Speech by President Muhammadu Buhari Represented by The Honourable Minister of Water Resources, Engr Suleiman Adamu at The Commissioning and Handover of Hadeija – Nguru Road, Phase II (Kirikasama-Nguru) in Jigawa State on Saturday 18th June, 2022.
On behalf of the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari, I bring best wishes to the Government and people of Jigawa State.
Our commitment to improving road transport infrastructure, our determination to improve the ease of doing business, create jobs and prosperity to lift people out of poverty brings us here today because the results of our investment are manifesting.
I can confidently say that as we enter the final lap of the tenure of the Buhari administration we are also entering a season of completion and delivery of projects.
As you can all see, we are handing over today the 33 Kilometre Road, which links Hadeijia-Kirikasama in Jigawa State. A very important Road that connects agrarian and trading communities to ease the movement of their farm products.
By linking these communities together, this road becomes a critical component of our national road network.
This road has been built to the highest quality of design and workmanship and if is well used and not abused, it should last for the designed service life.
Road abuse takes many forms such as overloading of vehicles and trucks which accelerates pavement damage, spilling of petroleum products, which dissolves all the components and allows water to penetrate, and converting the road shoulders to permanent parking places, that brings the onset of road failure from the shoulder.
We must all do our best to avoid these practices, report them when they occur and act in a lawful manner to stop them.
The road is also a story of the capacity of our people. The patriotic Nigerians who were employed directly to build this road, the scores of suppliers employed indirectly who are responsible for providing the machines utilized in the construction.
These are not only nation builders to whom we offer our salutations, they are the heart of the Nigerian economy, the micro, small and medium enterprises that drive our economic growth.
This road is also a statement of economic efficiency and ease of doing business.
This is because the travel time before construction has now reduced since the completion of the road.
Of course, this road is part of our many roads to prosperity because reduced journey times means reduced expense on travel, because time is money.
This road also symbolizes change as you will observe in the road furniture, such as the lane markings and Route Assurance signs.
These components had all but disappeared on our highways but our commitment to change has restored them, with the markings helping drivers to achieve better lane management and control of their vehicles; while the Route Assurance signs provide information about how much further or longer, the drivers and commuters have to travel and the distance to the next village, town or state.
Of course, another element of change is the travel experience on a new and well-built road from the old and previously unmotorable road.
Now that we have this new and well-built road, we have duties to ourselves and to other road users.
One of those duties is to ensure that we drive in accordance with the law as stipulated in the Highway Code.
Accordingly, for the avoidance of any doubt, I wish to reiterate that the maximum driving speed on this and other Federal Highways nationwide is 100 (ONE HUNDRED) KM PER HOUR and no more.
On behalf of the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari, I formally declare this Hadeijia-Nguru Road in Jigawa State completed and open for public use.
For your safety and that of other road users, I implore you not to exceed 100 KM PER HOUR.
We want you alive to witness and be part of the prosperity and promise of Nigeria.
I wish you safe and happy motoring.
Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu
Honourable Minister of Water Resources
