TRACKING_____The former Special Adviser on New Media to Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, has said that the erstwhile president paid N28.2 billion through the SURE-P scheme for the second Niger bridge project in the South- East.
Omokri made the statement on Monday via twitter, contesting the ongoing claims that the Buhari administration paid for the project.
According to Omokri, the total contract sum for the Second Niger Bridge was ₦117 billion of which the FG was to contribute ₦30 billion (28%), while 72% was to be raised by Julius Berger.
He explained that Jonathan paid for 70% of the government contribution through the SURE-P scheme before he left office in 2015.
The ex-presidential aide said the project was a personal initiative of the the former president, adding that, “The contract was based on Public-Private partnership arrangement.”
Omokri said, “Funds released for the Second Niger Bridge under Mohammed Buhari’s admin came from money contracted for the purpose by Jonathan’s government, via Sovereign Wealth Fund. There was nothing General Buhari could do to stop it. He would have stopped it if he could!”
“In 2018, General Buhari’s government lied that they awarded a ₦206 billion contract for the Second Niger Bridge. It was a lie. The bridge is a PPP awarded in 2014 for ₦117 billion. They just re-evaluated the contract to reflect Naira’s devaluation,” he added in the statement.
