Ongoing Reconstruction of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road has Progressed Appreciably - Engr Adebiyi

The ongoing reconstruction work on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road project has been progressing appreciably and would be completed in the life of this administration.

Engr Funso Adebiyi, the Director Highways Construction and Rehabilitation in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing stated this during the ongoing visit to the project site to assess the progress of work on the project

"We are satisfied with the quality of work going on and we are working to increase the pace of the work. You can see that work is going on simultaneously on all sections of both lanes of  the dual carriage  375km longroad from Abuja-Kaduna- Kano" he said

Adebiyi explained that the work was initially for rehabilitation but now full reconstruction work is ongoing. He  appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the government in it's commitment to deliver a qualitative work that would stand the test of time

Similarly, he also appealed to the road users to bear the discomfort being experienced everyday as a result of blockages and diversions, pointing out that it was  a necessary action in a construction work of such magnitude above all on such busy road with high traffic volume and axle load.

On the level of work done so far, Engr Adebiyi said  " we have made a lot of progress. You can see that over  100km though not at a stretch, have been completed under section one to three (Abuja-Kano) , 40km completed under section two (Kaduna-Zaria), and 70km completed under section three (Zaria-Kano)"

He pointed out  that while some sections of the road are also at different levels of completion, palliative/remedial work are being carried out on the sections that are critically bad to facilitate ease of passage for motorists"

Reacting to the allegation of delayed  work, Engr Adebiyi said "It is important that I correct the wrong impression by the people  that work is not moving. We are working to meet up with the deadline and at the same time subjecting all the work to quality assurance test to deliver a good job"

He assured Nigerians of the commitment of the government to completing the work. " Government is desirous of completing this project , as such is not leaving anything to chance, that is why we are here regularly  tracking the progress of work with a view to sorting out any identified challenges"

Engr Adebiyi stated that the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, San and the Hon  Minister of State  Engr. Aliyu  D  Abubarkar had demonstrated a strong passion to this project and others across the country in order to ensure the  fulfillment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s  promise of bridging infrastructure gap in the country.

On the speed of work on the road, the Director Bridges and Design, Engr Adeoye  urged the contractor to increase the pace of work by deploying more men on sites to work simultaneously on both lanes

The team of engineers in the Ministry  led by the Director Highways Construction and Rehabilitation, Engr Adebiyi were on a routine assessment inspection of the various ongoing road projects across the country in order to ensure quality work delivery and meeting the completion deadline

The team carried out an engineering measurement and evaluation of some key components in road construction among others ; storm water drainages, shoulders, right of way, concrete slabs, U-turns, culverts reinforcement pipes.

TheAbuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano roa reconstruction project was awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc on 20th December, 2017 and the project commenced on 21st May, 2018 with the 36 months completion period

Remarks By H.E, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN At 27th Monthly Power Sector Operators Meeting Hosted By Yola Distribution Company

I welcome you all very warmly to this meeting, which is the 27th in the series of monthly meetings that has taken us to virtually all parts of Nigeria.

I thank the Managing Director of Yola Distribution for hosting us.

Many of you will remember that in 2015, Yola DisCo was the only one of the 11 (eleven) privatized DisCos that was given up as being unviable.

But this Government did not give up on Yola DisCo. The Government appointed Engr. Mustapha to manage this DisCo.

Month after month, from reports we have all received about performance and monthly rating of DisCos, it is obvious that Engr. Mustapha and his team have proven that Yola DisCo is not unviable.

At this forum, I will repeat what I have said about change, that it is not a matter of chance but a matter of choice.

Similarly, it is not an event but a process that involves the application of methods and the making of choices, some of which are difficult, but very often resourceful, even if sometimes misunderstood.

The story of Yola DisCo epitomizes change and it speaks eloquently to our roadmap of incremental power.

From my very first visit to inspect the resumption of work at the Maiduguri TCN substation, which had been damaged by insurgents, to the completion of the Mayo-Belwa TCN substation and the installation of Distribution Infrastructure by Yola Disco, incremental power is returning to the customers within the Yola DisCo franchise.

Eighty per cent (80%) of damaged 33KV lines have been restored in areas like Damboa, Madagali, Maiduguri, Damasak, Gombi, Mubi, Wukari to mention a few.

Change means providing incremental power against the odds, and nothing is truer than the story of one Agricultural enterprise in Adamawa, whose proprietor visited to tell me that since the completion of the Mayo-Belwa sub-station, he has drastically reduced his purchase of diesel and the use of his generator.

For him, change means reduced operating cost at his farm, and for consumers of his Agro products, change means reduced food prices.

As you will have heard in the news, economists are predicting a further reduction in inflation and they are attributing it to reduction in food inflation and food prices.

As you might have also heard, I visited Kebbi last week to inspect our road projects, and the Governor,  Atiku Bagudu, reported that most of the local governments in his State are getting 18 to 20 hours of power supply, from Kaduna DisCo.

This is what change means, and it is consistent with our roadmap of incremental power.

While we are inspired by the news of progress, especially coming from those who receive the service, we remain mindful of those we have not yet reached, and remain committed to get to them, whether on the grid or off the grid.

In this regard, let me report some progress made within the last month, as I usually do, in order to keep all of us abreast of what our members are doing and what the industry as a whole is experiencing.

I am pleased to inform the meeting formally that a substantive Chairman, in the person of Professor James Momoh, is now in place for the NERC, following confirmation by the Senate, and his swearing in on the 3rd day of May 2018.

This means that another issue under our Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP), relating to Governance, has now been resolved.

Also, within the last month, particularly, on the 7th of May 2018, I had the privilege to Commission the Odogunyan Transmission Substation completed by TCN to serve customers in Lagos and Ogun States, under the Ikeja DisCo franchise.

I can also report that we are making progress on the Federal Government’s planned intervention in the Distribution Value Chain to help deliver the 2,000MW that is constrained by distribution equipment.

The advertisements for quotation by original equipment manufacturers for Transformers, Breakers, and Associated Equipment compiled by the DisCos have been published, and we await responses.

The Azura Power Plant is now fully completed and ready for commercial operation to deliver more power to boost incremental power.

On the off-grid side, His Excellency, the Vice President, recently commissioned a market intervention in Ondo State, delivered by Rural Electrification Agency, another boost to our incremental power and provision of access to previously unserved people.

The progress we are making will require us to increase our commitment to further improving service.

This will be more demanding as the rains come down in the next few months.

The rains will bring more water supply to the Hydro Electric facilities, and they will bring more challenges to Transmission and Distribution by way of storms, heavy winds, falling trees, damage to towers, lines and installations.

We must rise up to these challenges better than we have done in the past.

Some of what we must do are:

Promptly issue notices when there are known damages that interfere with power supply;
Promptly send our maintenance men out to repair and replace damaged equipment or clear fallen trees;
Send information to the public on multiple platforms of conventional and social media to report faults that we may not be aware of;
Painstakingly hold ourselves out as available, ready, and willing to resolve customer problems and provide better service.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our journey of change and incremental power continues, and I thank you all for your commitment.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing