Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, has lamented the slow pace of work on the Abuja-Lokoja Highway project.
Umahi told journalists during the inspection of road projects in the North Central region over the weekend that the situation was not peculiar to the Abuja-Lokoja Highway.
He said the federal government may invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC to intervene if the contractors fail to live up to expectations.
He said, “They are not facing them yet. When they come, we’ll give them time in line with the law and the agreement, and if they fail, then we have no choice but to hand over the fight to the EFCC and ICPC to recover the funds.
“But let me say generally that I feel so sad with the roads, you know, between Abuja and Lokoja. It’s so frightening, you see, the situation. But let me say that it’s not peculiar to this route. Like I said before, what the President inherited is frightening and even if you put all the nation’s resources into rebuilding all these roads, they won’t be enough.
“So, we are doing the best that we can in the circumstance, knowing that he inherited an economy where everything became a priority and yet he has given roads and bridges very high priority,” Umahi said.
The minister admitted that road infrastructure faced challenges and that the President had demonstrated commitment to prioritising road infrastructure by ensuring adequate funding.
He explained that the three jobs were awarded in 2023. “They may be facing the EFCC, you know, as we summoned them to the office. Their quality is good, but the pace is terrible, and that’s why we decided to come to see this thing.
But we’re going to be very hard on ourselves as the Ministry of Works because I think we need to turn a new leaf in terms of pushing these contractors”.
“We need it as you know leaders in the office to know that these three sections of the job it’s not going nowhere since 2023 September. So, for two years, a contractor who has three kilometres has done 400 metres. How can we justify that? Our staff in the field are supposed to raise an alarm and that is what we are going to be charging them to do now. If they don’t do so, we’re going to hold them responsible,” Umahi said.
He said contractors would be paid for jobs done (milestone completion),and those who could not meet the federal government targets would have their jobs revoked and given to those who could.
He noted that the President has directed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) road projects must continue, but not on the former terms.
The minister continued, “If I come in November and the project is still like this, I will stop the job. The quality of the job is excellent, but the pace of the work is nonsensical. Is that okay? You are performing even poorer on the Benin-Warri Road, but that is for another day, next week, we are going there.
“The amount is N56 billion, and the job has to be completed in April 2026. It was to be done on asphalt, but the contractor came and said, we have realised that concrete introduced is very good. Can you allow us to use concrete and maintain the same cost? We worked it out, and then, we agreed that you can use concrete to cover the entire 53 kilometres. That’s what we are doing,” he added.
