Dave Umahi, the Minister of Works, has emphasized that there isn’t a single federal road in the country that can endure for a period exceeding seven years. This assertion comes after Umahi conducted an extensive road inspection journey across the nation, revealing that many roads are afflicted with potholes and have deteriorated to the point of resembling “boreholes.”
Accusing contractors of fraudulent practices, Umahi highlighted their deception of Nigerians through the use of substandard materials in road construction. He asserted that these contractors escalate project costs by taking advantage of contract variations and the reliance on asphalt materials, which are influenced by the international price of crude oil.
Furthermore, underscoring the necessity of thorough documentation and clearance procedures, Umahi stressed that contracts will only be authorized upon the provision of essential design plans and authentic road blueprints.
“There is no project being constructed right now in Nigeria that is going to last for seven years. The question is are we going to be maintaining or reconstructing our roads every 10 years? That is what we have been doing. I travelled from Abuja to Benin City through Lokoja, all the stretches of the road are on contract, and ongoing, this is through the policy of the last administration but how much of the roads are motorable? I travelled through the roads myself and I shed tears for the kind of pain our people are going through.
“I spent 14 hours on the road having started my journey at 10 am and got to Benin City at 2 pm the next day and I was very happy I experienced the pains. President Tinubu said I must travel through all the projects so that I could brief him on my experience and tell him the truth.
“Unless Mr. President does something about our procurement, his lofty intention to help this country may not be achieved. documents will be sent to the Bureau of Public Procurement for a no-objection certificate and it will stay for six months. How will the contractors do the additional job you directed them to do without backup authorization.”
“This is my line of instructions and I will do whatever the president instructs me to do he is the only one and God that can cancel my instructions so don’t waste your time reporting me to anyone apart from these two. No matter the amount of blackmail and lies, it will not prevail.”
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