The former Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, has denied his involvement in the award of the contract for the rehabilitation of Port-Harcourt-Kaduna and Kafanchan-Maiduguri rail line.
Following the report titled: ‘NRC’s Contract: we’re under pressure to stop probe, says House Committee” published in a national daily recently wherein the former minister was connected to the shady process for the award of the contract, his media aide, Innocent Ebirim, on Tuesday declared that the report was false and unfortunate.
In a statement made available to newsmen by his office, he said the contract was concluded before the appointment of Umar as the minister of transport in 2011.
According to him, “After going through the false story, the only option would have been to discard it as mere mischief but considering that in Nigeria, mere allegation is as good as guilty verdict; it became necessary to correct and clarify the falsehood as follows: “The process for the award of the contract for eastern corridor rail line from Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri leading to the issuance of award letters to respective contractors was concluded before the appointment of Umar as the Minister of Transport in 2011.
“How could he have participated in the alleged rail contract process award that was concluded before his appointment as a Minister?”
The statement explained that the former minister met the project at execution level and supervised the contract to successful conclusion and therefore has no question to answer vis-à-vis the contract award process, adding that the reporter should have cross checked his facts before rushing to publication and “this is very unfortunate.”
Ebirim stated that the former minister, Umar, is still in shock, and surprised at the allegation.
“There is little or nothing to show for huge amounts on rail contract because under his close watch and supervision, Lagos-Kano rail line; Port-Harcourt-Gombe rail line with branch line from Kafanchan-Kaduna and Zaria-Kaura Namoda rail lines were fully rehabilitated and commenced uninterrupted passenger and freight train services while the Idu (Abuja)-Kaduna standard gauge rail line reached 90 percent completion level with 100 percent track laying among other giant strides in rail projects.
“The accomplishments in railway development by the last administration are there for everyone to see including the blind who feel the impact and every project followed due process,” the statement concluded.
