Account for failed $460m Abuja CCTV Project, $2b China loan, APC tells PDP

It listed some of the opposition’s economic misdeeds while it was in power between 1999 and 2015.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, the APC described Atiku’s comment as “un-researched, unintelligent and pedestrian”.

The ruling party recalled that Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi had explained that the guarantee/clause in the loan deals is the global standard, irrespective of the country granting the loans.

The statement said: “Perhaps, Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could redirect their energies to explaining to Nigerians the status of the failed $460 million Abuja Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) awarded in August 2010 by the immediate-past PDP administration.

“Also, they should explain the over $2 billion China loan the PDP administration took between 2010 and 2013 alone; $16 billion spent on power with no electricity; fuel subsidy rackets; counter-insurgency funds that were diverted and shared to political cronies, among other shocking heists.

“Recall that the failed CCTV installation project was initiated by late President Umaru Yar’Adua and awarded in August 2010 by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to help security agencies in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to check the growing insecurity.

“Since the agreement became signed, Nigeria has been servicing this loan to China while Nigerians are yet to attest to the visibility of CCTV project and unable to explain the status of the video surveillance project. The matter is subject to a legislative probe.

“In all of these, we are starkly reminded that the PDP remains a corrupted and damaged product. Nigerians must continue to reject the party at all levels of government.

“In the area of fiscal discipline, prudence, curbing leakages, are we currently getting it right? An emphatic yes! Every kobo expended on infrastructure counts. Verifiable evidence abound in the fast expanding national railway projects, airport remodeling, among other critical infrastructure projects being undertaken by the President Muhammadu Buhari government.

“The days of phoney contracts, as institutionalised by successive PDP administrations, are fast fading.”

Also, a coalition of labour and 80 civil society groups, under the aegis of Alliance for Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), has urged the Federal Government to publicly announce the country’s debt profile.

In a statement by its Chairman, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN); Co-chairmen of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Ayuba Wabba and Trade Union Congress (TUC) President Quadri Olaleye, the group urged the National Assembly to reveal the terms and conditions of all external loans.

It said if the National Assembly fails, the Debt Management Office (DMO) should publish the terms and conditions of all external loans or face legal fireworks.

ASCAB decried the nation’s burgeoning debts, saying they have the potential of stifling economic liberation and political freedom of the people.

It said within one year, the National Assembly has approved $28 billion for President Buhari with no commensurate improvement in the quality of lives of many Nigerians.