The Igbo Conversation Group, has asked the leading presidential candidates- Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party and Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress- to immediately make a pledge to reverse the public-private partnership policy in the execution of the 2nd Niger Bridge project.
The group, a political pressure group comprising prominent Igbo politicians, businessmen and professionals, made the demand in a communiqué issued after its meeting in Enugu. The meeting was attended by former Imo State governor, Ikedi Ohakim; Prof. Pat Utomi, Chief Ralph Obioha, among others.
The group listed a number of commitments, which it said must be made before the elections by Jonathan and Buhari before they could be assured of Igbo votes.
Calling for the cancellation of the PPP arrangement for the 2nd Niger Bridge, the group noted that it “entails the collection of tolls by the private investors for a period of 25 years after completion.”
“This is not fair to Ndi-Igbo, who will be the major users of the bridge. Curiously, the second Niger bridge is the only such road/bridge project that is under a PPP arrangement,” the ICG added.
The group equally demanded that Jonathan and Buhari, as well as any other presidential candidate, must immediately “present to Ndi-Igbo an action plan for completely routing the Boko Haram insurgency within the first three months of assuming office”.
“This is without prejudice to the current efforts being made by the Federal Government and which are yielding results,” it said.
According to the group, Igbo are the worst hit by the insurgency, besides the natives of the affected areas.
“The discussion noted that next only to the natives of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, where the insurgents are rooted, Igbo elements are the worst hit by the insurgency, owing to the well-known fact that there are millions of Igbo who reside in that area with huge economic investments that are now being destroyed, to say nothing about loss of several Igbo lives,” the ICG said.
Jonathan and Buhari were also asked to say what they would do with internally-displaced persons of Igbo extraction who had fled the North-East and had to return to their native homes in the South-East and some parts of the South-South.
It could be recalled that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo flagged off the project at the twilight of his administration with a pretense that the contract had been awarded to Gitto Group when indeed there was nothing.
But President Jonathan has moved from design stage to actual awarding of contract to Julius Begger through an IPP programme and it has been flagged off.
