Julius Berger recently announced that it will complete the Bonny-Bodo highway by December 2024 as a Christmas gift to Nigerians.
In 2019, the administration of President Mohammed Buhari passed an Executive Order No. 007 of 2019 with the title “Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme Order, 2019”. Under this scheme, a private sector participant in the scheme shall be entitled to utilize the project cost incurred in the construction or refurbishment of the eligible roads as a ‘credit’ against the companies’ income tax payable to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The above scheme is a very unique and domesticated model of Public-Private Partnership arrangement which in 2019 came onboard to help address the deficit in road infrastructure in Nigeria. It is very important to note that the scheme is not a ‘tax holiday’ or a ‘tax concession’ but a ‘tax credit’; a road infrastructure tax credit.
It is gratifying to note that this scheme was utilized by one of the major private sector players in Nigeria, Dangote, to deliver the critical road infrastructure from Apapa Wharf, passing through Oshodi Expressway to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Now Julius Berger PLC of Nigeria has announced that it is possible for it to deliver the Bonny-Bodo road project by December, 2024 (about 3 months away). The company hopes to deliver the project as a Christmas gift to all Nigerians in general but to the people of Rivers State in particular.
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It is very important to note that Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) as a private sector player (in the likes of Dangote) decided to utilize the ‘tax credit scheme’ of the Federal Government to deliver this very crucial road infrastructure a 39KM long road spanning 23M each and 2 creek bridges; Afa creek bridge (about 530M long) and Nanabie creek bridge (about 640M long), a 750M bridge over Opobo channel). To people of the South-South Region of Nigeria (the home community) its primary area of business.
It is also important to note that despite the change in administration (President Buhari administration issued the Tax Credit certificate to NLNG to commence the project), the new administration of President Bola Tinubu continued the project without any undue political interference.
It is also important to note that when the contractor Julius Berger submitted a cost variation on the project to the new administration of President Bola Tinubu (a variation in excess of 300 billion) a variation which potentially could have caused the ‘project’ to stall, the threesome: The Federal Government, NLNG, and Julius Berger found the necessary political will and economic will to agree on the variation cost acceptable, thereby causing the continuation of the project. It is hoped that the contractor, Julius Berger PLC, will deliver as promised (as funding is not a challenge in this project) by December 2024 and it presents a beautiful Christmas gift to the entire people of Bonny, Tonima, Bodo and the adjourning communities.
- Sogunle, a lawyer, is author Of Best Selling Book; Practical Guide To Public-Private Partnership Arrangement In Nigeria