Rivers State Government has condemned the misleading and malicious publication insinuating construction firm Julius Berger withdrew from Rivers’ project sites due to alleged shortfalls in payments by the government.
In a statement by the Senior Special Adviser on Media to the Rivers State Sole Administrator, Mr. Hector Igbikiowubo he stated that, “the false narrative published by Bertram Nwannekanma in one of the National Dailies on the 27th of May, 2025 is a deliberate misrepresentation of facts and a calculated attempt to tarnish the reputation of the administration of Retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas”.
According to the statement, the Rivers State Government had consistently met all its contractual obligations to Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, which received all payments due since the declaration of Emergency Rule in the state.
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The misinformation was a campaign of calumny orchestrated after failed attempts to pressure the Rivers State government into approving an exorbitant and unjustified variation request for the ongoing Ring Road project.
The statement showed that the original contract sum for the Ring Road project was 195,695,980,239.61 Billion Naira and Julius Berger submitted a variation request demanding an additional 171,755,448,105.05 billion naira, representing an 87.77 percent increase in project cost.
The statement added that If such variation was approved, the Ring Road would cost the state 367,451,428,344.66 billion naira which was what the state government intended to avoid leading to the payment of 150 billion naira which represents 77 percent of the entire contract sum to Julius Berger before the project commenced.
