Managing Director of the Calabar Channel Management (CCM) Company Limited,
\nMr. Bart Van Eenoo has demanded an immediate apology and a retraction from
\nthe former Kaduna State Military Governor, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar
\n(rtd) over his recent statement that the contract for the management of
\nthe Calabar Channel awarded to CCM \u201cis a bogus scam to siphon public
\nfunds\u201d.<\/p>\n
Eenoo in a statement in Abuja\u00a0on Monday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0said the failure of the retired He said it was disheartening that Umar,a leading national figure could \u201cIt is absurd that someone can accuse our company of \u201ca bogus scam\u201d when Justifying further that work was carried out on the dredging, he said CCM \u201cIf the former military governor is alleging that we did not dredge the On the allegation that the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in its Managing Director of the Calabar Channel Management (CCM) Company Limited, Mr. Bart Van Eenoo has demanded an immediate apology and a retraction from the former Kaduna State Military Governor, Col.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nColonel to meet the demand \u201cwill leave our company with no other option
\nthan to seek legal redress as the statement has cast aspersion on our
\nintegrity\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nspurn lies on a legal entity without verifiable facts, adding that
\ncontrary to the claims of the former military governor, \u201cour company has
\ndredged \u00a0the water channel by deploying dredgers, survey vessels, buoyage
\ntender, wreck removal cranes and other ancillary marine crafts which so
\nfar, 16.3 kilometres out of the envisaged 20 kilometres high spots \u00a0within
\nTomshort Island had been dredged with the deepening of the channel to 6.5
\nmetres datum\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nour partners- Boskalis and Westminster Dredging, internationally acclaimed
\ncompanies are involved. All the stakeholders at the Calabar Port including
\nthe NPA\u2019s Station Manager in Calabar then, had alluded to the fact that
\nCCM carried out appreciable work on the dredging until the disruption of
\nwork by the NPA. Even some of the stakeholders were always aboard the
\ndredgers during the cause of the dredging to have a feel of the work done.
\nIt is therefore, not correct that we did not carry out any dredging at the
\nCalabar Channel\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
\non August 20, 2015 for instance, through its bankers-UBA, paid $1,207,440
\nto Dredging International Services for crewing and provision of logistics
\nat the Calabar channel for nine weeks, $500,000 to Nigerian Westminster
\nDredging and Marine for dredging services at the Channel and $3,600,000 to
\nSociete de Dragage for dredging services.<\/p>\n
\nChannel, why did our company pay for the services of these companies even
\nwhen our invoices with the NPA were not paid? We have spent more on the
\ndredging than what NPA has so far paid us\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
\nreport on the JVC advised against the dredging of the Calabar Channel,
\nEenoo said the transaction has a \u201cNo Objection Certificate\u201d signed by the
\nformer Director-General of the BPP, Engr. Emeka Eze.
\nAccording to him, a former Board Chairman of the NPA had written to the
\nPresidency against \u00a0the project and the President then, referred the
\nmatter to the BPP which after evaluating the matter gave the \u201cNo Objection
\nCertificate\u201d and said the complaint by the former Board Chairman of the
\nNPA was merely personal differences which it advised should not affect the
\nintegrity of the project. The former Chairman also wrote to withdraw the
\npetition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"