No Existing Federal Road Can Last Seven Years – Works Minister

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, on Tuesday, declared that no existing federal road can last up to seven years.

He made this known while addressing contractors from the six geo-political zones at the ministry headquarters in Abuja.

The minister who expressed his dissatisfaction over the poor jobs done by the contractors over the years, said his verdict was based on findings gathered during his recent road inspection tour crisscrossing the entire nation.

Umahi said some roads are riddled with potholes and have deteriorated into “boreholes”.

Expressing his dismay at how contractors cheat Nigerians with the materials they use to construct roads in the country, the minister said the contractors have been in the habit of increasing the cost of their projects to swindle the country through contract variation and the use of asphalt materials, which are subject to the international price of crude oil.

He said, “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 authorisation.”

• Kazeem Badmus