Federal Ministry of Works

Aug

2026

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“THE WORST IS OVER; OUR GDP IS GROWING MORE THAN OUR POPULATION. THAT MEANS WE HAVE A FUTURE” - UMAHI TELLS NANS

— As Nigerian Students Induct Him as Grand Patron, Hail Him as “One of the Finest” in Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Cabinet

The Minister of Works, Senator Engr. David Umahi, CON, has declared that Nigeria is now seeing stronger economic outlook under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, noting that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is now growing faster than its population.

Umahi made the declaration on Monday, August 10, 2026, at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Works in Abuja, while speaking after he was formally inducted as Patron of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

The minister described the development as a positive indication of Nigeria’s economic prospects, saying, “I was enthused to find out that our GDP is growing more than our population. That means we have a future.”

The NANS leadership, led by its President, Dist. Comr. Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, GCNS, had earlier commended Umahi for his contributions to national infrastructure and described him as “a worthy member of the Renewed Hope Cabinet and, indeed, as one of the finest public servants Nigeria has produced in the contemporary era.”

The students said the recognition was not merely ceremonial but a reflection of Umahi’s visible contribution to road infrastructure and national development under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

According to NANS, the roads and bridges being delivered under Umahi’s supervision are directly connected to the lives of Nigerian students, affecting their mobility, access to educational institutions, examinations, internships, businesses and employment opportunities.

The students specifically cited major projects including the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, Abuja-Kaduna-Minna route, Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as examples of projects they said demonstrate the Federal Government’s commitment to improving national connectivity.

Afeez also disclosed that NANS had studied project reports of the Federal Ministry of Works covering the period between May 2023 and May 2026 and expressed its intention to embark on nationwide project tours to inspect completed and rehabilitated projects.

He said the students would use their platforms to communicate the impact of the projects to millions of Nigerian students, Nigerians and the wider world.

Responding, Umahi challenged Nigerian students and young people to look beyond political sentiments and examine the policies and achievements of the Tinubu administration objectively.

“We have had somebody say, ‘President Tinubu is tired.’ How do you know he is tired? I am part of President Tinubu. The Minister of Interior, the FCT, all the ministers and all the SSAs are vibrant and working. So how do you just jump at that conclusion?”

The minister urged Nigerians to demand concrete alternatives from those criticising the administration.

“If you say that the President is not doing well, what is your alternative?” he asked, stressing that political promises must be backed by clear plans and a credible mission.

He also called on students and other young Nigerians to take a position on issues affecting the country, arguing that remaining neutral in the face of visible progress was not always the right approach.

“You may say that you are not politicians or that you will not take sides, but this is the time to take sides in our national affairs. It is time to take a stand,” Umahi said.

On the economy, the minister acknowledged that the macroeconomy was only beginning to recover but urged Nigerians to consider the condition of the economy before the present administration took office and assess the reforms objectively.

“You may say that the macroeconomy is just beginning to recover. What was it like before the President took over? Everybody agrees that the macroeconomy is being fixed. It is up to you to dissect the ongoing reforms and take a position.”

Umahi also pointed to developments in the education sector, saying the stability being witnessed under the Tinubu administration had created an environment in which students were able to continue their studies without the disruption of nationwide strikes.

“For the first time, students never went on strike. Never. Look at the stability of Nigeria. That has never happened throughout the history of this country.”

“Where is the subsidy money?” Umahi explains

Addressing questions surrounding the removal of fuel subsidy and where the resulting resources were being deployed, Umahi pointed to the scale of ongoing infrastructure projects across the country.

He cited the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road, which he said covers 375 kilometres and, when measured as a dual carriageway, amounts to 750 kilometres.

According to the minister, more than ₦200 billion has already been spent on the project, with 480 kilometres of the dual carriageway completed and further sections nearing completion.

“For the first time, we have been able to complete 118 kilometres of concrete pavement within 30 months. That has never happened,” he said.

The Minister said the remaining works were expected to be completed by November, noting that the two projects on the route have a combined cost of ₦752 billion, with more than 80 percent already paid.

He also highlighted the Sokoto-Zamfara-Zaria corridor, the Benue-Ninth Mile road, and the Bodo - Bonny Island road as examples of projects receiving significant attention under the Tinubu administration.

On the Bonny Island project, he said:

“For the first time, people will move from the island to the mainland in Bonny Island, where the LNG is produced. A project costing ₦280 billion under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been completed. The 39.7-kilometre road is fully done, and the people of Bonny are very happy. They are no longer dying at sea. They are now driving through the land.”

The minister also spoke extensively about the administration’s legacy road projects, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the expanded Northeast Fourth Legacy Project.

