Road Infrastructure Revolution is at the Front Burner of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu   The Honourable Minister of Works, Sen.  Engr.  Nweze David Umahi has reiterated the determination of the Renewed Hope administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in fixing the ailing road infrastructure across the nation. He stated this when the Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello and the newly elected Governor of the State Ahmed Usman Ododo visited him in his office at the Ministry's Headquarters, Abuja on Thursday, 30th November 2023.   The Hon. Minister of Works stated that the President's intervention on the road infrastructure deficit in the country was part of his roadmap towards revamping the economy of the nation. He thanked the Governor for the will to seek Federal Government's intervention on the road infrastructure challenges in his State and the passion to work for the good of the State.   ‘We inspected the road from 11am on my first day in office and I got back to Abuja by 2am, it shows the passion you have for the State.  It is not by chance that my first working day was in Kogi State, and I saw the acceptability and show of true love among the villagers for you. Your people are people of gratitude. I remember the ovation that greeted our inspection visit to Murtala Muhammed Way bridge in Kogi State".   The Hon. Minister assured the Governor that the Kogi Federal Highway was part of the Federal roads listed for palliative intervention by Mr. President.   " I want to assure you that Mr. President has instructed our Ministry to go and start that portion of the road and you will soon see a lot of concrete structures on a number of sections of that road that are challenged”.   The Hon. Minister also thanked the Governor for his commitment to the ideals of All Progressives Congress (APC) and for his doggedness that saw the Party through in the recently concluded Governorship election in Kogi State and said the victory was a testimony of the good works of the Governor and the acceptability of the ruling Party by the people of the State. He praised the Governor for his sense of inclusiveness and nationalism in his affairs as Governor of Kogi State.   "I thank you for being nationalistic  I know  a lot of South Easterners  that have made your Cabinet, I  also know a lot of people that had security challenges; that were kidnapped far away but you helped in rescuing them  even across State”.   The Hon. Minister used the opportunity to congratulate the Governor- Elect and charged him to be magnanimous with victory, cultivate leadership virtues, remember his route and remain steadfast with his Party. “Every young man entering a very high position like this is open to a lot of temptations. One admonition that guides me which I will share with you today is the fact that anyone who pays evil for the good done onto him, evil will not depart from his house. He continued “the teeth and the tongue often have misunderstanding, but they live together, the Governor made a lot of enemies because of you, let these enemies reconcile with him through you, all what the Governor looks for from you is not money or position, all he looks for is respect and honour because to whom God has honoured man must honour the person.  Mr. President has suffered all kinds of betrayals and if you have suffered betrayal, you would feel it, and when Mr. President sees a man that is on the part of betraying another, he will not be happy with such a person.  If you follow the Governor, he will guide you. If he trusted you to enthrone you, who else will he now trust again.   He is a unique man, and he is a man to emulate.”   Earlier the Kogi State Governor extolled the Hon. Minister for the transformation and innovation he has brought on board to accomplish the Renewed Hope road infrastructure agenda of Mr. President and the extra-ordinary passion with which he follows Mr. President's directives on road revolution. “The very first day you resumed office that was the day you hit the ground running. You have been inspecting roads ever since then you are not resting, there was no budget, no money for you, yet we see work going on across the country. Contractors have returned to site.  Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) is working, you are also responding to calls and messages, and you are so responsive, you are a leader that all of us are proud of.”   The Governor further said “I am here to principally show an appreciation to God Almighty and to show appreciation to my wonderful brother His Excellency Distinguished Senator David Umahi the former Governor of Ebonyi State and Minister of Works for all the assistance he rendered to us physically, spiritually, financially and in fact in every way.  I am introducing my next successor Hon. Ahmed Ododo to His Excellency.  Ever since I joined the club of Governors you have been so distinguished.  I came in as APC Governor, you were PDP Governor then, irrespective of our political parties, you proved to be an elder statesman. You are a politician, but you are an elder statesman. You are always uniting the Governors across party line that was why it was easy for me to predict that you were going to join us because your mind is progressive; your mind is always progressive that was why you were able to govern Ebonyi State. With the little and meagre resources, you turned the State around and Ebonyi is wearing a new look today.  You mentor leaders that is why it is not surprising the assistance I received from you in coming up with another leader to take over from me in Kogi State.”   The Governor continued, “Today you are in the Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a Minister of Works with his Renewed Hope agenda, we are saying a very big thank you to you and may the good Lord protect you in the discharge of your responsibility as the Honourable Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria" ...

