The host communities to the ongoing River Niger dredging from the south to the northern part of the country have expressed concern over alleged diversion of fund meant for the projects to different projects, calling for Nigeria’s Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to resign.
The call was made by River Niger host communities from Kogi and Niger states. The communities said the call for his resignation become imperative because he approve the diversion of N19 billion intervention fund for the dredging of River Niger from the Federal Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Niger Delta for shoreline protection.
President of River Niger Coast Youth Communities of Kogi State Barrister Mohammed Ndanusa and spokesman of the Nupe Congress of Niger State Engineer Yabagi Sani said this at separate press conferences in Abuja yesterday.
They said it was wrong of the acting president to meet with some people from a section of the country and issue directives diverting funds appropriated by the National Assembly, approved by the President and the contract approved by the Federal Executive Council.
Barrister Ndanusa said Jonathan’s action constitutes an impeachable offence for diverting money appropriated by the National Assembly from one Ministry to the other for purposes other than what the fund was originally appropriated for.
Engineer Sani said the action of the acting President is clearly unconstitutional and illegal because appropriation is the prerogative of the National assembly only. He asked the National Assembly to take up the matter and appropriately commence impeachment process against the acting President.
He also asked the EFCC to investigate the matter to ensure that the N600 million paid to the consulting firms responsible for the section (Warri to Ida in Kogi State) of the dredging being stopped is refunded to the government immediately.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan had after a meeting with the steering council of the Niger Delta Amnesty Program that consist of Governors of the Niger Delta region, directed that the dredging of a portion of the river Niger from the Onya Bifurcation to the Nembe/Port-Harcourt course be suspended and the N19 billion earlier appropriated for the dredging work be transferred by the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Niger Delta as reportedly requested by the Niger Delta communities.
50104-2010/03/03