He disclosed that the Northeast project, originally running from Akwanga through Jos, Bauchi, Gombe and Biu, had been extended through Yobe to Maiduguri, adding another 400 kilometres to the project.

Umahi defended the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway against criticisms, saying the project was strategically important to the Niger Delta and would be completed.

“I do not know why people are attacking the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. After all, this is coming from the Niger Delta, where the oil is coming from. Why is nobody attacking the other three Legacy Projects, but this one is being attacked? That is unfair and unrealistic. That project will be completed. In fact, over 50 percent of the entire stretch is already under construction.”

The minister also used the occasion to speak about the development of the Southeast, saying President Tinubu had deliberately embarked on projects aimed at integrating the region into the national infrastructure network.

“The Southeast, for the first time, is being remembered, and I thank the people in the Southeast because sometimes I say, ‘Listen, our people should not be sentimental.’”

He said the administration’s approach to the region was intentional and urged the people of the Southeast to work with other parts of the country.

“The President has a good intention to integrate the people of the Southeast, and I have to be very honest with you. If I were not a minister from the Southeast, we would not have been able to get the projects we have secured. It is intentional on the part of Mr. President. Go and right the wrongs of the Southeast.”

Umahi cited the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway and Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway among the major projects transforming connectivity in the region.

He also disclosed that President Tinubu had approved the re-scoping and reconstruction of the Lokoja-Benin-Warri corridor, covering a total of 401 kilometres.

The minister was particularly direct in urging the students to support President Tinubu in the 2027 election, arguing that Nigerians should support the administration if they believe its policies are producing results.

“I want you to take a side. If you say you are on the list of a coalition and you say that what we are doing is good, then we have to take a stand to vote for the President in the coming election.”
“Let him finish. Let him take back our country. Let him reposition our country.”

Umahi also urged Nigerians to look beyond political rhetoric and focus on practical solutions to the country’s challenges.

“Listening to others should not mean allowing yourselves to be insulted or blackmailed. Cheap talk will not solve our problems. Nobody is saying what he or she can do differently. The worst is over. The darkest part of the night is an hour before dawn.”

He pointed to the decline in food prices as one of the developments Nigerians should consider in assessing the economy, recalling that a 50-kilogramme bag of rice, which he said had risen above ₦80,000 and at some point reached ₦100,000, was now selling at about ₦58,000.

Umahi also stressed the administration’s commitment to transparency in the execution of road projects, saying the Ministry of Works had opened its projects to scrutiny by anti-corruption agencies.

“Now, why are we doing this? Transparency. We have turned these projects over to the ICPC. They have gone round. We are ready for constructive criticism, and where necessary, we will make amends.”

He added that the Ministry had also written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to inspect its projects. “We have nothing to hide in this administration.”

The minister urged NANS to organise a major student engagement across the geopolitical zones where students could ask questions directly and hear the government’s explanations on its policies and projects.

“Let me defend this administration. Organise it and let me come. Move students from across the zone to a central point where we can talk to them and address their concerns. We have to deliberate on the issues. We have to debate them. Ask your questions, and we will answer them.”

He said he would attend such engagements with some ministers and Senior Special Assistants to the President, stressing that students were important stakeholders in the country’s future.

Umahi further challenged young Nigerians to take responsibility for protecting public infrastructure and contributing positively to national development. “See something, say something. Together, we can take back our country because it belongs to us.”

He said the responsibility for the performance of government should be placed on the officials directly responsible for specific sectors, rather than on the President for every operational issue.

“I am here because the President gave me the responsibility to be in charge of roads and bridges. If I do not do it, I should be the one to be blamed, not the President. I am not the President. The President has divided himself into a number of his appointees. These appointees should be the ones to answer and take responsibility.”

The minister concluded by thanking the students for the recognition and expressing his readiness to deepen collaboration with NANS.

“I want to thank you very much.“

He described the students as important partners in the national development process and encouraged them to remain informed, ask questions and hold leaders accountable.

The NANS President, in his address, said the association considered Umahi worthy of its patronage because of his record of public service, infrastructure delivery and commitment to national development.

He said the roads being constructed under Umahi’s leadership would outlive the present administration and continue to serve generations of Nigerians.

“History will not remember public officers merely because they occupied important offices. History will remember them for what they built, what they changed and the lives they touched.”

Afeez formally welcomed Umahi into the NANS family as Patron, describing the partnership between the student body and the Federal Ministry of Works as an opportunity to bring government projects closer to young Nigerians and deepen informed national discourse.

