Failed $460m CCTV contract: SERAP asks minister to suspend repayment

By Adebisi Onanuga

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has advised the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, to provide information on the money paid to contractors from the $460 million loan obtained in 2010 from China to fund the failed Abuja Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) contract.

The organisation said the minister should suspend repayment of any Chinese loans until there are specific guarantees by local and Chinese contractors as well as companies.

It said transparency and accountability would not be assured in the execution of the affected projects unless this is done.

SERAP said it would take legal action “if the requested information is not provided to us within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter”.

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The Federal Government is currently re-paying the loan in line with its terms.

SERAP said it made the request under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.

In the FoI request, dated October 25, 2019 and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation expressed concern that the $460 million loan for the failed Abuja CCTV project and the N1.5 billion for the construction of CCB headquarters, which may be part of another Chinese loan, may have been mismanaged or stolen, and in any case, remain unaccounted for.

It urged Mrs Ahmed to “disclose specific details of local contractors, if any, that have received funds from the loan for the CCTV contract, reportedly awarded to China’s ZTE Corporation, as well as the implementation status of the project”.

It also sought “disclosure of details of repayment for other Chinese loans for allegedly failed projects between 1999 and 2015, the status of any such projects, and details of local and Chinese contractors involved in the projects. We urge you to clarify if the N1.5 billion paid in 2010 for another apparently failed contract to construct the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau is part of another Chinese loan.

“We would like you to clarify if the N1.5 billion mobilisation fee reportedly paid in September 2010 to contractors for the construction of the headquarters of the CCB in Abuja is part of another loan obtained from China.”