The Federal Government said on Monday it had requested funding support from SuKuk bond through the Debt Management Office and other multilateral sources to enable it finance the Calabar-Itu road project.

The Special Adviser to the President, Major General Mohammadu Buhari (retd.), on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang, stated this while fielding questions from newsmen.

He said he had written to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Works and Housing to fund the project with loan from the SuKuk bond.

“Right now, we are looking at multilateral sources of funding the road. I have written and I am requesting funding support from the ministries, from the SuKuk bond through the Debt Management Office, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of works and Housing to help the road with loan from the SuKuk bond.

“SuKuk bond is one of the avenues of funding major projects and it is from there that N100bn was raised to finance Abuja-Lokoja road project and some other projects in the country. So, I have requested funding from that window.”

He said it became necessary because the contractor, Julius Berger, had pulled out of site since June following insufficient funding.

Enang explained that Buhari in the 2020 budget had projected N2.2bn for the road project but that by the time it was approved by the National Assembly it was reduced from N2.2bn to N1.1bn.

According to him, when the contractor saw that even the certificate they generated was more than what is in the budget, they decided to pull off site.

“As of today, they (Julius Berger) pulled out of the site in June because it was on the 27th of May that the President signed the 2020 budget.

“They had no choice because they had their workers to pay, equipment to service and materials to buy, so they pulled out of the site,” Enang said.