N1 trn Railway Projects: Tukur and Baraje Summoned by Reps

By Solomon

11 December 2015

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ABUJA - Three former chairmen of the Board of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje and Ambassador Ladan Shuni insisted on Thursday that they played no role in the awarding of contracts for the rehabilitation and modernization of the country’s railway lines.

The House of Representatives is investigating railway contracts awarded and executed between 2010 and 2014.

The Federal Government reportedly spent over N1tn on the railway contracts with the additional funding from the now-rested Subsidy Re-Investment and Empowerment Programme.

Tukur, Baraje and Shuni, who at different times served as chairmen of the NRC, appeared before an ad hoc committee of the House in Abuja on Thursday.

The committee is headed by a PDP lawmaker from Edo State, Mr. Johnson Agbonayinma.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, asked the committee to do a thorough investigation to find out whether the “billions of naira” budgeted for the railway modernization projects were judiciously spent.

Dogara said no person, “no matter how highly-placed,” would be spared if the investigation should reveal that they were culpable in any way.

He assured the committee of the backing of the House, saying that whenever necessary, bench warrants would be issued to compel appearances before the committee.

Source: Punch Newspaper

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