Federal Ministry of Works

Mar

2026

LATEST PRESS

UMAHI DECLARES AN END TO YEARS OF DEADLY TRAPS AND GRIDLOCK ON THE ENUGU–ONITSHA EXPRESSWAY, SETS MARCH 31 DEADLINE FOR REOPENING

The Honourable Minister of Works, Senator Engr. David Umahi, CON has declared that the long-troubled Enugu–Onitsha Expressway is fast shedding its grim past, as the Federal Government intensifies a sweeping infrastructure upgrade across the South-East under the President, His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

Umahi made the declaration on Monday, March 23, 2026, during an inspection of ongoing projects in Enugu, including the Enugu–Onitsha Expressway and the Eke-Obinagu Flyover, where he expressed confidence that the era of consistent fatal accidents, endless traffic, and public frustration along the road is coming to an end.

“I’m going round the six geopolitical zones assessing what is possibly to be commissioned before May 29th by Mr President. There are mega project that the President will be available for before May 29th and we mean it,” the Minister said.

Once regarded as one of the most dangerous highways in the region, the Enugu–Onitsha road had for years been plagued by tanker explosions, loss of lives, and economic disruptions. But Umahi said decisive intervention by the Tinubu administration has changed the trajectory.

“Now this route, the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, you recall that when we came on board, everyday, people were talking about this road. There were a lot of tanker accidents, a lot of people died and so forth. But my joy is that the whole thing is a past story, because the President has swinged into action,” he stated.

The Minister disclosed that the dual carriageway, which spans 107 kilometres on each side, is undergoing a major structural shift, with a significant portion being converted from asphalt to concrete to ensure durability.

“It is not only that we are repairing this road… about half of it is going on to be concrete. I have no confidence in asphalt I continue to say it. By the time the asphalt fail we will have 50 percent of the road still intact and if it fails within the second tenure of the president then be rest assured that we will fix it,” he said.

He added that the same approach is being extended to sections in Anambra State, including the head bridge axis, where an initial asphalt design is being replaced with concrete pavement to align with modern highway standards.

“At the head Bridge we have 39k, we’re changing that to concrete so that we can have this coastal road type of road pavement there in Anambra and here in Enugu,”.

Beyond reconstruction, the project is also being enhanced with solar-powered street lighting and environmental features aimed at improving safety and sustainability.

“So that is going to happen but then not only that. We are putting solar light both for the one that was constructed before us and the one that is being done by us. Within the first one week we will have solar light up to this 1km and we continue we are also going to plant trees which is very important,” he added.

The Minister urged the people of the South-East to recognise the level of federal intervention in the region, noting that such attention to infrastructure was previously lacking.

“The people of South East have to be very grateful to Mr President. The reason is that we never had it like this. I was governor for 8 years and I can’t think of any Federal road project in Ebonyi State,” he said.

He also cautioned against divisive narratives, warning that some actors were misleading the public for selfish interests.

“I want to ask our people to be very very careful, there are people that pretend that they are helping us but they actually inciting us against government… we need to know when people are genuinely interested in our case,” he said.

Calling for sustained support for President Tinubu, Umahi described the ongoing works as part of a broader effort to correct past neglect and integrate the South-East more fully into national development.

“Let us allow this man that have started to right the wrong metted on us as the people of Southeast in the past. Let us allow him the next four years and we will be very much fully integrated,” he stated, adding, “To know the revolution that is going on in infrastructure… this is the Biafra we are looking for.”

As a major milestone, the Minister directed that the Enugu–Onitsha Expressway be reopened for public use on or before March 31.

“I have given the controller the authority, by the 31st or before, he should call the press to open this road, call the people of South East… let them know that this road is open for travel and that will be our Easter celebration,”.

Addressing concerns over project costs, Umahi clarified that the Ministry of Works does not unilaterally determine project pricing, noting that approvals pass through multiple regulatory layers, including the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Federal Executive Council.

