FG queries Okonjo-Iweala’s handling of $1bn loan

In from Olumide Olaoluwa …
President Muhammadu Buhari has queried the Federal Ministry of Finance formerly headed by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala on foreign loans obtained for rail projects but diverted to other purposes.
Speaking at the end of a presentation on the Federal Ministry of Transport by the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Mohammed Bashar at the Presidential Villa Abuja, Buhari said that it was disappointing to find that foreign loans obtained in line with signed agreements were moved to other projects.
He was reacting to the specific instance of the diversion of a substantial part of the loan of $1.005 billion from the Chinese Exim Bank obtained for the construction of a standard gauge rail line linking Lagos to Kano was moved elsewhere.
The President, in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, warned: “I hope that due process was followed before such diversions were carried out. Taking money from one project to another has to be done properly.”

Read also: I’m ready for probe, Okonjo-Iweala tells NEC

The Permanent Secretary had informed the President that only $ 400 million of that loan remained with the Ministry of Finance.
The President regretted government has failed over the years to meet its counterpart funding obligation on some projects, leading to such projects being left uncompleted or abandoned.
He added that there was a clear need to streamline, harmonise, and prioritise on-going projects in the transportation sector.

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