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2ND NIGER BRIDGE: Osinbajo slipped, ‘N2bn’ not ‘$2bn’ was released as widely reported- Presidency

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Osinbajo, Corruption Fight And Public Opinion.

Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, has issued a correction to the figure stated by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on the amount released for “early works” construction on the Second Niger Bridge by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

He issued the clarification Tuesday, stating that Osinbajo was quoted as saying that $2 billion instead of N2 billion had been released to the contractor handling the project.

According to Akande, during the APC Governorship campaign in Onitsha, Anambra State, on October 20, the development came about when Osinbajo reiterated the Buhari administration’s commitment to honouring its pledge to the Nigerian people on important projects and programmes including the construction of the Second Niger Bridge.

The spokesman said, “I did quote the VP as saying that ‘the Sovereign Wealth Fund paid N2 billion for that same project (Sum paid to the contractor: Julius Berger for early works)'”.

Read also: APC will do ‘everything it has promised’-Osinbajo

“We will definitely see our second Niger Bridge, we will not make promises we cannot keep”.

Akande however observed that a short video clip from the event captured on the news segment of a television channel quoted Osinbajo as mentioning “$2bn”, and not “N2bn”, which was what he had actually meant to say.

“Mentioning the dollar currency was inadvertent.

“As it happened, the excerpt from the video, which was shared online, was what was quoted in the headlines of some media houses, and in comments on social media.

“The figures were misplaced. Kindly set the records straight, from the speech I had sent.

“Please note, again, the sum provided for this is actually two billion naira (N2 billion)’’, he added.

He stated that it was also important to note that the highlight of the rally and Osinbajo’s remarks was the commitment of the administration to improving the nation’s transportation network and economy.

Osinbajo had said during the event that, “The APC government is a government that will do everything it has promised. We are not making promises for nothing.

“The second Niger Bridge we have been talking about it for a long time, but for the first time, the President went by himself to negotiate the facility to do that second Niger Bridge.

“That is why the second Niger Bridge is in our current budget and we have provided for it”.

 

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