Special Townhall Meeting: Fashola Renders Impressive Account Of Ministry’s Activities …Says Infrastructure Legitimate Way to Grow the Economy, Deliver Prosperity to the Citizenry. *With 895 On-going Highway and Bridge contracts across the country, the rehabilitation of Internal Roads of 43 Federal Tertiary* *Institutions,  construction of Six new Federal Secretariats in Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Nasarawa, Osun and Zamfara States and Construction of Housing Estates in 34 States of the Federation under the National* *Housing Programme (NHP) among others, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN on Thursday rendered an impressive account of the Federal* *Government’s infrastructure programmes under his Ministry.* Speaking at  Special Townhall Meeting organized by Business Hallmark Public Policy Forum with the theme," Nigeria's Infrastructure Revolution: Road to a New Future,”* the Minister explained that activities involved in infrastructure development are the sure and legitimate way of growing the economy and delivering prosperity to the citizenry. This reality, Fashola explained, informed the decision of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to make massive investment in Infrastructure a matter of choice and necessitated the expansion of the budget of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing from N18bn by the previous administration in 2015 to about N260bn despite the fact that the price of crude oil  which sold at an average of $97.98 between 2009 and 2014  fell to an average of $65.23 per barrel from 2015 to 2021. According to the Minister, the priority given to infrastructural development, informed the need to improve road transport infrastructure assets, formulate policies to address the problem of deteriorating public assets while taking advantage of the socio-economic opportunities created by the maintenance of such assets and to develop a National Strategy for sustainable Maintenance of all Public Infrastructure Assets in the country. Fashola noted that due to paucity of fund, government had to look for alternative sources of funding which include the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, SUKUK fund, Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme (RITCS), Multi-lateral loans/grants and collaboration with other Government Agencies like The North East-Development Commission in order to achieve the objectives of the Economy Recovery and Growth Plan ( ERGP) as it concerns the Ministry. Fashola also listed the rehabilitation of 60 Bridges across the country, scheduled maintenance of 5,461.88KM of roads and 8,000KM of Highway maintenance which include vegetation control, desilting of drains, Sleeves and ducts by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the rehabilitation/Maintenance of 24 Federal Secretariats across the country as some of the results of the investments in infrastructure. Fashola explained that on the result and economic impact of the infrastructure investment of the Federal  Government, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) benefit immensely from infrastructure projects as  a lot of activities such as designing, award of contract for supply, direct employment, banking and so on that take place, generate income for the people any time an infrastructure project is ongoing, pointing out that the small firms and enterprises were engaged in supplies of cements, diesel, laterites and others in the course of construction activities. The Minister noted that the narrative in the past about no federal government presence in some state has been replaced by a new narrative about when the ongoing projects will be completed in such states. The Minister also reminded Nigerians that the recession alarm raised in 2012 by the then Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was the recession that the Buhari administration inherited and was able to overcome it despite the impact of Covid – 19 through the massive investment to renew and expand the nation’s infrastructure at a time when the country was earning much less from oil. The Chairman, Busines Hallmark Forum, Sir Marc Wabara disclosed that the aim of the Townhall Meeting was to ensure that public policy met the basic standard of service delivery to the public. He expressed satisfaction that the event was holding at a time when the nation was going through the path of growth and development. The occasion was chaired by the former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, the Guest of Honour was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha. Other speakers at the occasion were the Minsters of Federal Ministries of Water Resource and that of Power; Engr. Suleiman Adamu and Engr. Saleh Mamman respectively.   ...

Nigeria / Cameron Border Bridge Will Facilitate International Trade- Fashola The completed border bridge at Mfum community between Nigeria and Cameroun and the Ikom bridge will facilitate international trade between the two countries when inaugurated. The Honourable Minister of Works and Housing,Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola,  SAN  made the remark while inspecting the two -lane bridge over the Cross River at the Cameroun and the Nigeria new Border at Ekok /Mfum and the new Ikom Bridge  in Cross River State. “This is the A-4 Axis coming from Calabar to Maiduguri through Ogoja to Katsina-Ala. So you will expect more volume of trade. And it is no accident that Cross River State bears its name.  It is actually the River that named the state. That River opens to the sea and the Gulf of Guinea.  And so high impact on international trade is expected”, he said. Fashola also said, "We have had very strong relationship with Cameroun in terms of trade and business and if you go to Aba, Enugu, Abakaliki, for example, this is the route that facilitates trade, agro produce, merchandise, manufactured goods from Aba in Abia State.'' The Minister explained that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration's strategy of planning and execution of infrastructure projects was yielding results through successful completion. “This is a very strategic infrastructure to take Nigeria to the future for many more decades to facilitate relationship between brothers and sisters in Cameroun and Nigeria and to strengthen the bond of relationship in a joint development with the Republic of Cameroun and Nigeria.” Fashola said, adding that ‘’We are now entering the season of completion of infrastructure projects.” The Minister while speaking with journalists after inspecting both the Nigeria /Cameron Joint Border Bridge at Mfom /Ekot and the New Ikom Bridge at Ikom in Cross River State noted that these bridges would increase the prosperity of the people, facilitate hundreds of jobs, movement of agro produce and manufactured goods, joint border patrol that would lead to security efficiency and position both nations to take the benefit of the free trade zone agreement. Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade who was represented by the State Commissioner for Works, Engr. Dane Osimasu at the sites of the inspection said the Minister is a conceptualizer ,  implementor and committed to road development in the state. He assured the Honourable Minister that counterpart funding from the state would always be provided where it is necessary in infrastructure development projects. The Director Highway Bridges and Design Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Engr. Emmanuel Adeoye said during the inspection of Ikom bridge, "The project was awarded in October 2018 and it is due to finish by 7th November, 2021." The Director said, "The rate at which the contractor is working, by the end of October it should be finished. Right now as we speak, the job is 92% completed, with the time lapse of 68%. We are moving faster than the scheduled time, so by end of October we should be done with the bridge." According to him "the Road Lane Marking has also been done. The Federal Controller of Works in Cross River State, Engr. Bassey Nsentip disclosed that several road projects were progressing without hitches in the State. The Executive Chairman of Etung Local Government Council Cross River State, Hon. Nkom Etuk praised the Ministry of Works and Housing for the remarkable job done on the bridges. The Ajassor Community Representative, Hon. Victor Njor said the border bridge has enhanced joint border patrol linking Cameroun and Nigeria within their community and the people shall come out en mass when the bridge will be inaugurated soon. The border bridge between Nigeria and Cameroun is funded by the African Development Bank while the Ikom bridge is through the Sukuk bond.   ...

