The Ministry of Transport has clarified its stance on the alleged media report about a purported 34.8bn scam that was said to have rocked the ministry over the dredging of? River Niger
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In a rejoinder signed by the Director of Press of the ministry, Mr Kingsley Agha, the? ministry faulted the media report that Mrs. Chinwe Ezenwa was the acting managing director of Nigerian Inland Waterway Authority (NIWA) and explained that Ezenwa retired from service of the federal government as director in the ministry after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60years in February 2011.
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The statement reads in part, “She was acting managing director of NIWA between January- June 2009, while the dredging project was flagged off by the then President Umaru Musa Yar’adua in September 2009.
?“The management of NIWA has made public the details of the dredging of the Lower Niger? from? inception to date. Also, the Capital Dredging of the River Niger has since been completed and maintenance is on-going in conformity with the time table for the execution of the contract.”
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The statement further clarified that the House Committee did not only support NIWA, it also commended the dredging of the Lower River Niger and claimed that the? project has opened the vast business opportunities that abound in our coastal states. The ministry added that the River Niger dredging project? ran through eight states and about 120 communities of the federation.
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