The Niger Delta Development Company (NDDC) has described the $15 billion memorandum of understanding (MoU) on a rail project signed by the commission and a US-based firm as illegal and dubious.
A statement issued by the chairman, NDDC governing board, Lauretta Onochie, on Friday, April 28, indicated that the purported MoU with Atlanta Global Resources Inc. for the construction of rail project across the Niger Delta region from Lagos to Calabar was done without her knowledge and without the authorisation or consent of the board.
Onochie, while listing the reasons why the MoU was declared illegal, said that the act establishing the NDDC (Act No 6, of 2000), stated that the chairman of the board was solely vested with the power to sign MOUs with any organisation.
She further noted that, “The US company, Atlanta Global Resources Inc., has no expertise or experience in any form of construction, let alone railway construction.”
Onochie added that the signing of an MoU to the tune of $15 billion with such an organisation was not only suspected, but dubious.
She stated that, “It is shocking that anyone would be signing an MoU on behalf of the NDDC and the federal government of Nigeria for the project without due process nor approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in the twilight of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.”
Recall that the FEC, in 2021, awarded the contract for the same project at the sum of $11.7 billion for the construction of a mega railway from Lagos to Sagamu, Sagamu to Ijebu-Ode, Ijebu-Ode to Ore, Ore to Benin City, Benin-City to Sapele, Sapele to Warri, Warri to Yenogoa, Yenegoa to Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt to Aba, Aba to Uyo.
The project also include Uyo to Calabar, Calabar to Akamkpa and to Ikom, Obudu Ranch with branch lines from Benin city to Agbor, Ogwashi-Uku, Asaba, Onitsha and Onitsha Bridge and then Port Harcourt to Onne deep sea port.
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