The federal government has terminated sections one and two of the Suleja-Minna Road.
Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi declared a state of emergency on the sections which are to be re-procured.
During an inspection of the road, the minister reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s commitment to delivering critical infrastructure to the Nigerian people under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
He emphasised the importance of providing essential infrastructure to the citizens.
Umahi explained that the road project was initially awarded to Salini Nigeria Limited, but work had either been poorly done or abandoned at some point, and efforts to get them to repair the road over a year and a half had been unsuccessful.
He said that the Niger State governor, Mohammed Bago, had raised concerns directly with President Bola Tinubu, who directed the Ministry to intervene.
He described the road as being “in a very terrible situation, delaying travel time by seven hours instead of an hour and a half, and vehicles are falling and killing people. I have declared these sections one and two, emergency projects.
“The president directed that urgent action should be taken, which is why we are here. We will document the nature of the road and the contract for Nigerians to know why we declare it an emergency project and to be procured as such.
“When we go through due process and award the job, if the contractor waits for one day for mobilisation, I will terminate it because it’s an emergency.
“If you cannot trust us to start work immediately, and then we will now process your mobilisation, then you don’t want to be a partner in the new Nigeria that President Tinubu is developing,” he said
Umahi explained that the Suleja-Minna Road was an inherited project from the past administration, adding that the problem has been the contractors.
He said that the contractors were funded and worked, but all their work failed.
He said that despite the failed job, some people were still lobbying for Salini to continue the project.
“That is wickedness, because our people will not continue to suffer like this. Contractors are engaged and paid, yet we don’t have value for money.
“Who will people call? They call the president. They call the minister. So, we have to put that to a stop. Whoever is at fault, we place the blame on that person, and we take action.
“As of today, Salini is still owing us, and I have directed my ministry to scoop out the section of the road equal to what they are owing us, so that they can do it,” he said.
According to Umahi, the contract is irrevocably terminated due to the bad work.
Therefore, he said that if Salini failed to comply with the directive under the ministry’s supervision, the ministry would seek the intervention of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to recover government money.
“There is no going back. This fight is a fight for Nigerians, and we have no regrets doing this.”
Umahi said two contractors were now working on the road project.
He said the governor had awarded part of the same road in his urban renewal agenda, and CCCC International Engineering Nigeria Ltd is handling it.
“The governor has asked us to allow the CCCC, which has started part of the project, to continue.
The road is about 103 kilometres, dualised (about 206 kilometres in total).
“The governor has done about 60 kilometres of the road. So, we have 146 kilometres left,” he said.
The minister said CCCC had been given 10 days to mobilise and begin work on the most critical seven km stretch of the road
“This is emergency procurement, work begins first, then pricing is verified by the Bureau of Public Procurement,” he said.
