Notice of Termination of Contract for the Rehabilitation of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway, Section I (Abuja-Kaduna) Based on non-compliance with reviewed cost, scope and terms, stoppage of work and refusal to remobilise to site, as directed, the Federal Ministry of Works has issued a 14-day Notice of Termination to Messrs Julius Berger (Nig.) Plc for the Rehabilitation of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway in FCT, Kaduna and Kano States, Contract No.6350, Section I (Abuja-Kaduna),  today, 4th November, 2024. The decision, which is borne out of several months of going back and forth without any meaningful progress was reached at a   Management meeting of the Ministry. The Ministry has in the last 13 months been in constant talks with the company, in order to reach an amiable position on the said alignment but to no avail. Nigerians may wish to know that the Contract for the Rehabilitation of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway, which was divided into three (3) Sections was awarded to the company on 20th December, 2017 and flagged off by the then Minister of Power, Works and Housing, H:E. Babatunde Raji Fashola at an initial  sum of N155.748,178,425.50 billion(One Hundred and Fifty-Five Billion, Seven Hundred Forty-Eight Million, One Hundred and Seventy-Eight Thousand, Four Hundred and Twenty-Five naira Fifty Kobo) on 18th June, 2018. Sections II (Kaduna – Zaria) and III (Zaria - Kano) were partially completed and handed over during the twilight of the administration of former President  Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR. Since then it has been one variation and augmentation or the other and finally, the present Minister of Works directed for the redesigning and re-scoping of the Section I of the contract. The alignment was divided into two with one phase redesigned to be on continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP), while the remaining with asphaltic pavement. Approval for the Section I, Phase 1 for a length of 38 (thirty-eight) kilometres on concrete pavement was given to Messrs Dangote Industries (Nig.) Ltd, while the remaining 127 (one hundred and twenty-seven) kilometres remained with the substantive contractor. The Phase 1 was flagged off on 17th October, 2024 with a 14-month completion period. Due to the stalemate of the contract and, most importantly, the desire of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, as encapsulated in the Renewed Hope Agenda infrastructure initiative, to see to the completion of this laudable project, also to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians plying the road, the Ministry re-scoped it and got the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The award for the Re-scoping and Downward Review of Contract for the Rehabilitation of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway in FCT, Kaduna and Kano States, Contract No.6350, Section I (Abuja-Kaduna) in favour of Messrs Julius Berger (Nig.) Plc from the sum of N797,263,523,738.87 (seven hundred and ninety-seven billion, two hundred and sixty-three million, five hundred and twenty-three thousand, seven hundred and thirty-eight naira  eighty-seven kobo) to N740,797,204,173.25 (seven hundred and forty billion, seven hundred and ninety-seven million, two hundred and four thousand , one hundred and seventy-three naira twenty-five kobo) was granted by FEC on 23rd September, 2024 and conveyed to the company on 3rd October, 2024.   As due to the socio-economic importance the road as a vital artery connecting Abuja, the FCT to the North, the Ministry conveyed the approval for a Final Offer on the Abuja - Kaduna Dual Carriageway to the company on 23rd October, 2024, stating that it should agree, in writing, to accept the reviewed contract sum of N740,797,204,173.25 (seven hundred and forty billion, seven hundred and ninety-seven million, two hundred and four thousand , one hundred and seventy-three naira twenty-five kobo) within seven (7) days or risk the termination of the said contract.  It is a sad commentary on the Company that rather than accepting the offer, they tinkered with the Bills of Quantities, as well as that of Engineering Measurements and Evaluation via a letter to the Ministry dated 29th October, 2024. The company was summoned for a meeting with the Management of the Ministry, today, 4th November, 2024 but refused to show up, hence the termination of the contract  based on effluxion of time and non- performance.   ...

WORKS MINISTER, SEN UMAHI HOLDS STAKEHOLDERS' MEETING ON THE ALIGNMENT OF THE LAGOS-CALABAR COASTAL HIGHWAY UNVEILS ONDO STATE 63KM SEGMENT OF THE HIGHWAY PROJECT The Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency Sen Engr Nweze David Umahi CON on Thursday, 31st October 2024 held a town hall meeting/ stakeholders' engagement with the government and stakeholders of Ondo State on the State 63km segment on the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, a legacy project of the Renewed Hope administration of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR  The Honourable Minister in the meeting, which was held at the Dome, Alagbaka, Akure, reiterated the determination of the Renewed Hope administration in revolutionizing road infrastructure for the economic advancement of Nigeria, adding that the four Renewed Hope Legacy Road projects would stimulate greater impetus In the economic growth potentials of the nation. The meeting had in attendance Sen. Mpigi Barinada - Chaiman Senate Committee on Works, Sen. Barr. Onyekachi Nwebonyi member, Sen. Osita Ngwu - Member, Senator Ayodele Adegbomire - member, Sen. Olajide Ipinsagba- member, Foluke Ogunbayo - (Clerk, Senate Committee on Works).  Hon. Akin Alabi - (Chairman Federal House of Representatives Committee on Works), Hon. Usman Banye - Vice Chairman, Hon. Timehin Adelegbe, member Sadiq Adetunji - Clerk. Others are the SSA to the President on Community Engagement South-West, Moremi Ojudo, the SSA to the President on Community Engagement, South-East, Barr. Chioma Nweze, among other stakeholders from Ondo State, including the Governor of Ondo State, His Excellency, Hon. Lucky O. Aiyedatiwa, who hosted the event.   ...

TRENDING STATEMENT OF A MAN PURPORTING TO BE ADDRESSING THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF WORKS MISGUIDED, SELF SERVING AND VICIOUS PROPAGANDA TYPICAL OF A PROXY SPEAKING FOR NONCONFORMING CONTRACTORS. The attention of the Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency, Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi, CON has been drawn to a trending statement of a man purporting to be addressing the Honourable Minister of Works over the state of roads in Nigeria and which was credited to the Chairman, House Committee on FERMA, Hon. Engr. Aderemi Abasi Oseni. The Honourable Minister views this unprovoked attack as an inconceivable embarrassment demeaning to his person and the Federal Ministry of Works as neither he nor his Permanent Secretary was in such a meeting where the said Chairman of House Committee on FERMA was said to be addressing the Honourable Minister of Works.  In a news conference dated 28th October 2024, the Honourable Minister stated that it was no doubt akin to darkening counsel without knowledge for the Honourable Chairman, House Committee on FERMA to vilify  him  over the bad state of Federal roads inherited from previous administrations numbering over 2,604  without deferring to the records of various interventions made by the Renewed Hope administration which have made a great difference in the public transport trajectory of Nigeria. The Honourable Minister has however chosen to refrain from joining issues with the said House Committee Chairman on FERMA because of the respect he has for the hallowed institution of the National Assembly, the Senate President and the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives. He said, "For the respect of Mr. Speaker, and of course the Senate President and the National Assembly that I belong to, I will refrain myself from joining issues with him. He said, I have failed, and if a blind man is to assess you, your guess is as good as mine because if he has no knowledge of anything, then his knowledge becomes his god so I will not join issues with him.” He views the action of addressing him as if he was before the House Committee on FERMA as deliberate, ill-motivated, misguided, self-serving and nothing  but a vicious  propaganda typical of a proxy representing  the interest  of nonconforming  contractors  who have constituted themselves  into adversaries against  the Federal Ministry of Works for insisting  on best practices in project pricing, variation on price and foreign exchange  differentials. There is no doubt  that the vituperations of the House Committee Chairman on FERMA were from the abundance  of his heart, but to say that all the roads across the country have failed for the failure of the Honourable Minister of Works  to address the  existing road  with the resources  approved or for his failure  to deploy  the N300 billon supplementary fund approved for him or that he is concentrating his energy on the less priority  issues shows that the House Committee Chairman on FERMA either has little  knowledge of the volume of  road infrastructure deficits inherited from successive administrations and cost requirements for road construction or that he deliberately  refused, ignored and neglected to appreciate the Renewed Hope administration's intervention milestones or he is playing to the gallery on the prompting of the nonconforming contractors. He said," And let me say to him that the projects Mr. President inherited were a total of 2,604 projects. As of May 29, 2023, the total cost was N13 trillion. That's what the President inherited and a debt to contractors of N1.6 trillion. And when you look at the variation by the reason of the subsidy removal, by the reason of the floating of the dollar, you'll find out that if you review all these projects, you will see that you will get over N19 trillion for the total ongoing projects. Mr. President did what no other President has done. He manifested all the projects in the 2024 budget with the hope to give him time to look for resources, including loans, to do these projects. I wasn't in that meeting where the Honourable House member was said to be addressing me, and there is no way I was going to complain of resources to fix our roads because Mr. President has given very special attention to the Federal Ministry of Works. He has paid so much attention to the sufferings of Nigerians vis-a-vis the road situation, and the Ministry is not the only Ministry  in Nigeria. Mr. President  has a lot of other challenging situations and competing demands, yet he has given priority attention  to the Ministry of Works"  He noted that the utterances of the Chairman, House Committee on FERMA were no doubt aimed at inciting  the public against  the government that brought  him on board as it is a common sense that a person of his level and profession ought  to know the method  statement required of road construction. He said, “There is no way you expect some projects that have lasted 20 years, 18 years, 17 years to be done in one year. And if he says he's an engineer, he should try and understand the processes that are involved in the Ministry of Works. It's different from his procurement of fertilizer with his constituency project. They are two different things. You have to go to the field, you have to measure the project, you have to design it, and you have to do in-house procurement to look at it.” He further said, “The method deployed in the construction will require you to do earthwork, to compact etc and if you don't give it one month and you start to put stone base and asphalt, it will fail. So, those times that you are preparing the sub-grade, the sub-base, the base course before the pavement, what do you call it? It is not valued by people like him as progress made" Furthermore, the Honourable Minister views it as a gross violation of parliamentary procedure for the Chairman of the House Committee on FERMA to invade the legislative powers of the Senate and House Committees on Works which have been carrying out oversight functions on the Ministry and are conversant with the achievements and challenges of the Ministry. He carpeted the Chairman of House Committee on FERMA for acting outside  the  legislative competence  of his committee.  Highlighting the modest achievements of the ministry across the six Geo-Political zones, the Honourable Minister thanked the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR for the unprecedented attention he has given in bridging the funding gap on the inherited projects. He said, “What we did is that we used over 90% of these funds to keep all the inherited projects alive as directed by Mr. President because a project has to be alive and in the budget before you can look for funds to assist it to be completed. That's what we've done, and so for those who are bitter that we have no projects to award to them, this is the reality.” He further said, “ Over 2,600 projects plus 330 supplementary projects plus the new projects in 2024 is not a tea party. It requires commitment, and it requires dedication, which we are doing. We work on Saturday, Sundays, and Public Holidays, and  somebody will say we are giving attention to less priority issues without mentioning those less priority issues that we are giving attention to.”   ...