Road Infrastructure Revolution Nationwide has Started, Courtesy of the Renewed Hope Administration of Mr President. Read to Know Your Role   1. The attention of the Federal Ministry of Works has been drawn to the concerns of the public on the deplorable situations of some sections of the Federal roads throughout the Federation as reported in many media platforms, especially social media, the front page, pages 4,5,6 and 14 of the publication of Sun Newspaper of 26th November, 2023. Most of the sections of the roads frequently reported but definitely not exhaustive are: the Makurdi-Nsukka 9th Mile Road, East West Road, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Benin bypass road, collapsed bridges of Enugu- Port Harcourt road, collapsed bridges of Shandam-Plateau State, Abuja-Kaduna- Zaria-Kano road and Gombe- Bauchi etc.    2. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Senator Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR is aware of the state of our road infrastructure which he inherited on the 29th day of May 2023. Without prejudice to all the good efforts of the past administration on road infrastructure development which they tackled within the limit of their resources, the work to be done to change the ugly state of our roads is quite enormous.   3.  Mr. President is not complaining of the challenges he inherited in nearly all sectors of the economy, especially as it concerns our road infrastructure, but he is quite courageous as he had promised to tackle the problems head-on which he has started to do not minding the debt burden inherited especially the funding gap of over Six Trillion Naira (₦6T) from most of the inherited on-going road projects.   4. Mr. President has since reeled out plans of commitment, consistence, and innovations towards actualizing a sustainable road infrastructure development throughout the country. He has just approved a 2023 Supplementary budget of Three Hundred Billion Naira (₦300B) for the Ministry of Works comprising of One Hundred Billion Naira (₦100B) for immediate palliative works in 36 States and FCT and Two Hundred Billion Naira (₦200B) for continuation of most of the inherited ongoing projects and very few new but critical road projects.   5. Mr. President has directed that works in those palliative projects must commence before 1st December 2023, while observing all due process. On the sections being frequently complained of by the public in all regions of the North and South of the country, Mr. President has equally isolated them and directed immediate actions on them and indeed work has started on all such roads. The public can crosscheck our claims and report back to us.   6. The engagements of the Federal Ministry of Works will not be limited to these isolated reported cases but shall be holistic in our approach through these approved palliative measures and the interventions of FERMA in all the 36 States and FCT also.   7.  The public is hereby requested to assist the Federal Ministry of Works and FERMA by supervising the contractors that will be engaged in these palliative works and indeed all ongoing projects of the Federal Ministry of Works and FERMA. It is the right of every Nigerian to have value for their money deployed to the road infrastructure sector and therefore must show both interest and passion in all the ongoing projects by the Federal Ministry of Works and FERMA, and indeed all projects of the Federal, State and Local governments. All poorly constructed roads should be photographed and reported immediately to the following contacts: 08030986263, 08037086137, or 08106423197; showing the name of the contractor, the location and type of contract and defects observed. The Federal Ministry of Works will document such reports, verify and take effective action to correct such infractions. The Federal Ministry of Works shall also periodically recognize publicly those who made such reports that are genuine in a public engagement forum to be hosted quarterly by the Federal Ministry of Works and will sanction such erring contractors publicly too.                               8. THE USE OF ASPHALT AND CONCRETE PAVEMENT IN ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT   a. The Federal Ministry of Works is shocked to observe the various acts of darkening counsel without knowledge on the position of the Ministry on the use of asphalt and concrete pavement in the development of our road infrastructure by people who have vowed not to release their hands off the brake of our road infrastructure development just for their selfish gains. b. The Federal Ministry of Works has at no time banned the use of asphalt or directed that concrete pavement shall be the only means of road pavement structure. For the avoidance of doubt, the new policy of the Federal Ministry of Works is simply put as follows: i.    contractors for all the ongoing projects are simply requested to have a choice to continue to use asphalt or have their projects redesigned on concrete at no extra cost to government following the underlisted conditions: ii.    Use of asphalt: contractors shall stick to only 5% Variation on Price (VOP) in line with the signed contract agreement throughout the period of the project and the signed contract shall not be subject to review especially on bituminous items. iii.    The thickness of the asphalt pavement as designed must be strictly adhered to by all such contractors and the design shelf life for the asphalt (at least 15 years) shall be guaranteed by issuing an insurance bond through a reputable insurance company in favour of the Federal Government. This is in line with Article 2 of the signed contract and clause 51 of the general conditions of contract (which is part of the documents forming the signed contract with contractors which authorize the client through the Engineer to change the scope of the work, the quantity of the work, the quality of the work as the client may deem fit at any time etc.) for all the ongoing projects. These directives to the contractors do not in any way violate the Federal Ministry of Works' signed agreement with the contractors. iv.    For the use of concrete, contractors must abide by the 5% VOP and 50 years design shelf life using concrete grade 40. c. Those who are complaining and demarketing this policy are simply those who do not wish Nigeria well and they are the same people that use adulterated bitumen in their projects while putting pressure on our Naira through the importation of adulterated bitumen instead of developing our abundant God given bitumen deposits in Ogun State and other parts of Nigeria. Insofar as this new policy has not violated any law, the Federal Ministry of Works is forging ahead with this new policy.  As at today, most of the ongoing projects are still ongoing with asphalt pavement in line with this new policy while some are redesigned on concrete pavement, depending on the terrain and with full understanding of the affected contractors of those projects.   9. The Federal Ministry of Works is very concerned with the supervision of our projects and effective 1st of December 2023, there will be a revolution in the ways and methods the Federal Ministry of Works supervises her projects nationwide. All concerned are HEREBY put on NOTICE as the Ministry will not spare anyone found culpable in his or her assignment.    10. The Director of Works of the 36 States and FCT and  FERMA have been directed to audit all projects in their States and FCT especially equipment on and off sites with their pictures, personnel of contractors, status of all projects including financial status (contract sum, date of award, period of construction and time table, amount paid, challenges, % of work completion, augmentation of project if any, VOP claims etc). This assignment must be completed before 30th November 2023. Note that this directive was given since the past two months.   11. The Federal Ministry of Works wishes to thank Mr. President for his directive that all inherited projects from the past administration be continued while he makes frantic efforts to source for funds for the completion of these ongoing projects and the critical new ones within his 1st 4 years of his Divine 8 years of purposeful and fruitful divine administration through the power of God who divinely brought him to  leadership at this critical moment of our Nation’s history.   12. On the part of the staff of the Federal Ministry of Works, I pledge to strictly and Godly follow the divine Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President, and God willing, we shall continue to support Mr. President and deepen the good efforts of Mr. President in all our road infrastructure development.   Signed: H. E. Sen. (Engr.) Nweze David Umahi, CON, FNSE, FNATE Hon. Minister.   ...

