Minister parleys with maritime workers
From Isa Abdulsalami, Jos
THE Minister of State for Transport, Alhaji Mohammed Musa Azi, left Abuja for Lagos yesterday to urge Maritime workers not to join tomorrow's nationwide strike.
The minister, who fielded questions from reporters in Jos at the weekend, said the ministry wanted to keep the ports operating during the action.
"We want to keep the ports open during the strike. In fact, I will be on my way to Lagos tomorrow (yesterday) to see what we can do and talk to the unions. As far as possible, we want to keep the ports open.
"The Maritime Workers' Union is a very responsible union and we have been very friendly with them and I believe we will be able to have a gentleman's agreement so that we can keep the nation's economy going", he said.
On the dredging of the Lower Niger, Azi said that it was an offshoot of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) projects, adding that it was being treated as an on-going contract.
He said there had been no appropriation after the demise of PTF, adding: "But there is still some money tied down in about five banks, about N1 billion, which we are almost recovering and there is another N5 billion appropriated in 2005 budget which we hope will be approved by the National Assembly at the end of the year."
The minister stated that the project was initially estimated to cost about N20 billion but had been reviewed.
According to him, the job will begin next year and is expected to last 13 months.
"At least N5 billion is available in the appropriation and another N1 billion has been recovered from banks that were holding it," he said.
On the railway, Azi maintained that a presidential committee was constituted and it had submitted its report to the President who was studying it.
He was optimistic that there might be a bill to the National Assembly to set up a Railway Commission.
On the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) which Nigeria has not ratified, Azi said that the minister left the country at the weekend to attend the council meeting slated for today. He said the outcome would be known by the end of next week.
|
