The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart, Chief Sunny Onuesoke, have faulted the Federal Government over the approval of N621bn for the reconstruction/rehabilitation of 21 Federal Roads across the country by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The IYC and Onuesoke also condemned the lopsided sharing pattern of the roads to be constructed between Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria and the exclusion of other vital Federal road particularly in Bayelsa State.
Recall that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, last Wednesday gave the approval.
At the end of the council meeting, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola who said the move was a strategic intervention under the Federal Government Road Infrastructure and Refreshment Tax Credit Scheme disclosed that the selected 21 roads covered 1804.6km.
Reacting to the development Onuesoke said it did not make sense for NNPC to spend N621.2bn tax liabilities on road projects, wondering where the money would come from and how they would account for it.
He queried how the NNPC would dip hands into the nation’s oil revenue and use funds generated for the nation to build roads rather than paying it into the nation’s account and allowing the Federal Ministry of Works to perform its constitutional role.
“It will appear smartly in their books again as a cost in year of expenditure. What is going on here?
“Road construction or reconstruction is for the Ministry of Works and Housing. Let’s borrow ourselves some sense. This is subject to plenty of fraud.
“If the Ministry of Works and Housing needs money, they should collect from the treasury through budgeting not from NNPC.
“If NNPC wants to contribute to national development, let them pay tax and do CSR with transparency. Has the NNPC taken over the functions of the Federal Ministry of Work? he queried.
He described as amazing how, out of the 1804.6 kilometers of road to be constructed by NNPC, only 288.22 kilometers were allocated to the the South while 1,516.38 kilometers of roads went be built in the North, saying it was equivalent to robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Fielding questions from journalists in Yenagoa, IYC chairman, Central Zone, Comrade Clever Inodu, expressed the discontentment, faulting the decision of the FEC to exclude majority of the states in the Niger Delta region.
He said total neglect of Bayelsa State was an indication that the state has never been on the framework of the corporation even though it is amongst states in the top chart of petroleum activities in the country.
“The most anticipated Nembe-Brass road has been on the Federal Government drawing board since 1973, but has gotten little or no attention despite its socio-economic viability,” he lamented.
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, all National Assembly members from Bayelsa State and the management of the corporation to reconsider the FEC’s position on the Nembe-Brass road and every other federal road in the state.
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