By Marcus Ikechukwu
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday, approved a number of road contracts running into billions of naira.
The contract awards were approved following memos presented by Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing.
It comes barely a few weeks to the expiration of the tenure of the current administration.
The contract awards also included an augmentation cost for the Ogun Shagamu road project.
Giving an insight into the projects, Fashola said, “the ministery of Works presented four memoranda, all of which were approved. The first was for the augmentation of an existing contract in Ogun – Shagamu road. The contractor has run out of quantities, and needs augmentation to finish the road.
I Think out of about 32 kilometers they completed over 20 kilometers which have been open to traffic. So council approved is N6.972 billion augmentation for them to complete the road. That was one”.
Explaining further, he said a memo on behalf of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FEMA), a statutory Corporation under the supervision of the Ministry of Works and Housing, sailed through Council with respect to the rehabilitation of five roads and the construction of one road.
He listed the roads to include Orogun -Owerugbo and associated roads in Delta state in the sum of N2.99 billion.
Others are the rehabilitation of Gege to Garage Road in Yobe in favor of Mother Cat N12.926 billion then the rehabilitation of Geshua to Potiskum road in Yobe in favor of Thinker Point N2.986 billion.
“The rehabilitation and construction of Onitsha-Aguleri to Adani road in Anambra in favor of Commerce Steel and Construction N2.499 billion and the rehabilitation of Geshuwa-Yusufani road in Yobe in favor of Saha Continental Civil Engineering Limited at the sum of N1.99 billion and the rehabilitation of Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe road section one, Oba UG 35 kilometres in favor of messes Ferotex Construction in the sum of N2.499 billion. That was the second memorandum that was approved,” he noted.
On the third memorandum FEC approved, Fashola said it was with respect to the augmentation of the Potiskum to Damaturu section four part of the Kano-Maiduguri highway which is about 600 kilometers.
“Shuware to Azare and Azare to Potiskum will be open to traffic. This section Potiskum to Damaturu is also almost completed. There’s just an augmentation of N2.577 billion to cover the escalation of cost in materials and to provide for lane markings.
“So that the road can be fully finally handed over. That was the third contract that was approved. The fourth and final one is the approval for the construction and rehabilitation of 11 Federal roads totaling 737.242 kilometers in the sum of N1.535 trillion, under phase two of the NNPC tax credit scheme.
“You will recall that in January this year, I presented a memo that the council approved for NNPC to invest N4.9 trillion in a row in that N1.9 trillion. There were then about 44 roads that had been awarded they were under contract,” the Works and Housing Minister stated.
When asked why such contract awards when the lifespan of the administration was almost coming to an end, he made attempts to justify it, saying, ” if the question is posed to Nigerians whether these projects should be left undone and transferred to the incoming administration, majority of the citizens would prefer it comes now because of the implications of job creation and stimulating the economy”.
