Okonjo Iweala Denies Diverting $1 Billion Chinese Railway Loan

Nigeria’s former minister of finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, has denied allegation that $1 billion loan sourced from China-EximBank for the construction of Kano-Lagos rail project was diverted under her watch. The former minister, in a statement issued by Paul Nwabuikwu, her media adviser, on Sunday said the Kano-Lagos rail project was not among the railway projects funded by the Chinese Bank.

She also said there is no way loans from China-EximBank could be diverted since the institution keeps and disburses funds for approved projects to contractors based on milestones. According to her, the funds are not domiciled with the Finance Ministry

It will be recalled that Femi Adesina, the senior special adviser on media and publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari had, in a statement, indicated that officials of Federal Ministry of Transport, led by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry Alhaji Mohammed Bashar, told the President during a briefing last week that a substantial part of a $1bn loan obtained from the China-EximBank by the Jonathan administration for a Kano-Lagos rail project was diverted to other projects. Adesina said in a statement that the President who was furious about the information ordered an investigation into the alleged diversion.

“I want to state categorically that there is no truth in the reported allegation. Anyone who is interested can cross-check with the China-EximBank or the Chinese Embassy,” Okonjo Iweala said in the statement. “The alleged diversion has no substance for the simple reason that the Kano-Lagos project was not even among the projects presented for funding by the China Exim Bank for several strategic infrastructural projects across the country. In fact, it was the Lagos–Ibadan rail project, not Lagos-Kano rail project that was proposed in the original application to the China-EximBank. But in the end, no funds were assigned for the Lagos-Ibadan rail project by the China-EximBank,” said the former minister.

– Thenews