East-West Road Designed To Fail –Minister

Minister of Niger Delta, Usani Usani, yesterday, flayed previous governments over the strategic East-West Road, which he said was designed to fail.
According to him, “the East West road is a project that has been messed up from inception, naturally designed to fail by all the agreements and designed concepts that we have seen.”
Usani who made the claim at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said names of between 30 and 40 contractors would be sent to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) for prosecution for their roles in the East West Road as well as other projects awarded in the Niger Delta ministry by previous administrations.
“… I have got a minimum of 30 to 40 contractors that I am sending to EFCC. On the East West road, I have taken a private consultant to review the whole cost. So, some contractors will obviously refund money for which the present cost will be discounted. So, when you see contractors ganging up and publishing things against me, you should know the foundation. But as far as I am here, I will do something that I feel is right.”
The road project, a 675km dual-carriage way meant to open up the entire Niger Delta states linking them one to another as well as the South West region was awarded in 2006 by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. It stretches from Calabar in Cross River to Warri in Delta State, with an additional 23.9km included by former president Goodluck Jonathan to link Calabar with oceanic town of Oron in Akwa Ibom.
The road is also to link all major oil towns beginning from Oron, Uyo to Calabar and the Atlantic Ocean, up to Itu and Eket in Akwa Ibom, Port Harcourt and Ahoada (Rivers), Kaiama (Bayelsa), Warri (Delta) to Benin.
The project cost which was initially at N211 billion by the Obasanjo administration was revised to N726 billion by the Jonathan administration. Meanwhile, NEC has also approved N16 billion for the construction of the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).