Oversight Visit: Lawmakers Commend Fashola, Ministry Over Progress In Roads Sector -  Call for commissioning of completed projects as means to publicize achievements in road transportation infrastructure. Members of the Senate Committee on Works on Friday commended the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, and his Team for the progress so far made on the on-going construction, rehabilitation, and expansion of roads across the country. The Committee members who made the commendation when they paid an Oversight visit to the Ministry, also called for the commissioning of completed projects saying it would enable Nigerians know and appreciate what the Muhammadu Buhari administration has been doing with the nation’s resources since inception. Addressing the Management of the Ministry, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Senator Adamu Aliero, expressed appreciation on the work of the Ministry in terms of road construction and rehabilitation saying it has become necessary to commission the finished projects for the Nigerian public to see. The Chairman who said the Committee recently concluded a nationwide tour of the road and bridge projects, declared, “We have to let the public know what the President has done in the road sector. I appeal that you take the initiative to commission the completed parts or sections of the roads”. Also speaking in the same vein, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, noted that a lot has been achieved in the last six years in the road sector but because the completed roads were not being commissioned, most Nigerians found it difficult to appreciate the achievements. Senator Ekweremadu noted that some of the contractors have done well in carrying out their assignments on the road projects while others have not and thus recommended that in the face of paucity of funds, those contractors doing good jobs should be paid while those not doing well should be sanctioned. He added that it was better to use available funds to pay those contractors performing well instead of waiting for those who are not doing well. In his remarks, Senator Ajayi Boroffice, who described the progress so far made on the on-going road construction and rehabilitation nationwide as tremendous, declared, “This administration has done very well by moving people from poverty to prosperity”, pointing out that it has completed almost all the projects inherited from the previous administration. He told the Minister, “I appreciate what you are doing even though you will receive a lot of criticisms, we know you are doing well”. Also reiterating the importance of commissioning the completed projects, the lawmaker said, “We have to blow our own trumpet to make Nigerians know what we are doing”.  In his remarks, the Minister explained that the concern of the Ministry was principally to ensure completion of the roads to give Nigerians quality travel time in terms of journey time and experience adding that Federal roads are very long roads that connect cities and states as opposed to the intra-city roads. “I have continuously explained to people that the roads that belong to the federal government are very long roads. They are roads that connect cities and states together, unlike intra-city roads that connect local governments together”. “So, sometimes somebody will ask me ‘when are you going to commission the roads’. And I ask them, “How, for instance, do you commission Kano-Maiduguri Road; where do you start the commissioning from”, the Minister said.   According to him, “Completion happens in the way we do construction, you close up a Section of the road while constructing and after finishing, you open it up for use. The day you start driving on the roads, it means the roads have been commissioned”. Noting that commissioning was better suited for municipal roads of five to ten kilometres, Fashola, however promised that the Ministry would consider commissioning some of the completed roads adding that the priority at the moment was to give Nigerians a good road network especially during the coming EMBER MONTHS. In the robust question and answer session, some of the Lawmakers raised the issue of delays in the completion of some major roads, especially those leading or passing through their constituencies or districts urging the Minister to use his good offices to ensure their completion before the exit of the administration. Responding, Fashola listed some reasons for apparent delays in project completion to include, paucity of funds, topography of the project location and problems of climate change pointing out that the Rainy Season in Nigeria is always very challenging, especially to road construction. “The other point I want to make is that the Rainy Season is always very challenging in Nigeria in terms of transport logistics”, the Minister said adding that roads through swampy or muddy terrains always pose more difficulties during construction as the top soils have to be replaced. On the issue of the major projects funded under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) initiative – Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the 2nd Niger Bridge-, Fashola said much progress have been made on them adding the Buhari administration was committed to delivering them before 2023.   ...

