The minister of finance, budget and national planning, Mr. Zainab Ahmed, has said the federal government is still servicing the $460 million loan got for failed Abuja CCTV project but she had no explanations on the status of the project.
She disclosed this yesterday in Abuja when she appeared before House Committee on Finance to defend the 2020 budget proposal of her ministry.
Chairman of the committee, Mr. James Faleke, had during the budget defence session said there was the need for Nigerians to get value for monies paid.
“Before this administration, we collected some loans and the one that strikes me the most is the $460m for CCTV installation in Abuja.
“I want to know the position of this loan. I am sure we are paying back, but the CCTV is not working.
“Any time we take loan from China, the Chinese will come and do the job, they will bring all their equipment, the personnel and the goods and yet we do not have value for the money, especially that of the CCTV.
“Where are we? I need you to look into it and send us a memo on this particular project,” he said.
Responding, Ahmed said Nigeria was servicing the loan “but on the project, we will have to ask the Federal Capital Territory Authority because the project was deployed in the FCT.
“I have no information on the status of the CCTV.
“The conditions of the loans that we take from China always will be that a Chinese company will provide the infrastructure services.
“These are loans that are of three per cent, the rail lines are being rolled out, the Abuja-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan rails are all loans from China and are being executed by Chinese companies,” she said.
She explained that the Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano airport rehabilitation projects were done by Chinese companies and were supervised by the relevant ministries and the National Assembly to ensure quality work.
She said there were a lot of Nigerians working with Chinese on the projects.
