shooting through the roof, yet civil servants are owed in the state and no good roads still .
Obi left Obiano no debt, now Obiano is stockpiling debt like no tomorrow. What sort of reckless governance is this?
And no one should tell me the borrowing is justified, as we all know that Obiano has in no way outdone Obi in infrastructural and all round development of Anambra.
This is too bad.
For all the stick we are giving Rochas, he had managed to keep Imo debt profile manageable, where as Ikpeazu and Obiano are accumulating debt.

they loot and loot and borrow because they believe that when they leave office. The nxt governor should clean up the mess

LZAA:
Even zombies shock for this one
Cc immhotep greenback gmbuharii sarrki sarkin Roger3D

lzaa boss. How edey be nah? It seems zombies don go into hiding since bubu was named a lifeless president

spyder880:
More parts of Asaba

more photos please. Do u think a port can be viable through abia state if it is dredged

horsepower101:
I am assuming that in this thread nzeogwu is now Igbo to yorubas and nigerians alike....OK but once oil its involved now he becomes south south.

don't mind the hypocrites

Our oyel people don strike again

Afam4eva:
The people i pity most is the SS and SE poltiicians that are defecting to the APC. They'll learn their lessons after the 2019 election.

oga eme fa vam na anya

nnamdijonathan:
I need the new moniker to contribute to less hateful trends on nairaland because people can check your posts and I will not like people to know that I have been viewing trends were different ethnic groups were insulted just like this one

kk.

nnamdijonathan:
OK ooo. I feel like changing my moniker from NnamdiJonathan to UcheNwosu2019. I actually wanted to use GoodluckJonathan before or should I use it now? I am tired of this NnamdiJonathan moniker.

and what difference will it make?

nnamdijonathan:
The main problems obstructing the total control of Nri in Anioma, are the royal families and the ignorance of the so-called elders. No Anioma person will ever deny his or igboness outside Anioma, this I am sure of. Assuming I was born and bred in Anioma, I would have disliked Igbos like other ignorant people because I would have grown with the mindset of not being Igbo.

yes that true and non of dem wana to do a research about it...

nnamdijonathan:
there is no written history anywhere were Issele uku was created by NRI. Issele Uku was created by Eze Chima who is believed to have come from Benin. The NRI people of Issele Uku were brought to Issele uku by Eze Osei, the father of Eze Chima.
The History of Issele Uku that I wrote above, is a fabricated history and can be found in the history of Issele uku's book. Ignorance brought about different histories about Issele uku and Anioma in general but there has not been any history to oppose the nonsense, so even if I know the truth that I never originated from Benin, people will still refer me to that stupid fabricated history book.

lol is it not funny that all the name above are all igbo names which are known to be answered all over igbo land. Maybe all this nonsense happened afta the Civil War. I knw Chima sojourned in bini. The Nri people and the Binis where good friends in the past. The introduction of the four market days in bini was brought by nri to bini.... Nnamdijonathan isn't it funny this people claims that they don't have igbo influences that instead they influenced the whole South as they claimed.... I want you try this. Ask a bini man how the four market days came to be and give me feedback....The will start telling u how the market fall from the sky through the words of the Oba..... Since eze Chima father recieved the ogboli group in his kingdom. So they where answered igbo name bfore the ogboli group came. Trash trash trash. M

hammer6F:
Igbos govs are guilty of being cowed and thieves but never responsible for the Army.

That is Buhari and Osinbanjo domain.

don't mind the useless leaders we ave. Tufia. Aru mere

nnamdijonathan:
You can't change the spelling no matter how you try. My king is one of the main promoters of the Benin history of Issele uku and there is nothing I can do about it. I know myself as an Igboman and I don't also believe the Benin history but I don't have the power to change the history in the royal family. Where did you find that useless spelling of Issele Uku that you are writing?
PS. You did not answer the question in my former post concerning the religious leader.

weda uku or ukwu. The name is still igbo and not a bini name

Handsomegod:
Oh really@Uku. So you also belong to the school of thought who preach Bini ancestry of Isele Ukwu and the adjoining Ezechima towns. Kindly tell me what Uku means in Bini language? Is Isele-Uku now a Bini word? Just imagine the insanity you are displaying here.So Isele is a Bini outpost yet the title of their king remains Obi.Why not Oba? And you failed to note that the majority of Isele indigenes are the Ogbolis which are of Nri Stock and this explains Nri dignitaries in all Isele-Ukwu's traditional festivals and occasions. As for the question of your ancestral claims,ive dealth with that clean and square.

don't mind them with their twisted fairy tales

nnamdijonathan:
No. Its facility management, we work only when there is a fault somewhere. You can come to coca cola ikoyi to enjoy urself and browse free of charge with WiFi.

bros y don't u pick up the challenge and tell us where u are from

hammer6F:
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
mightguy come and hear Oooooo, i know talk am?
He wanted to eat me raw.
Ndi Nzuzu!

lol. No mind them. E go clear for them eye soon.

Purehuman:
What did PDP do for us? You blame the few that didn't deliver up to 50,000 votes to bring all the spoils to your doorstep. Naso

I don't support pdp either. But what I won't take is insult from apc to the whole igbo nation simply because we didn't vote for them.

