US firm contracted for Lagos-Calabar rail has no construction expertise – NDDC

US firm contracted for Lagos-Calabar rail has no construction expertise – NDDC

A $15bn Memorandum of Understanding on Lagos-Calabar rail project reportedly signed by the Niger Delta Development Commission and

A United States firm, Atlanta Global Resources Inc, that recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Niger Delta Development Commission for the development of $15bn Lagos-Calabar rail has been found not to have construction expertise.

Chairman, NDDC Governing Board, Lauretta Onochie, revealed this in a statement.

She also said in the statement issued on Friday that the board was not party to the MoU arrangement and described it as illegal.

She indicated that the purported MoU with Atlanta Global Resources for the construction of rail project across the Niger Delta from Lagos to Calabar was done “without her knowledge and without the authorisation or consent of the board.

“Everything about this shady “MoU” is illegal”, she said.

Onochie listed reasons the MoU was declared illegal, saying 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 also said Part II of the NDDC Act, Section 8, sub sections (a) and (e), among other provisions, specifically state inter Alia;

“The US company, Atlanta Global Resources Inc., has no expertise or experience in any form of construction, let alone railway construction. “This company as a management and export consulting firm is without known notable directors,” the statement read.

Onochie noted that the signing of an MoU to the tune with such an organisation was not only suspect, but dubious.

The statement read in part, “The Federal Executive Council having recognised the importance of infrastructure in the Niger Delta region had awarded the contract for the same project in 2021 at the sum of $11.7bn 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, 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.

“It is shocking that after the FEC, the highest ruling body in the country, had done this, that anyone would be signing an MoU on behalf of the NDDC and the Federal Government of Nigeria for the same project in 2023 without due process nor approval by the FEC in the twilight of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.”

 

US firm contracted for Lagos-Calabar rail has no construction expertise – NDDC