ICIR
AN Abuja Federal High Court has ordered the Federal Government to provide details on how a $460 million Chinese loan was used to fund the failed Abuja Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) project.
A statement by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on Sunday, May 21, said the court presided by Justice Emeka Nwite made the order in a judgment on Monday, May 15.
Details of the judgment were obtained in a Freedom of Information (FOI) suit filed by SERAP.
Joined as defendants in the suit are the Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed and the Minister of Police Affairs Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi.
Justice Nwite ordered that the government must publish the total amount of money paid to Chinese and local companies and contractors, precise details of the identities of the companies and contractors, and the status of the implementation of the project.
According to the statement, the suit followed comments made by Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, concerning the CCTV project in 2019. The minister said: “We are servicing the loan, but on the project, we will have to ask the FCT Authority because the project was deployed in the FCTA. I have no information on the status of the CCTV.”
The CCTV contract was reportedly awarded to a Chinese firm in 2010 by the Goodluck Jonathan administration after then Minister of Finance Olusegun Aganga led a delegation to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Beijing, China.
The project was, reportedly, to be funded from a $600 million financing portfolio secured as a soft credit loan…