“I’m not the final authority when it comes to the cost of a project, there are layers of approval, the Bureau of Public Procurement, their own stands and not my own,” he explained.

He maintained that the standard being applied to the Enugu–Onitsha project is consistent with major road projects across the country.

“The same road architecture as the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway… so no discrimination with the president, everybody is the same,” Umahi said.

Dec

2017

NEMSA Embarks On A Nationwide Technical Monitoring And Evaluation Of Primary 33kv Feeder Lines With Associated 33/11kv Injection Substations The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) has commenced a Nationwide Technical Monitoring and Evaluation of the primary 33KV feeder lines and associated 33/11KV injection substations with supply source from 330/132/33KV transmission substations. The exigency of the exercise is to identify constraints militating against quick realization of the Federal Government’s policy and efforts for sustainability of the incremental, steady and uninterrupted power supply as they are achieved through the 33KV primary feeder lines to the 33/11KV injection substations and subsequently through the 11KV feeder lines and associated distribution transformers and finally to the consumers. Also this is to identify the high risk and technical loss points along the 33KV feeder lines. Again this is to enable NEMSA find out the causes/reasons for load rejection by the DisCos and to make recommendations for dealing with identified issues/challenges. Engr. Peter O. Ewesor, the MD/CEO NEMSA & Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation, while on one of the inspections, said “the importance of the exercise cannot be overemphasized in light of the spate of the increasing number of electrical accidents and incidents, power failures/outages at the downstream-of the power value chain (power distribution networks) even when there is a huge increase in power generation in the grid system”. The exercise, which commenced on the 18th of October, 2017, has so far covered Abuja, Ikeja, Kano, Benin, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Enugu DisCo’s networks and the exercise is still ongoing. Furthermore, Engr. Ewesor said “the exercise will identify high risk defective networks that pose serious threat and danger to operators’ operational staff and the general public for immediate attention and correction/rectification by respective DisCos and TCN. Therefore, the importance and the expected positive impact of this National Technical Monitoring and Evaluation exercise which is part fulfilment of NEMSA’s mandate cannot be overemphasized. During the exercise, some of the DisCos were given immediate order to effect rectification of the defects and lack of procedures that were observed. ...

Dec

2017

Programme To Provide Uninterrupted Power Supply For University Students, Not A Mere ‘Streetlighting’ Project - Ministry The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing wishes to restate that the Energizing Education Programme (EEP) of the Federal Government is aimed at rejuvenating the nation’s education system by providing uninterrupted power supply to a total of 37 federal universities and 7 university teaching hospitals. This clarification has become necessary in the light of the misrepresentation of the Programme as a mere “solar –powered streetlight project in nine universities across the country valued at N10bn,” by the Punch newspaper while purportedly reporting the proceedings of the 2018 Budget Defense Meeting of the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy attended by the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency on Thursday, 14th December 2017. The Punch Newspaper in a report, which first appeared in its Online version , claimed that the Senate “criticized a solar-powered streetlight project” thereby deliberately misrepresenting the Energizing Education Programme (EEP).Far from being a “streetlight” project, the EEP in fact seeks to rejuvenate the education system through electrifying a total of 37 federal universities and 7 university teaching hospitals, with Independent Power Plants (IPPS), which will boost effective learning, innovation and advancement through uninterrupted power supply. In addition to helping to extend electrification to rural and underserved areas in which the institutions are located ultimately, the Programme will enable the institutions benefit from world-class training schools, for the training of students in renewable energy, as well as provide optimized security, for the safety and well being of students and staff, through the installation of streetlights on campus which is only a small component of the Project. Although implementation of this programme is led by the power sector, through the Rural Electrification Agency, the Vice Chancellors and the Ministry of Education have signed onto this as a critical investment in the education sector. The deliberate attempt to water down the significant impact this Programme will have on the enhanced education of Nigerian students is outright unpatriotic as it seeks to prevent the socio-economic development of our nation. In addition to the open and transparent coverage of the milestones attained preparatory to the take off of the Project like the Meetings and signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the REA and the first set of participating tertiary institutions, the Ministry holds itself ready to provide further details to the media and any other interested entities to stem any further misrepresentation. ...