Incredibleme:
I'm not saying Rochas is a messiah, just as Alimodu Sherrif was used by the apc to slow down the recovery of pdp, ngige, rochas and the rest would have been tools to foster igbo agender but NO! immediately they shifted camp, they were designated prodigal children and were disowned. People who were disowned by their own people had no other use than to be tools to perpetrate the Northern agenda.

nobody disowned them. When Rochas decamped to apc during his second tenure. Who voted him in?. Is it not imo state indigenes. because Rochas did alot for them. The scholarship. The schools. Roads and lots of things. Markets. How he helped market women and co. The salaries. I was even jelous of imo state. Asking myself God y didn't he give us leaders like Rochas in abia state. Afta all this thing he did in pdp. He decamped to apc and still imolite where the people who voted him into power because of what they saw. The infrastructure he laid... Hoping that he will continue from where he stopped. The imolite championed the apc course back then because what they saw Rochas did was wonderful but instead of continuing his good works. He destroyed all he did.... He started showing us his true colors. He started privatizing markets. And co and made life miserable for some people and the people who protested. Some died of stray bullets. And u think a leader like this in apc can give talk to his people about apc and they will listen

Afam4eva:
There's one thing which people who share the same view as you have in common. You are all APC sympathizers and you're angry that Igbos will not tow the same line. You can't be smarter than over 40 million Igbos in Nigeria, so until you have a better plan for Igbos within the Nigerian project, i suggest you keep your political affiliation to yourself and stop bugging us about how political naive we are. If APC was the best foro us, we would have joined a long time ago.

thank you jaree. When they where busy Making mockery of the igbos and now election is near. They are talking about igbo presidency telling us how we will miss the chance if we don't vote for bubu. But since bubu was in power the only thing we had done was to call us 5%

Rochas2023:
This is why atleast half of Igbo's need to support APC

i knw at the mention of APC. All zombies must come out from the pit they call home

hammer6F:
Nwanne, I will becos they need it.

We keep leaving them, hence they keep misbehaving.

lol. Continue. If am okowa. This is an opportunity to build alot for the aniomas. because what am seeing. Mmiri a na eru hmmm

hammer6F:
lol!

tell them more. Tell them to bitter truth

hammer6F:
lol!

tell them more. Tell them to bitter truth

Apc my foot.. If the likes of Rochas and other Igbo members in apc ave brought something good to igbo land through apc. We will support them. If the second niger bridge was constructed. If the apc built a seaport for the east. Atleast an airport and some other amenities and stop holding igbo down. Don't u know by now we would ave championing the course but no but an average igbo man even little kids sees apc as devil incarnate who ave done more harm than good

Incredibleme:
IGBO PEOPLE KEEP CALLING OUTSIDERS THEIR ENEMIES, BUT WE ARE OUR OWN ENEMIES.

imagine the conflicts within a said most hardworking ethnic group. We work very hard to destroy ourselves. I don't blame yorubas or northerners when the make fun of us.

Infact I just mop when igbo matters are being talked about at my office in lagos. I mean there's no need defending rubish. Almost everything they say about us are facts. Starting from or political foolishness to the continuous bad decisions we take back to back.

Imagine the way we are stupidly playing ourselves into political oblivion in the upcoming election. There is no coherence in our action.

Other blocs are already planning and making arrangements to a win but in the east there is no laid out plan for our own win. Rochas is in APC, he could have been an asset (considering how he is always clamouring for more appointments from buhari) but NO! we chose to utterly destroy his political career now he is a laughing stock.

ipob came at the wrongest time. This is not the time to start chanting succession, rather we need to put up a coordinated political front, for a knockout blow at the end.

Igbos have a very poor emotional intelligence quotient.

I MEAN "ANAMBRA VS IMO"

LIKE SERIOUSLY!!

CHAI!!!

we chose to destroy who?. Rochas. Is not the same Rochas that ave been throwing words recklessly to the igbo nation. What ave apc done for the east. Joe igbokwe and co. Ngige etc who carries apc for head. What ave they brought back to the east as what they gain for been a staunch apc member. Where were day when python dance was conducted in the east. All the igbo apc members of great calibers. They didn't do a single thing. They didn't talk or reacted but kept quiet. If not for the youths who started texting to amnesty and co and the matter died down. What ave they brought back to us and told us. My igbo brodas this is what i brought to the east for been an apc member. The second niger Bridge. They avent done anything.what ave the apc government started and finished in igbo land. The people of imo who voted for APC Rochas. What ave they gained for supporting apc government. Mtchew

Incredibleme:
Shame on you all!
THIS THREAD IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED!

officially closed by who?. Abeg shift

hammer6F:
Dont let my grammar fool u.

I might wear a suit but, this is wat is behind the suit.

hammer onwere ife inuru? Agu nnaaaa jiri nwanyo

hammer6F:
The way that boy fra came here and was behaving alone, is enough to tell u, how upset they were that Anioma got the Governor position.

I believe one of their gold medalist even shuned GEJ despite the national honour given to her by him.

Bless Okagbare is her name. She accused GEJ of unlawfully using her image to campaign in 2015. lollz

Itse Sagay, SAN have been insulting igbos every opportunity he gets. https://www.nairaland.com/2849110/igbo-intimidating-buhari-biafra-get

These people want power now and will not wait another 4 years.

nnamdijonathan. Shey u dey hear am. Coupled with apc rigging abilities and mechanics. It might work in their favor

Dremca:
Yes, naira land is the forum regarding privacy but I'll urge Spyder880 to contact seun and the moderators of this forum to be more active in punishing those who breach the laws on this forum just the way travel section has a very active moderator.

am with you on this