Dualization Of Keffi-Makurdi Road: FG Working With Nasarawa, Benue States To Resolve Compensation Issues- Fashola    As Minister urges beneficiaries to embrace dialogue   “It's clear that the President's strategy on Infrastructure as a driver of growth is working ", he says   The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, has called on the people affected by the ongoing road construction project in Nasarawa and Benue States to embrace dialogue and peaceful engagements towards resolving issues related to compensation rather than seeking recourse to agitations. The Minister, who made the call during his inspection tour of the ongoing Dualization of the 221 kilometres Keffi - Akwanga-Lafia - Makurdi Road, Tuesday, September 21st, 2021, declared, “Agitations don't solve problems, it is engagements and collaborations". Fashola, who was responding to a question from a journalist on the efforts of the Federal Government to compensate those affected by the project along the road said that the Federal government was closely working with the Benue and Nasarawa States to resolve the issues. He pointed out that the Federal Government was making a deliberate and careful effort to ensure that the real beneficiaries get the compensation and not middlemen. Explaining further, Fashola said that the 221 kilometres Dualization being undertaken includes a 10-lane expansion over five kilometers where Abuja joins Nasarawa state around Mararaba area. He disclosed that work is yet to begin on the areas that still have issues of resettlement, relocation and compensation until such issues are resolved. The Minister explained that funding for the project was secured through a China EXIM loan, adding that the decision to borrow the fund for the project was taken before the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. "The decision to borrow this money was taken before our administration. So we just completed the process that has been started, a process that we own because this is money borrowed for investment to improve people's lives", he said. The Minister who was later joined by the Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, also inspected the National Housing Programme (NHP) and Federal Secretariat Complex in the state capital, Lafia. On the economic benefits of the projects, Fashola said, the projects will drive the economy and create jobs for the people, as so many people have been employed directly or indirectly through the infrastructure developments. "If you see the economy beginning to head towards growth it's clear that the President's strategy on Infrastructure as a driver of growth is working ", he said. Earlier during a courtesy visit to Governor Abdullahi Sule, the Minister appealed to the Governor to establish a park for the trailers in order to protect the roads from being damaged, pointing out that the parking of trailers and the pouring of lubricants; diesel and oil on the roads by the drivers negatively affect the life span of the roads . In his response, the Governor expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister for their commitment to the development of infrastructure in Nasarawa State. Governor Sule also told the Minister that the State was already establishing trailer parks across the state to protect the roads from being damaged through indiscriminate parking on the shoulders and to avoid the incidence of such areas becoming criminal hideouts. He urged the Federal Government to consider working on more roads in the state. On the Minister's entourage during the inspection tour were some Directors the State's Controllers of both Works and Housing of the Ministry and Special Advisers.     ...

Babangida Hussaini Calls For Commitment Of The Body Of Permanent Secretaries At The Ongoing Council On Works The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr. Babangida Hussaini   has called on the body of Permanent Secretaries in the Works sector to be committed to and engage in thorough deliberations to come out with recommendations that meet standard requirements for the Council Meeting that will be chaired by the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN on Thursday, September 23, 2021. Hussaini made the call during the meeting of the Permanent Secretaries at the 27th Meeting of the National Council on Works taking places in Bauchi, Bauchi State. He said that, “The essence of this meeting therefore is for the body of Permanent Secretaries of Works to further consider and refine the recommendations of the Technical Meeting of the Directors which had already realigned some memoranda.” He added that Technical Meeting of the Directors had also merged some memoranda with similar purposes and contents, pointing out that some memoranda were stepped down for further consideration by relevant professional bodies in the works sector. Earlier, in his welcome address, the Honourable Commissioner, Bauchi State Ministry of Works and Transport, Alhaji Abdulkadir Ibrahim said that the administration of his Excellency, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed had done significant work in the areas of provision of portable water, construction and rehabilitation of roads, blocks of classrooms in both primary and secondary schools, health facilities and provision of farming implements. He stated that it was for the interest and respect for the Council that made the Governor of the Sate to graciously approve the hosting of the 27th Meeting of the Council of Works in Bauchi, Bauchi State. Ibrahim commended participants that have been deliberating on the various memoranda by the Federal and State Ministries of Works, stakeholders and other organizations that have been playing significant roles in the development of infrastructure in Nigeria. “I therefore enjoin the Permanent Secretaries to examine the various recommendations meticulously with a view to make appropriate recommendations to Council for deliberation,” he charged.   ...