Senate probes $18.5b Abuja centenary city project
Nigeria Senate
• Knocks correctional service over increasing jailbreaks
The Senate has resolved to investigate the stalled $18.5 billion Abuja Centenary Economic City project. Adopting a motion sponsored by Yisa Ashiru Oyelola (APC: Kwara State), the upper legislative chamber agreed to set up an ad hoc committee to “urgently investigate the factors impeding the completion of the Abuja Centenary City project.”
It specifically tasked the committee “to review the original public-private partnership agreement and recommend amendments, if necessary, to facilitate smooth and expeditious completion of the project within a defined timeframe.”
The Red Chamber also urged the Federal Government “to prioritise the revival of the Abuja Centenary City project by providing appropriate support, resolving regulatory issues, and addressing any other impediments, given its beneficial potential to the economy and people of Nigeria after 10 years of stalled progress.”
The motion tagged, “Urgent need to revive and complete the stalled Centenary Abuja Project,” drew the attention of the Senate to the fact that the original estimated Investment for the project was $18.5 billion as of 2014, equivalent to the size of Nigeria’s national budget at today’s exchange rate.
The original vision for the project was for it to serve as a potential economic hub, with a plan to create over 190,000 construction jobs, 250 million permanent well-paying employments and accommodation for over 200,000 residents.
The centenary city was designated as a free trade zone under the regulatory oversight of the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), without prejudice to other statutory agencies like the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Abuja Investment Company (AIC) and Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre (AIIC).
Defending his motion earlier, Oyelola observed that significant progress had been made on the similarly ambitious $6 billion Eko Atlantic City project in Lagos.
ALSO yesterday, the rising cases of jailbreak drew anger in the chamber. President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, regretted that more jailbreaks have occurred across the country after what he called a “deceitful change” from Nigeria Prisons Service to Nigeria Correctional Service.
He took advantage of the consideration of a bill for the amendment of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Act to draw attention to the alleged deceit in the adoption of the name, Nigeria Correctional Service.
He said: “Since the adoption of that name, we have had more jailbreaks. Laws are meant to punish and correct. If by the time you are convicted and you are sent to prison, you are even meant to learn skills and ethical reorientation and all that. It is not only when we specifically call it correctional centre, and yet we are not correcting anything.”
Akpabio added: “I support the idea of having a thorough examination of the Bill for the amendment of RMAFC Act to avoid making the same mistake we made in coming up with the Correctional Service as a name.”
No fewer than 10 breaks have occurred since the name change by former President Muhammadu Buhari on August 15, 2019, after signing the Nigerian Correctional Service Act of 2019 into law.
Findings have shown that within the last 10 years, about 20 jailbreaks occurred in Nigeria, a development Akpabio attributed to incompetence and deceit.
Between 2021 and 2022 alone, no fewer than eight prison outbreaks were recorded, with over 4,000 escapee inmates.
Five jailbreaks occurred in 2021, while three happened in 2022 across the federation. It is interesting to note that 18 cases were recorded between 2015 and 2022.
A glimpse of the timelines showed that on April 5, 2021, 1,844 inmates escaped from Owerri correctional centre in Imo State after gunmen attacked the facility.
Also on July 8, 2021, four awaiting trial suspects escaped from Jos custodial centre in Plateau state. Another jailbreak occurred on September 13, 2021, at Kabba Correctional Centre in Kogi State, where over 2,400 inmates were freed.
Equally, on October 22, 2021, gunmen attacked Abolongo medium-security custodial centre in Oyo State.
In another incident on November 28, 2021, 262 inmates escaped from Jos correctional centre in Plateau State after gunmen invaded the facility. Nine inmates were killed, while 252 others were at large, according to government officials.
On January 2, 2022, three inmates escaped from Mandala Custodial Centre, Ilorin, Kwara State.
Again, on May 13, 2022, three inmates escaped from Agbor prison, Delta State, following a downpour that washed away the northern perimeter wall of the facility. And on July 5, 2022, 879 inmates, including 64 terrorists, escaped from Kuje Prison in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
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