A former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamangar Tukur, has absolved himself from the award of railway contracts while serving as the Board Chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).
Tukur
made this known to the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee
investigating the Ministry of Transport and the NRC over the award of
railway contracts from 2010 to 2014.
According to Tukur, the Procurement Act excluded the NRC Board from participating in the award of railway contracts.
"The
Board which I chaired was never involved in any contract award and was
never told or invited to participate in issues of contract award or
financial disbursement.’’
Turkur added that
throughout his tenure as the NRC Board Chairman, no issue of contract
award of any amount or tune was discussed or awarded by the board.
Another Chairman of the Board, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, said that he was not privileged to appoint any consultant or award contracts for the railway projects.
"We only played the role of inspection because the Procurement Act excluded the board from participating in any contract.’’
He
expressed worry that the country’s railway transportation system had
suffered neglect in spite of its critical role in the development of the
economy.
Baraje, who was also a former National
Chairman of PDP, said that more attention should be given to the 25-year
railway modernisation plan to boost transportation in the country.
Also
Sen. Ladan Shuni, another former Board Chairman of the NRC, wondered
the essence of inaugurating a board that lacked the capacity to
oversight the award of contracts.
Earlier, the
Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, urged the ad hoc
committee to ascertain the quality of contractors who won the contracts.
"In
view of the billions of naira sunk into the railway project, the
committee must ascertain the quality of contractors awarded these
contracts.
"The jobs done must show value for the money.’’
He
said that railway transportation was three times more efficient and
environmentally friendly than other means of transportation.
The Chairman of the ad hoc Committee, Rep. Johnson Agbonayinma (PDP-Edo), said that Nigeria lost N450 billion annually due to the poor state of railway infrastructure.
The
contributions of transport to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been
on the downward trend due to the poor state of our rails, resulting to
economic losses to the tune of N450 billion annually.
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