Mahmuda Mamman Resumes as Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Works. ... Promises an open, inclusive administration. Following the redeployment of Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Civil Service, the Permanent Secretary posted to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Mahmuda Mamman has resumed office today Wednesday,31st May, 2023. While addressing Management staff of the Ministry during the hand over and take over ceremony which took place at the main conference hall of the Ministry's Headquarters at Mabushi, Abuja, Mr Mahmuda promised an all-inclusive and open administration. "We are going to run an open government, an open administration so that we can achieve what we are supposed to achieve" he said He told the Management staff that he is going to rely on their professional advice and support so that critical decisions can be taken to move the country's infrastructural development forward. " You are the professionals, I am here to rely on your advice, guidance and directions for us to do what we are supposed to do but I can assure you that I am a team player and we are going to run an inclusive administration" he said Earlier the Director overseeing the office of the Permanent Secretary, Engineer Folorunsho Esan expressed satisfaction that the new Permanent Secretary will provide purposeful leadership to move the Ministry forward due to his wealth of experience. Engineer Esan who gave a run-down of the activities of the Departments, Units and Parastatals of the Ministry, explained that the core Mandate of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing is the provision of roads, housing and urban renewal. In his welcome address, the Director Human Resource Management in the Ministry, Aliyu Abdullahi assured the new Permanent Secretary of the support and cooperation of Management and staff of the Ministry. Mahmuda Mamman is an indigene of Potiskum, Yobe State. A graduate of Political Science from the University of Maiduguri. He started his career as a Civil Servant in May, 1992 as a Personnel Officer II and rose through Promotion to the position of Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Health from where he has been redeployed to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. The occasion was also attended by many Directors and Heads of Units from the Federal Ministry of Health who in a show of affection and solidarity graced the ceremony. ...

Fashola Hands Over Ministry to DOOPS. Engr. Esan ...... launches 10-year National Housing Strategy Blueprint ...... signs Value-Added Concession under HDMI The outgoing Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola and the Minister of State, Hon. Umar Ibrahim El-Yakub, has handed over the mantle of leadership of the Ministry to the Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Engr. Folorunsho Esan. The event took place at the conference room of the Ministry's headquarters, Mabushi, Abuja, Friday, May 27, 2023. Fashola stated that the eight years of the Buhari's Administration did its best in making sure that the promises made to the citizens are kept, saying that though some may not like them, but they will like the work they did “There is an argument going on out there. I think it is a conversation we must have because some people don’t like the party in government but they will like the work we do" he Said. The Minister thanked the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi Esan who was present at the ceremony, the Directors, Heads of Parastatals, Heads of Units of the Ministry and all staff in attendance. He expressed gratitude to the contractors whom he said stood in the gap and encouraged them to continue doing the best for the nation. The Minister of State, Hon. Umar Ibrahim El-Yakub expressed his appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari for giving him the opportunity to serve in his cabinet. El-Yakub thanked the Minister and other Management staff for their kind gesture and team work which has helped him in carrying out his functions. In her good will message, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi Esan congratulated the Ministers for their successes and thanked them for their support and encouragement to the Civil Service programmes and activities. In his response the Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Engr. Folorunsho Esan, thanked the Ministers for their purposeful guidance and high level of cooperation, pledging to continue to move with their vision, concept and dedication to duties. Meanwhile, before the handover, ceremony, a Ten- year Blueprint for the National Housing Strategy Plan (NHS) was launched by the Minister. The NHS Strategy document is a project in collaboration with Messes FMDQ Holding Plc, which will unleash the power of private capital in the sector. Fashola said government alone cannot provide the totality of housing needs for Nigerians, hence the need to create an enabling environment for the private sectors to thrive According to the Minister, the ten-year strategic blueprint has been designed to harmonize all extant housing initiatives by various stakeholders into a single National Housing Strategy. He explained that despite the numerous housing programmes initiated by the current administration for affordable housing, it still did not provide more homes than private enterprises, stating that the private sector remains the real driver of housing solutions in the country “There is nothing the government does in the housing sector that can compete and provide more than what the private sector can do whether it is a state government building or the Federal Government, the real drivers at the end of the day are the capacity of private capital for providing more houses" he said Explaining further, he stated that the scope of land holding, are from the state governments that owns the bulk of land, the Federal Government doesn’t have as much land as the collective land holding that is in the hands of the private sector. Accordingly. the Minister reiterated the need for reliable data on housing deficit that can put one on track, assuring that the scheduled population census will reveal the real size of housing problems in the country. “I am launching this document with mixed feelings and I say that because, as an initiative of the private sector, the document is an alternative solution to the housing problem. One of the data that will be collected will be; who lives in a rented house; who owns his house; those who have other houses, and what type of house people live in. So, let’s hold our breath; and when the figure comes, it will be very reliable upon which we can see the real size of the problem.” He added Earlier, the Director Overseeing the office of the Permanent Secretary, Engr. Esan stated that, the Blueprint is an outcome of the collaborative effort among the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, PricewaterhouseCoopers