Jul

2020

FG To Replace Collapsed Wase Bridge With Concrete Bridge * Government will provide temporary relief to facilitate movement among affected communities, says Fashola * Governor Lalong commends Minister for quick response to the situation The Federal Government is to build a concrete bridge over the Wase Waterways in Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State as replacement for the recently collapsed Wase Bridge in the State, Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, has disclosed. Fashola, who spoke in Abuja on Monday when he met with the Plateau State Governor, Mr. Simon Lalong, said the Government would meanwhile provide a short term relief to facilitate movement among the communities disconnected as a result of the collapse. The Minister, who said the temporary relief would be undertaken by the Federal Controller of Works in Plateau State in collaboration with the State Government and Chairman of Wase Local Government, added that the new concrete bridge would be a long term solution to the perennial problem which the bridge had suffered as a result of heavy rainfall. Explaining that the design of the bridge would take his Ministry’s design team about eight weeks to complete, the Minister, however, added that the final implementation of the concrete bridge plan would depend on the availability of fund. He commiserated with the Government and people of Plateau State over the collapse of the bridge, which was as a result of a heavy downpour, and commended the Governor for his quick response to the natural disaster pointing out that the Governor put a call to him as soon as the incident occurred which enabled him to schedule the meeting. “Our intention is to do a design with a new concrete bridge across the waterways and that will take us about eight weeks going by the design team of the Ministry”, he said. In his response, the Plateau State Governor, Mr. Simon Lalong, thanked the Minister for scheduling the meeting within a short notice and assembling the relevant departments with the view to finding short and long term solutions to the problem adding that he was motivated to call the attention of the Minister immediately due to the extent of damage to the Bridge. The Governor, who was full of gratitude to the Minister for the outcome of the meeting, explained, “Because of the level of damage on the bridge and the importance of the bridge to the State, I quickly put a call to the Minister to which he responded by calling for this meeting. I thank him for the time line given in addressing the issue”. ...

Jun

2020

Celebrating Fashola at 57: The ‘BRF Way “BRF is a genius at breaking it down, laying it all out. When he goes on project tours, he stops to ask the artisans and food vendors on the site about how the project has touched or is touching their lives. And that’s what government communications should really be focusing on: telling and showing the actual impact / outcomes. Not just the contract sum (input) — which is what tends to make the headlines, the media love these numbers — but also the “stimulus” effect on ordinary people and communities and neighbourhoods.” Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital Communications, on “Lessons in/from public sector communication” Right on the money. The stories told by these Nigerians - Abu, Sunday and others during BRF’s tours, can fill a book, but much more than that, they tell a story: Impact. In 2017, Mallam Abu, a labourer at the site of the Gombe State National Housing Programme, told Fashola that he had worked at the site for about eight months and had been able to pay the dowry of his new wife and they were expecting a baby. In February, Sunday Echekwu, a mason at the site of the Anambra State National Housing Programme in Isiagu Community on the outskirts of Awka, the State Capital, told the minister he and his colleagues earned N4,500 daily for their labour at the site. Prior to getting the job, he said he was doing odd jobs here and there but idle most of the time. At the same site, Mrs. Isaiah Eberechukwu, a food vendor, told him that she supplied food to the workers on the site daily, including Sundays, at N250 a plate. Her husband, Mr. Eberechukwu was also a bricklayer at the site. Again at the site of the Delta State National Housing Programme in Asaba, the State Capital, Emmanuel Ogochukwu who spoke glowingly of the Buhari administration for giving them a source of making a living through the NHP and other people oriented initiatives which, according to him, “is impacting positively on the population, especially the unemployed youths across the country”. For Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, there’s really no going about it any other way. On assuming office in November 2015, as Minister of Power, Works and Housing one of his first moves was to invite, in batches, the over 200 Federal Government contractors - many of whom had abandoned their projects for lack of payment - for a chat. The outcome of those meetings was the re-mobilisation back to sites of the contractors, leading to the recall of over 750, 000 workers. Effect: resuscitation of the economy. As many got their jobs back, so did suppliers of materials as well as providers of food and drinks on the various sites; not to forget compensations to people whose lands were acquired to make way for roads’ construction. Of course, while doing these, the eyes of this football-loving minister are firmly on the ball. Currently, for him, it is work for the delivery of President Buhari’s Mandate of using infrastructure to transform Nigeria’s economy and lift millions out of poverty. Those millions would include Peter, the Painter met by the Hon. Minister at the site of the National Housing Programme(NHP) in 2019; Mrs Folake Emmanuel the Food Vendor at the site of the NHP in Oyo State and her husband, Mr Emmanuel, whose hitherto idle concrete mixer roared into action at the site fetching N20,000 daily ; Rilwan Adamu from the NHP site in Jalingo ; Fidelis the Carpenter at the NHP site in Gwagwalada , FCT ; and Engr. Obosi , the enthusiastic youth met at the site of the NHP in Ikot Ntuen /Affa Nsit , Uyo , Akwa Ibom State among so many others. And he is on the way. For example, out of the 643-kilometre SUKUK-funded roads which the President wants finished, a total of 411.96 kilometres have been completed from February 2019 to date. As at February 2020, all the piling works of the 2nd Niger Bridge project had been completed while the deck is being launched and the approach roads to the bridge from Asaba and Onitsha are simultaneously being constructed. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2022. In the Housing Sector, the Ministry has delivered a significant number of houses through the National Housing Programme and in collaboration with its parastatals - the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), as well as by synchronising the deliverables of the Ministry and its parastatal with those of the Public Private Partnerships. FMBN alone completed 43 Housing projects between 2015 and 2019, delivering a total of 5, 542 housing units while currently implementing 15 projects that will deliver 581 housing units when completed. The bank also issued 5, 301 mortgages totaling N38.2 billion within the period while in the last one year up to May 2020, 331 mortgages totaling N2.9 billion have been issued. It is supposed to do more with the National Cooperatives Housing Partnerships. It also granted Home Renovation Loans totaling N34.85 Billion to 42, 037 people between 2015 and 2019 and in the last one year N5.7 Billion of the loan has been granted to 6, 675 people. The FHA also has delivered 461 housing units while 1, 407 housing units are under construction. Through road construction and rehabilitation alone, 201, 719 direct and indirect jobs were generated while 15, 158 jobs were also created through road maintenance by FERMA. The multiplier effect of the roads’ construction can be felt in increased agricultural productivity and food security through easy evacuation of farm produce to markets across the country. This has also reduced travel time and complemented other infrastructure along the alignments where roads are constructed. Improved road infrastructure has also impacted positively on security by way of reduced crime rate on the roads. The Sector has also contributed to the growth of mining for road construction materials such as limestone, granite, sand and laterite. The Housing Sector has not done less either. The Sector has created 516, 998 jobs since inception of this administration, greatly impacting on the fight against poverty through empowerment skills acquisition. Property values have appreciated between 30 and 40 per cent with approval/issuance of Certificates of Occupancy and Consents as well as provision of Road Transport Infrastructure. The BRF Way also manifests in how he reacts to criticisms, particularly from those he considers “right-thinking and well-meaning: redoubling his efforts. “Criticisms inspire and challenge me,” he told an interviewer on a TV programme recently, “because I believe the critic…has entrusted our government, through President Muhammadu Buhari, to me with the responsibility to serve him. So in the same way that I could go to a restaurant and if the quality of food is not good, I am entitled to complain. I see critics in that light. Really and truly what I used to say is that if critics ask more of us we must feel proud that they are asking more of us because they actually believe we are capable of doing it. If they don’t believe in our ability to do more, they won’t ask us. So now that they are asking us I am inspired.” Doing more is the BRF Way to make the other class of critics - those “who make comments about things they are not aware of” and “those who do not believe anything” recant. When in February, he was inspecting the 2nd Niger Bridge project, one of the journalists on the tour went to him and apologised profusely for writing uncharitable and unconfirmed things about the project. By way of response he took the journalist to the top of the bridge where decks were already being laid. They took photographs there and in his excitement the journalist posted the photograph on his medium’s online platform. The BRF Way sure works. And, as Fashola clocks 57 today, one can’t but pray to the Almighty to keep giving him ideas to perfect The BRF Way for the greater good of mankind. Mr Hakeem Bello, FNGE is Special Adviser Communications to the Hon. Minister ...

Jun

2020

FG Reiterates Commitment To Complete Ongoing Road Projects Minister of state Works and Housing, Engr. Abubakar D.Aliyu FNSE has reiterated the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to complete all ongoing roads projects across the country The minister stated this over the weekend during his inspection tour of dualisation work of Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja Road Section 1: (International Airport Link Road junction-SHEDA Village junction. The project being handled by Mesrs Dantata and Sawoe is over 96% completed Engr Aliyu said, President Buhari had mandated his ministry to ensure delivery of all projects that are between 80% and 90% completion stage, hence his senior colleague minister Babatunde Fashola and himself are not leaving anything to chance in order to help Mr. President realise that dream. On the project, he said: "The project will be delivered very soon as it has reached 96 percent completion. " He explained that the purpose of the inspection tour of the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja project was to have a first hand information and also interface with the contractor, project engineers and the technical officers of the project with a view to identifying grey areas and agree on the way forward that would ensure the timely delivery, which was supposed to be May 2020. The Executive Director of Dantata and Sawoe, Engr. Nasir Dantata explained that there was an addition of Service lane to be provided within the Gwagwalada metropolis and final asphalt laying of shoulders which he promised the Minister would be delivered as soon as all necessary approval and requirements are met. ...