FG is Committed to the Engineering Values in Road Infrastructure Development as Supervision Occupies a Centre Stage in the New Policy of the Federal Ministry of Works   The Federal Government under President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR is committed to outstanding quality, value for money, innovation, responsiveness, fast deliveries and technical expertise in road infrastructure development in Nigeria. This was contained in the message of the Hon. Minister of Works, Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi, CON when the national leadership of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) led by its President, Engr.   Tasiu Sa'ad Gidari Wudil paid him a courtesy call in his office in Abuja on 23rd November, 2023.   The Hon. Minister emphasized the importance attached to quality delivery of construction works by the Renewed Hope administration of Mr. President stressing that the 'business as usual' syndrome in road construction is no longer tenable under the Renewed Hope administration of Mr. President. He reeled out the new policies on road infrastructure to include:   • good stabilized and tested subgrade, sub-base course before pavement placement. • expose subgrade, sub-base and base course to 60 days vehicular movement and continuous sheep-foot rolling before pavement placement. • introduction of reinforced concrete road pavement in most roads’ carriageway and shoulders. • continuous maintenance of all roads under construction throughout the life of the project under contract. • effective design of road infrastructure anchored on detailed report of environmental site conditions and geotechnical report. • community relations in terms of keeping roads motorable under the period of the contract.   He said that supervision was necessary in the actualization of quality delivery of road construction whether concrete pavement or asphalt, noting that each of the two models has its own attendant conditions. “When you start to compare asphalt and concrete, it is if all things are equal, here all things are not equal, there are many factors why we are talking about concrete”.   He noted that the stand of the Ministry is not about comparing asphalt and concrete pavement but that if you are using either of them, there are conditions attached to them. He said there are certain terrains on our roads that make it   imperative for concrete pavement to  be used." You cannot put asphalt in water but you can put concrete in water”.   The Minister explained that the rate of increase in the cost of materials for construction of the two models is alarming  and argued that the cost of materials for  asphalt  is in  geometric progression while the cost of  materials for  concrete pavement  is in arithmetic progression. He reiterated that prudence and value for money are the watchwords of the Ministry of Works under him, and this involves getting materials at the minimum purchase price and maximum efficiency and effectiveness of the product. He urged the leadership of Nigerian Society of Engineers to consider retraining of members of the society and enforcement of discipline and strict standards of ethics in the practice of Engineering in Nigeria in the interest of public safety and for the protection of the economic investments.   " I went to China, and I saw their roads, there was no evidence of any maintenance in nearly 30 years. And I asked them what the reason is, and they said that if you build a road in China and within your lifetime, the road fails, they will come for test and if there is any evidence of compromise, the person responsible goes to prison for life".   The Hon. Minister offered partnership with the NSE in the area of supervision and consultancy.   In his mission statement earlier, the President of Nigerian Society of Engineers ( NSE) said the  aim of the courtesy call was to seek areas of collaboration with their own and described the Hon. Minister as a round beg in a round hole "Since after your assumption of office, we have been monitoring your  progress, and  I must tell you we are not surprised, what you did as Governor in Ebonyi State is amazing. We visited you when you were the Governor of Ebonyi State, and I am going to visit your Governor now. I must go because it is like a pilgrimage.... In fact, Your Excellency, we are proud of you."   The President said that the Society which is an umbrella organization for Engineering profession in Nigeria is committed to best Engineering practices. He enumerated the achievements of the Society and the prospects of their smart office project, and expressed hope that it would be an innovation hub of the nation. ...