President Muhammadu Buhari has granted the request of the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs Godswill Akpabio to obtain N20BILLION for the East West road.
Information gathered by this publication revealed that the money will be sourced from the Sovereign Wealth Fund.SWF
The East West road initiated by the Obasanjo government and awarded in 2006 at the cost of N726billion is a 657 kilometer dual carriageway, stretching from Calabar to Warri in the South South region.
The approval for release of the sum of N20BILLION to Akpabio is generating a storm in various quaters particularly among government officials with many asking why the President should give approval at a time when an Agency, NDDC, under Akpabio’s watch is being probed of alleged embezzlement of billions of naira.
Many are of the view that the President’s approval would further advance corruption in the ministry rather than fight it.. Some who spoke under condition of anonymity described the President’s decision as a waste saying that the N20BILLION would dissappear as it would only swell the pockets of a few without achieving the objectives of the East West road, while others suggested that the funds should be released to the Federal Ministry of Works for execution of the project.
Work on the East West road began during the Yar Adua admistration and inherited by the Jonathan’s admistration..
Some sections of the road which links the South South region to the West and the North have become gullies that constitute death traps for road users.