and FMDQ Holding PLC. He explained that the project working group had worked tirelessly to produce the strategic compendium being launched today which is an announcement of the completion of Nigeria’s 10-year National Housing Strategy Blueprint and the commitment to the execution of the initiative therein. In his response, the Senior Vice President, FMDQ Group PLC, Mr. Emmanuel Etaderhi acknowledged the support and commitment of the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister, Babatunde Fashola for his guidance along every stage of the drafting of the strategy, while commending the members of PricewaterhouseCoopers team for their work, research and dedication. In another development, the signing of the Value-Added Concession under Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI) has been performed by the Minister. During the signing ceremony, Fashola noted that it is another demonstration of the Ministry’s innovative commitment to fixing the Nations’ Federal Road network through a multi-pronged approach. He said the Highways development Initiative (HDMI) was created to develop and manage the Federal Road Network with the objective to attract sustainable investment and funding in the development of road infrastructure across the Nation. The Managing Director of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Micheal Ohiani, in his address, stated that the primary objective of (HDMI) pilot scheme is to leverage private sector investment to improve facilities and operations on selected routes; infrastructure development by applying a commercial approach that bridges the funding gaps in annual capital budget expenditure, thereby reducing the  dependency on budgetary allocations On his part, Director Overseeing the office of the Permanent Secretary, Engr. Folorunsho Esan, stated that as the ministry attains its commercial height, it is the expectation that in no distant time, and in line with the agreed timelines, the financial close time will be reached to enable the execution of the project accordingly. The six successful concessionaires for the execution of the concession contract include: African Plus Partner Nigeria Limited Consortium (Benin Asaba Express Way and Lagos Otta Abeokuta Road);  Avia Infrastructure Services Ltd Consortium (Abuja – Lokoja Road);  Enyimba Economic City Development Company Consortium      (Onitsha Owerri Road and Enugu Port Harcourt Highway); Africa Finance Corporation Consortium (Shagamu Benin Road and Lagos-Badagry -Seme Border Road); Dafac Consortium (Kano -Shuari Road);, and China Harbour Engineering Company Limited  (CHEC) for  (Keffi-Akwanga-lafia-makurdi Road) respectively. ...

For The Records - Re: Allegation on “N130BN 2022 SUKUK Fund, Road Contractors Petition EFCC Over Non-Payment of Approved Funds Allocated to Them by Ministry of Works Staff” The attention of the Federal Ministry of Works & Housing has been drawn to the above allegation carried by Opera News an online publication which was sourced from The Street Journal of May, 16th 2023 wrongly accusing staff of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing of refusing to disburse funds allocated for projects in the 2022 Sukuk Fund to Contracts. The writer further states that the funds have been placed into accounts to generate interest “for the sole purpose of creaming off accrued interest…. 2.     This is a blatant misrepresentation of facts and a calculated attempt to smear the name of the Ministry. It is pertinent to mention that the Ministry adopted the Sukuk model of project financing since 2017 and at no time has the funds for payment for any project been domiciled in the Ministry. SUKUK Funds are domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and are only released to the Ministry for payment after the necessary processes and approvals are obtained. According to the operational guidelines for Sukuk projects, payments are made to contractors within twenty-four hours of the funds hitting the accounts of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. It is therefore, unfounded to imagine that any portion of the 2022 SUKUK Fund is warehoused in any bank with the expectation of yielding interest for any pecuniary benefits to officials of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. 3.    You may wish to note that the Debt Management Office (DMO) approved the 2022 Sovereign SUKUK Funding of N110.00 billion for execution of sixty-three (63No.) projects across the country. The symbolic presentation to the Ministry of the cheque of N110.00 billion was performed on 6th February, 2023 in the Main Auditorium of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja. 4.    Prior to the presentation of the 2022 SUKUK cheque, the Ministry was executing the 2021 SUKUK Funding in the sum of N210.565 billion for the construction of seventy-one (71No.) projects in the Federal Ministry of Works & Housing and N10.435 billion for execution of five (5No.) highway projects by the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs which were transferred to the Works and Housing Ministry. The disbursement for payment of executed works in the 2021 SUKUK Funding in the total sum of N220.00 billion was completed in April, 2023. It is important to note that the disbursement of the 2022 Sukuk could not be run concurrently with that of the 2021 Sukuk as a matter of principle. 5.    Upon completion of the payments from the 2021 SUKUK Funding, the Ministry commenced the collation and submission of Milestones to be achieved by Contractors under the 2022 Funding. The provision of Milestones by the Contractors, evaluation and approval by the Ministry and final no objection by the DMO is a necessary condition for the disbursement of Sukuk Funds. These processes take time and must be completed before any disbursement can be carried out. 6.    On completion of this process early May 2023 and in line with the commitment of the Ministry for payment of works executed according to the approved Milestones, the first (1st) Tranche Drawdown from the 2022 in the sum of N19.605 billion was forwarded to DMO. This will undergo a process of verification by consultants engaged by the Debt Management Office before payments can be approved and the CBN, through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, requested to release the funds for payment to the contractors. Subsequent Tranches would be forwarded to the DMO as the Contractors execute works in line with the approved Milestones and the works are verified, certified approved accordingly until the N130bn is fully accessed. 7.     It is important to advise the general public to always cross-check their facts before going to the media in order to avoid unsubstantiated allegations and avoidable waste of tax-payers money for energies that should be channeled into more productive ventures.   ENGR. FOLORUNSO ESAN DIRECTOR, OVERSEEING THE OFFICE OF THE PERMANENT SECRETARY. FMWH* ...