AC chides FG/Siemens contract deal

Adewale Ajayi, Lagos - 28.08.2008

The Action Congress (AC) has described the signing of a fresh power deal by the Federal Government with a German company, Siemens, as shocking , saying the action negated the decision on the firm following its (Siemens’) involvement in a bribery scandal.

The party, in a statement issued on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, recalled that the Federal Executive Council, in December 2007, barred Siemens from bidding for any contract in the country, pending the conclusion of investigations into its 10-million-euro bribe to Nigerian officials.

AC recalled that in the aftermath of the scandal, which involved four former ministers of communications, among other government officials, President Umaru Yar’Adua directed all security agencies to probe the scandal.

The party made reference to the President’s statement that there would not be sacred cow or a cover up “for anybody found culpable of breaching the law.”

AC said to the best of its knowledge, the outcome of the probe, if at all it had been concluded, had not been made public.

“There is no evidence that Siemens or any of those involved had been exonerated, and it is worrisome that the Federal Government has eaten its words that there will be no cover up or sacred cow.

“Indeed, the Yar’Adua administration, by hurrying to sign a fresh deal with Siemens when the company has not been cleared of the bribery charges against it, has turned the German engineering firm into a sacred cow, undermined his own administration’s anti-corruption battle and made Nigeria a laughing stock.

“The action has also shown that the government does not mean what it says, which is a big blow to its credibility in the eyes of the citizens and non-citizens alike,” the statement read.