Port Harcourt, May 30, 2025 – The Rivers State Government, under the leadership of His Excellency, Vice Admiral (Rtd) Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, strongly condemns the misleading and malicious publication titled ‘Julius Berger withdraws from Rivers’ project sites’, authored by Bertram Nwannekanma and dated May 27, 2025 and published in The Guardian Newspaper.
The report, which falsely claims that Julius Berger Nigeria PLC has begun withdrawing its services from project sites in Rivers State due to alleged shortfalls in payments by the government, is a deliberate misrepresentation of facts and a calculated attempt to tarnish the reputation of the administration.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Rivers State Government has consistently and dutifully met all its contractual obligations to contractors, including Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, which has received all payments due since the declaration of Emergency Rule in the state.
The Real Motive Behind Misinformation This baseless report is nothing more than 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 facts are as follows: * The original contract sum for the Ring Road project was N195,695,980,239.61 billion.
•Julius Berger submitted a variation request demanding an additional N171,755,448,105.05 billion, representing an 87.77% increase in project cost. * If approved, this would raise the total project cost to a staggering N367,451,428,344.66 billion.
•It is important to note that in an attempt to forestall such unreasonable claims and protect the State from such arbitrary variation requests, the Rivers State Government at the commencement of the project took a facility from a bank and paid a 77% advance payment in the sum of 150,000,000,000.00 to Julius Berger.
Signed:
Hector Igbikiowubo
Senior Special Adviser – Media
Rivers State Government
Port Harcourt
Rivers State
