The acting chairman of the Board
of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Board chairman of
the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Mohammed Halliru Bello, has denied any
involvement in the award of railway contracts, saying that it was the Federal
Executive Council (FEC) who awarded the contracts and not the NRC Board.
Mohammed Halliru Bello
Bello spoke on Tuesday at an
investigative hearing organised by the House of Representatives Adhoc Committee
on failed Railway Contracts from 2010 to 2015, where he cited Section 22 of the
Public Procurement Act which exclude the Board from award of contracts.
He informed the committee that
the NRC Board under him only carried out oversight functions by supervising the
projects approved by FEC, adding that he only signed agreements and not the
contracts.
“That would have been against the
law. I signed agreements not contracts, I cannot recall all the contracts I
signed, I am 70 years old. The decision-making was in the hand of the Tenders
Board,” Bello said.
He further explained that the NRC
had various sub-committees, who receive reports from the site engineers and in
return give feedbacks to the Board.
Bello, who is also a former
acting national chairman of the PDP, recalled how he gave a directive for the
sale of scraps in the NRC yards when he was in charge between 2009 and 2011 but
said he did not know if his directive was carried out or not.
Meanwhile, the Minister of
Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that plans were underway to begin
movement of petroleum products from the southern part of the country to the
North by rail lines before the end of first quarter of 2016.
Amaechi disclosed this yesterday
while making submissions at the investigative public hearing of the ad hoc
committee.
The minister said that the development
would decongest the number of heavy trucks and trailers that convey the
products.
“As from this first quarter we
should be able to begin to move petroleum products from Lagos by rail up to the
north so that we reduce the impact of trailers and tankers on our roads,’’
Amaechi said.
He said that the ministry would
focus on completing the construction of Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar
railway lines with a view to developing faster railway system in the country.
The minister however assured that
if the Ministry gets the loan to finance the project from China Exim Bank, it
would facilitate the completion of a standard gauge railway track.
He added that before the end of
2016, trains will start running on the Kaduna-Abuja standard gauge which is currently
near completion.
Amaechi also said that the
ministry would harness the potentials in the railway sector to create
employment and ensure easy movement of goods across the country.
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