Deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Toby Okechukwu has said that it would be uneasy to tackle the problem of inadequate road infrastructure in Nigeria if the fund bills were not assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Okechukwu said two bills, the roads fund bill and the road authority bill, passed by the National Assembly to give a facelift to the sector were rejected.
The lawmaker made these known when the president, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Rabiu Ali led a delegation of the association to present a letter of honorary fellowship of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to him.
The deputy minority leader, however, appealed to president Buhari and all concerned Nigerians to give attention to the bills.
He appreciated COREN for the award, saying that engineering practice was significant to the development of any society.
“I am happy that the NSE placed me at the top of their professional calling and reward system. On a serious note, engineering crisscrosses our lives. It controls 90 percent of our lives. If we neglect or ignore engineering, we do so at our peril. When we came in as Committee of Works, we were able to diagnose the challenges in the industry, capacity, personal issues and how the profession is practiced.
was how we came up with the idea of amending the COREN act. We also diagnosed funding issues regarding roads construction, maintenance and we came up with roads fund bill. We also dealt with the issue of organizational structure of that outfit that will maintain and develop roads. We also came up with the idea of a roads authority bill. Those bills passed all through the platforms of the national assembly, in the house and in the Senate. It was passed to Mr President, unfortunately, we were not on the same page or they could not be up to speed regarding approving it. Luckily, COREN bill passed and it’s now an act of the parliament and I am happy that you are here to follow it up.
“So, it is our pray that the roads find bill and roads authority bill should be paid attention to.
“The other day I was listening to the minister and he said they have over 10 trillion liability and 765 billion outstanding certificates. There is no way you can develop growth in this country without dealing with the issue of reforms in the system and those acts were meant to cure that. So, I am really happy that at least one is down, then, the other two to go. We must follow up the activism and the pressure from the press has to be momentous.
“Anybody who tells you that road construction in this country can get any golden era without those roads reform bills passed into law or without Mr. President signing it is joking.
“Hon. Maren was the person who moved the motion for us to investigate the PPP arrangement with regards to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and then, Second Niger Bridge. Otherwise, it was PPP. When he did that, we knew what we wanted to achieve because the PPP arrangements were not working. We called motorways and all those people who were involved and eventually, those PPP arrangements after our public hearing, we were on the same page with the minister. The federal government had to take back their assets and that is why they reawarded them and that’s why you got them to finish.
“And it is the funding machanism that is making possible that they are the only projects that have a pathway to completion. So, if anybody is telling you we are completing this or that, it’s not possible. No body is the problem of roads in Nigeria. It is the method and plan we have for it. So, the earlier we deal with it, the better. And NSE is at the forefront. If the practice for construction work is going well, our people will blossom. There isn’t any problem. It’s not because of incompetent contractors. Nobody is taking your money. Unless you have asphalted, nobody is going to give you any penny. But they are not in a position to do so because it is not funded. So, I wanted to use this opportunity to make that point. So, I appreciate deeply what you have done. I will also follow up to make sure the profession get the necessarily momentum it supposed to get.”
Presenting the award letter earlier, Engr. Ali said that the fellowship was sequel to Okechukwu’s contribution to engineering in Nigeria especially in amending the COREN act.
He said that engineering has received a boost with the new law.
“You worked so assiduously as if you were an engineer to that act passed through the House of Representatives. You did not only stop there, you escalated the bill to the Senate and used your position as chairman to impress upon your colleagues in the Senate to get the bill passed. And it was passed by the two houses of the national assembly and it went to the president for assent, you played a very big role in ensuring that the bill was assented to by the President. Sir, what you have done the Nigerian engineering family and profession as a whole can only be imagined. We appreciated it because no one that I know for thirty something year I have been in practice in engineering has contributed so much to the development of engineering practice in Nigeria like your good self. To think of it, you are not an engineer. You are a lawyer by profession. So, we thought and wondered how to show appreciation. In COREN, we do no give awards whether honorary or deserved or honors. So, we approached our colleagues in NSE. There are 4 grades of membership in NSE. The Fellowship grade is the highest grade of membership which is usually given to engineers who have reached a certain level in their areas of practice. And of course, non engineers like you who have made enormous contributions to the development engineering profession in Nigeria. NSE is 64 years today. It came into being in 1958. And since then, we have less than 20 honorary fellows of the Society and you are one of those 20 Honorary Fellows.
“Engineering has suffered in Nigeria. The act that you have given us will go a long way in putting engineering in the front burner and in proper perspective in Nigeria. The fruits might not seen immediately but I want to inform that we have stated implementation of the act and we are already seeing signs that the act will change the face of engineering practice in Nigeria. So, we are here to deliver this letter for the award of honorary fellowship of NSE to you”, he said.
Meanwhile Hon. Solomon Maren, member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers thanked COREN in its efforts in ensuring that Nigerian roads are safe for citizens to ply while calling on the Federation government to do more
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