By Valentine Amanze
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has berated the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government for failing to release the counterpart fund of N60 billion for the execution of the Bonny-Bodo road project.
While granting audience to the management of the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) at the Government House Port Harcourt on Wednesday, Governor Wike said that the inability of the Federal Government to treat all sections of the country fairly was generating tension.
He said that Bonny and the adjoining towns produce a great percentage of the country’s wealth, yet they had been denied quality road infrastructure.
His words: “We produce the oil that makes Nigeria to survive, yet the road leading to Bonny Island is a source of politics.
“The failure of the Federal Government to release her counterpart fund for the Bodo-Bonny has made it difficult for several construction work to begin.”
The governor stated that the recourse to the piecemeal annual budgeting process would stall the project. He urged the Federal Government to take funds from the Excess Crude Account to pay her counterpart fund.
He said that the Federal Government did same thing on the Ogoni clean up which has been abandoned. According to him, by March, the Federal Government is likely to start propaganda on that project.
The governor charged the NLNG to improve on its corporate social responsibility to the host communities.
He pointed out that such investments should also accommodate Omoku and Kalabari communities, which supply gas to Bonny.
He commended the NLNG for the construction of its head office in Port Harcourt, saying that all oil companies should be domiciled in the Niger Delta.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of NLNG, Mr. Tony Attah, said that the Train of the NLNG would become a reality in 2018.
He further disclosed that the work on the project would be flagged off by the Rivers State Governor.
The managing director said that work had reached advanced stage on the construction of the headquarters of the NLNG in Port Harcourt.