GOODWILL MESSAGE BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF WORKS AND HOUSING, MR BABATUNDE FASHOLA, SAN AT THE PLENARY SESSION OF THE NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE SUMMIT ORGANISED BY THE NIGERIAN SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS ON THURSDAY 15TH JULY, 2021 AT NICON LUXURY HOTEL, ABUJA I bring good tidings to the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) at this Plenary on National Infrastructure Summit. I am enthused by the theme which is:- “Towards a Sustainable Infrastructure Development, Maintenance and Management in Nigeria.”  If this was a shooting competition, I would say that the NSE has hit the Bull’s Eye with the theme. Infrastructure Development, Maintenance and Management lie at the core of the Buhari Administration’s strategy for growing the Nigerian economy, creating jobs and prosperity, and lifting people out of poverty. The stock of infrastructure and the commitment to grow them is the real measure of a Nation’s desire for growth and prosperity. A Nation cannot grow bigger than the capacity of its infrastructure and President Buhari’s commitment to infrastructure leaves no one in doubt about his desire to rapidly grow Nigeria’s economy. The outline of that infrastructure development is made clear by the fact that the Ministry of Works and Housing is currently managing over 800 contracts for Roads and Bridges covering over 13,000 Kilometres of the 35,000 plus Kilometres of Federal Highways and Bridges.  In every state of Nigeria today there is either a Road project, a Bridge project or a Housing project or all combined under construction. This is a critical driver for employment of professionals for design, surveys, and construction practitioners.  It also galvanizes other sectors like mining for gravel, sand, laterite, crushed stones to mention a few, while it drives the demand and supply of lubricants like diesel, and oils, as well as bitumen production and supply. The transport sector is also driven by the need to ferry these inputs across distances from production sites to construction sites by thousands of Trucks employing drivers. At the construction Sites, the urban poor earn their daily living from supply of skilled and unskilled labour by working the materials to finished products. But this is only a small piece of the pie. Design, Construction and Governance account for only about 30% of Jobs in the Built Industry. It is maintenance and operation that provides 70% of the sustainable jobs long after construction has ended. This is why the Buhari Administration must take the credit for approving the first ever FGN Facility Management and Maintenance policy in March of 2019. Implementation is now bearing fruits with 24 Federal Secretariats now fully rehabilitated and under a facility management contract. Thirty-seven Bridges nationwide are now undergoing maintenance and repairs, some of which have been due for decades. NSE’s plenary and the theme have therefore struck the right chord. It would therefore be with bated breath that the Ministry of Works and Housing will await the outcome of today’s conversation on how to scale up and deepen what has already started. In closing I only wish to point one that a significant number of projects such as the Lagos – Ibadan, Enugu – Port Harcourt , Abuja- Kano, Kano- Maiduguri, Enugu- Onitsha, Oyo – Ogbomosho, Ilorin – Jebba, Abeokuta – Ibadan , Calabar – Itu , Second Niger Bridge, Ikom Bridge, Loko – Oweto Bridge, Ibi Bridge and Bamenda – Mfun Bridge, Chanchangi Bridge, Bodo Bonny Bridge and many more, which were recommended for development in the 2013 National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan have now taken off, are progressing, nearing completion or have been completed. The Buhari Government has now commenced the process of developing a new Infrastructure Master Plan up to 2030 and this has progressed significantly.  Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I have no doubt in my mind about the positive direction Nigeria’s economy is heading with these investments in Infrastructure. They are the key to reduced journey times, to efficient and competitive productivity arising from the ease of doing business. I therefore wish you a very engaging and productive deliberations.     BABATUNDE RAJI FASHOLA, SAN MINISTER OF WORKS AND HOUSING ...