Minister of Works, Sen David Umahi has said the borrowing by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on behalf of the Federal government of Nigeria was geared towards development and should not be queried by Nigerians.
Umahi said the demand for road construction in Nigeria cannot be achieved by budgetary allocation alone as this demand for road construction is huge and special funding can be achieved through other means and loans included for development.
Umahi said this when he appeared before an investigative panel of the Senate Committee on Works on the slow pace of works by contractors in spite of huge funding of their projects by the government Chaired by Senator, Barinada Mpigi, a statement signed by the special adviser media, Barr Uchenna Orji.
According to Umahi “We have a country where we want to make an omelet, but we don’t want to strike an egg. The projects of roads cannot and will never be executed to the satisfaction of the public by using budgetary allocations.
“There must be different kinds of funding. These different kinds of funding must have to come from either a bond or loans to do the job. But the public is saying, no, the President is taking a loan. But, the President is taking a loan to invest in infrastructure development. And that’s what every developed country follows.”
He pointed out that it was a good development that the President has concentrated on continuing with the inherited road projects to improve road transportation experience for Nigerians.
He commended the president for the bold step to face existing projects and tackled them alongside new ones, adding that; “It is very rare for a President to come on board, and he decided to ignore new projects and decided to take on all the inherited projects and do them at the same time. It’s very rare.”
The Senate which issued an ultimatum to the Julius Berger Nigeria Limited to appear before it 6th December 2024 said it said it would no longer tolerate delayed delivery of projects from contractors.
The investigative hearing had representatives from SETRACO, Gitto Construction, RCC, CCECC, SAMATECH in attendance except for Julius Berger which was also invited.
Reacting to the absence of Julius Berger which was also invited to the investigative panel but did not come, a member of the committee involved the power of the senate to compel the committee appearance.
Moving the motion, member of the Committee, Sen. Asuquo Ekpenyong said, “Messrs. Julius Berger Nigeria Limited is not here.
“Now, my understanding is that Messrs. Julius Berger Nigeria Plc bidded, and was selected, and awarded this job. Funds from taxpayers across this country were disbursed to them.
“Our understanding is that they showed up on-site for a brief period and have since abandoned the site. It is our collective resolve as a committee that under the new Minister’s rule, Julius Berger should be produced to this committee in 24 hours by 2 pm, in the 6th of December, 2024.
“Failure of which will lead to our invoking our constitutional powers and issuing a warrant of arrest on messrs. Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.”
The Investigative panel bemoans the recent loss of lives on the Odukpani road owing to bad portion of the road as a result of delayed execution of the portion which funds have been disbursed for.
He warned that the era of such behaviours of contractors had gone. “Contractors, including RCC, have received substantial funds, including the N15 billion that was injected into this project, yet delivery remains elusive.
“The other stretch of the East-West Road has contractors like RCC, Setraco, and Gitto who have been paid billions, yet the pace of work is far from acceptable.
The Senate Committee on Works investigative hearing was on contractors’ slow pace of work on the Odukpani-Aba-Odukpani-Ikot Ekpene and other sections ending at Benin, including the Odukpani-Itu Highway, the Eket Bypass, Port Harcourt – Ahoada, Ahoada – Kaiama, and Port Harcourt – Onne Junction Sections of the East-West Road.
READ MORE FROM: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then