Dec

2017

Hand Over Of Presidential Lodge To LASG : FG Keeping Its Promise As Done With Bodo-Bonny Bridge, Mambilla Hydro Power Project - Fashola * It s in fulfilment of commitment and promise by the President of Change Minister * Ambode expresses appreciation to Buhari, Osinbajo, Fashola * Says asset will be turned into National Monument, Tourist Centre The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday further improved its rating as one that keeps its promises as the Federal Government signed and exchanged the documents that finally vests the ownership of the historic Presidential Lodge on the Marina in Central Lagos to the Lagos State Government almost two decades after the process began. In a brief but impressive ceremony at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Power Works and Housing, the Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, said the event was taking place in fulfilment of the promise made by President Muhammadu Buhari at inception adding that the formal handover had brought to an end a journey that had lasted almost two decades. Reiterating that successive Governments of Lagos State had made strong representations to the Federal Government for the handover of the asset and others like it to the State, Fashola added, “This is a long journey that has come to an end. It is a journey that has taken almost two decades during which the Lagos State Government has asked that the ownership of this property be vested in it”. The Minister, who noted that events in the past had made it seem as if the handover would not happen, declared, “But the President of Change, the Promise Keeper, has made it possible”, adding that while the Lagos State Government has already taken possession, the event of the day was to formally sign and hand over documents that would establish the rights of the State Government to the ownership of the property. Congratulating the State Government on the occasion, Fashola, who also congratulated Governor Akinwumni Ambode for the 2018 Trillion Budget which he recently presented to the State House of Assembly, said the event was “consistent with President Buhari’s promise to respond to those many other things that had been left undone”. The Minister, who named such things that had been left undone to include the Bodo-Bonny Bridge, that waited for over 20 years and the Mambilla Hydro Power Project added that like Bodo and Bonny “which has brought hope to the people of Bonny” and the Mambilla Power Project to the people of Taraba, Lagos State had become a beneficiary of ä promise kept”. Responding, Governor Ambode acknowledged the spirited efforts made by the Minister, who was his immediate predecessor in Government, when he was Governor of the State, to get the ownership of the property back to Lagos adding that the State Government’s intention was to turn the asset to a National Monument as National Centre for Leadership and also a Tourist Centre. Expressing delight at “this historic day”, Ambode, who was accompanied by some members of his Cabinet, added, “This day actually finalizes the intention of Mr President to actually bring positive change to Lagos. We want to sincerely appreciate Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari who has graciously approved that the Presidential Lodge be released to Lagos State”. The Governor also expressed appreciation to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari as well as everyone that played a role towards the realisation of the handover. “We have been trying to get this particular asset back to Lagos, just like the Minister had said, for the last 20 years”, the Governor said, describing it as both delightful and significant that “on this particular day, it is my Predecessor, and now the Minister of Power Works and Housing, who is now actually doing the final handing over of the property for which he, as Governor, fought hard to get back to Lagos State”. Also describing as, “actually gratifying” that the Minister was the one “positioned to happily do the documentation and handing over of the asset to Lagos State”, Ambode said it was “a sign of greater things and greater collaborations between Lagos State and the Federal Government”, adding, “We believe strongly that this singular gesture will improve the economy of not only Lagos State but that of the whole country”. Also present at the event were the Minister of State, Hon Mustapha Baba Shehuri, the Permanent Secretary Works and Housing, represented by the Director Finance and Accounts, Mr Ibrahim Tumsah, the Director Highways (Planning and Development), Engineer Uzo Chukwunwike , Director, Human Resources, Mrs Motunrayo Alimi, Director, Legal Services, Mrs Justina Shuwa, other Directors, Special advisers and other top functionaries in the Ministry as well as members of the Lagos State Executive Council such as the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Tunji Bello and Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde among others. ...