FG Reaffirms Commitment to Complete All Iconic Road Projects Across the Country The Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr. Ernest Umakhihe has reaffirmed the commitment of the Federal Government to complete on-going iconic road infrastructure across the country. The Permanent Secretary made this known this morning while delivering a speech at the on-going 26th National Council on Works in Port Harcourt, Rivers State which started on Monday, December 7, 2020. Mr Umakhihe said, "The Federal Government is committed to completing some iconic projects such as the 2nd Niger Bridge, Bodo-Bonny Road, Abuja-Kaduna- Kano Express Way and Obajana-Kabba Road in Kogi State." "In the same vein, Government is also committed to completing the Sukuk Bond financed roads projects across the six geo-political zones of the country and maintain schedule maintenance of 5,000 kilometers of roads annually." He disclosed that the Ministry has over 700 on-going road projects across the country including road intervention projects in higher institutions of learning. Mr. Umakhihe explained that the commitment of government was premised on the determination to reduce poverty by creating wealth through road infrastructure development in both rural and urban areas of the country, adding that the objective of this year's Council was to propose viable actions to impact positively on national economic development in the country. Earlier in his address, the Rivers State Commissioner of Works, Elloka Tasie-Amadi Esq stated that the Rivers State Government was delighted to host the meeting because the theme of the Council meeting echoed one of the policy thrust of the Rivers State Government, which is road infrastructure development. Citing the saying of the Chinese thus "If you want to be rich, build roads first" the Commissioner said his state government was aware that every positive step taken in the area of road infrastructure development impacts on the entire nation and its citizens. Tasie- Amadi further said the indices upon which the development of a nation is judged are based on the happenings in the states that make up the nation added that Rivers State Government was adding value to the development of the nation. He said, "For every infrastructure project we embark upon, we are fully aware that these contribute to the National Economic Growth be it a state or federal project." The Council meeting continues tomorrow with the meeting of Commissioners of Works in the 36 States and FCT to be Chaired by the Hon. Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN. ...

FG Doing A Lot Under the Special Projects Unit –Fashola The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde R Fashola, SAN has disclosed that the Federal Government is executing a lot of projects under the Special Projects Unit. The Minister made the disclosure during an interactive session with a group of journalists under the auspices of the All Progressive Congress, (APC), Press Corps who paid him a visit at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Mabushi, Abuja. The Minister said a total of 3,109 projects had been executed between 2016 and 2019 consisting of 1,100 classrooms, 179 road projects, 79 maternity and healthcare centres and 6,656 solar light projects installed across one hundred and four locations as well as some solar powered water facilities. The Minster who explained that currently, rehabilitation and maintenance work on highways is going on across the nation said, out of 35,000 kilometres road networks in the country, 13,000 kilometres were currently at various stages of repair. Adding that work on some roads have been completed and being used. Disclosing that the reason for the delay in Auchi – Okpella Road is ecological and environmental, Fashola added, “The contractor is funded but there is a drainage problem there, if we choose the option we have, it will flood an entire community. The alternative is to build a bypass around the community, it becomes a longer road that has to be designed. It is an environmental and ecological problem we have to find a way to solve it”. The Minister explained that because roads and road materials will behave differently in different parts of the country as a result of ecological and environmental conditions that was why concrete roads were being introduced in some places. While speaking on bridge construction and repairs the Minister said that a surveillance of all bridges in the country had been conducted and work had started from the most critical ones. He gave examples of the Kotonkarfe Bridge, Tambuwal Bridge, Eko Bridge, 3rd Mainland Bridge, Marine Bridge, Chachangi Bridge and the old Niger Bridge which he said were being maintained while work is ongoing in the new bridge. Earlier, the chairman of the Corps Mr. Jide Orintunsi who works with the Nation Newspapers said they were in the Ministry to interact with him on the activities of his Ministry as part of stewardship in public administration. ...

Stealing Public Trust ...Premium Times’ Low Premium Reporting. The stupidity of the THOUGHT that a public officer will take such money on a consistent and repeated basis with impunity reveals the mindset of Premium Times about what they can do in such circumstances. The pen writes what the mind thinks. That stupidity is magnified by the thought that the public officer who is trying to steal would be paying the money into his bank account where it can be found. The stupidity initially informed my decision not to respond to Premium Times in their latest publication headlined under my Name. It is a continuing line of a series of Attack FASHOLA. Regrettably, what Premium Times has done is to damage its reputation as a news medium for those who seek the truth. Clearly, no investigation was undertaken in respect of this publication as the report was from “Open Portal.” If it was from the Open Portal then there was nothing to hide. If Premium Times had conducted any investigation it will find and report that payments like this occurred in many other ministries and have been a source of concern reported in other media by Compliance Authorities. If Premium Times investigated, it would have found and reported that Ministers do not manage accounts and finances of Ministries. A little investigation would have shown Premium Times that Directors of Finance and Accounts (DFAs) are those who do this job and they are staff of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and seconded to the Ministries as part of financial controls. IPPIS If Premium Times investigated it would have found and reported that government in 2007 initiated a payment platform called Integrated Payment Platform and Information System (IPPIS). Any well meaning and right thinking member of the public will recall that this administration has been engaging all sectors of Government to fully migrate to the IPPIS platform. What has happened is that not all Government Officials who, from time to time, needed to be paid for approved expenses were registered on the platform. In order to ensure that government work was not hampered, the DFAs sought and obtained approval of the Accountant General to pay these monies through the Accounts of an Approved few who were on the platform. Those so approved then collect the money and disburse to the beneficiaries who sign Receipts all of which are retired and available for verification as approved by the Accountant General. The Accountant General has recently issued new guidelines to deal with this process because not all public officials have fully enrolled on IPPIS and the DFAs have the mandate to comply and not FASHOLA. In all, no money was stolen or is missing. There is No Smoking Gun to criminalize Fashola. If anything has been stolen it is the Trust of the public by Premium Times. I will not believe anything they write again. This is not investigative Journalism. It is Irresponsible Journalism. BABATUNDE RAJI FASHOLA, SAN HON. MINISTER OF WORKS AND HOUSING ...