Fashola appraises road construction network at a meeting with stakeholders
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola has expressed optimism that the road and other capital projects of the Muhammadu Buhari administration will be fully appreciated in years to come as the gains boost economic activities.
He made the point at a meeting contractors and other stakeholders in Abuja, where he said progress is being made in the first Phase in the implementation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited and Federal Inland Revenue Service (NNPCL/FIRS).
He also cited the Second Phase for the rehabilitation and construction of 44 roads across the country under the Tax Credit Scheme initiative of the federal government.
The meeting came about two weeks after the approval of the Memorandum on the proposal by the NNPC and its subsidiaries, NNPC Exploration and Production (NEPL) and NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company Limited (NGIC) to undertake the rehabilitation of 44 roads spread across the six geopolitical zones.
The selected roads, with a total 4,554.19 kilometres, include those spread out as follows:
South South (1,308.3 kilometres)
- Completion of Benin-Warri Dual Carriageway (Edo/Delta)
- East-West Road, (Section I) Warri-Kaiama (Delta/Bayelsa)
- East-West Road (Section II –I) Port Harcourt-Ahoada (Rivers)
- East-West Road (Section II-II) Ahoada-Kaiama (Rivers/Bayelsa)
- East-West Road (Section III) Onne Junction-Eket (Akwa Ibom)
- Dualization of East-West Road (Section IV) Eket-Oron (Akwa Ibom)
- Upgrading of 15-kilometre Port Harcourt-Onne Junction (Section IIIA) (Rivers)
- Construction of Eket Bypass (Dual Carriageway) (Akwa Ibom)
- Dualization of Lokoja-Benin Road: Obajana Junction-Benin Section II Phase I: Okene-Auchi (Kogi/Edo)
- Dualization of Lokoja-Benin Road: Obajana Junction-Benin Section III Phase I: Auchi-Ehor (Kogi/Edo)
- Dualization of Lokoja-Benin Road: Obajana Junction-Benin Section IV Phase I: Ehor-Benin City (Kogi/Edo)
- Nembe-Brass Road (Bayelsa)
North East (1,054 kilometres)
- Rehabilitation of Yola-Mubi-Maiduguri Road (Adamawa/Borno)
- Rehabilitation of Maiduguri-Monguno Road; Rehabilitation of Numan-Jalingo Road (Taraba/Adamawa)
- Rehabilitation of Yola-Hong-Mubi Road (Adamawa)
- Reconstruction of Bali-Serti-(Gashaka)-Gembu Road (Taraba)
- Rehabilitation of Yashi-Deguri-Yalo Road (Bauchi)____________________________________________________________
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North Central (763.13 kilometres)
- Rehabilitation of Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora Road (Niger), Section I: Minna-Tegina
- Rehabilitation of Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora Road (Niger), Section II: Tegina-Kontagora
- Shendam-Yelwa-Mato Junction-Taraba Border with Spurs (Plateau/Taraba)
- Dualization of Suleija-Minna Road (Niger)
- Dualization of Lokoja-Benin Road: Obajana Junction-Benin Section I Phase I: Obajana-Okene (Kogi)
- Reconstruction of the existing Pavement and Completion of the additional Pavement on the Dualisation of Abuja-Lokoja Highway Section Ill: Abaji-Koton Karfe Road (Abuja/Kogi)
- Construction of the Jarmai-Bashar-Zuruk-Andame-Karim Lamido Road (Plateau/Taraba)
- Reconstruction and Expansion of Mararaba-Keffi Road (Nasarawa)
North West (980 kilometres)
- Dualization of Zaria-Funtua-Gusau-Sokoto Road (Kaduna/Katsina/Zamfara/Sokoto) : Section I Zaria-Funtua-Gusau
- Dualization of Zaria-Funtua-Gusau-Sokoto Road (Kaduna/Katsina/Zamfara/Sokoto): Section II Gusau-Sokoto Road
- Dualization of Zaria-Funtua-Gusau-Sokoto Road (Kaduna/Katsina/Zamfara/Sokoto): Section II Gusau-Sokoto Road (Zamfara)
- Dualization of Zaria-Funtua-Gusau-Sokoto Road (Kaduna/Katsina/Zamfara/Sokoto): Section III Gusau-Sokoto Road (Zamfara/Sokoto)
- Dualization and Construction of Kano-Kwanar Dauja-Hadejia Road (Kano/Jigawa): Section I. Tsalle-Hadejia
- Dualization and Construction of Kano-Kwanar Dauja-Hadejia Road (Kano/Jigawa): Section II. Kano-Tsalle
- Rehabilitation of Kaduna-Pambeguwa-Jos Road (Kaduna/Plateau)
South East (297.52 kilometres)
- Rehabilitation of Aba-Owerri Road NNPC Depot Expressway (Abia)
- Rehabilitation of Otuocha-Anam-Nzam-Innoma-Iheaka-Ibaji Section of Otuocha-Ibaji-Odulu-Ajegwu (Anambra)
- Construction of Ihiala-Orlu-Umuduru Road (Ihiala-Amaifeke Section) and Completion of Spur in Isseke Town-Amafuo-Uli (Imo/Anambra)
- Rehabilitation of Old Enugu-Onitsha Road (Opi Junction-Ukehe Okpatu-Aboh Udi-Oji to Anambra Border) (Enugu)
- Construction of Omor-Umulokpa Road in Anambra (Enugu)
- Rehabilitation of Ozalla-Akpugo-Amagunze-Ihuokpara-Nkomoro-Isu-Onicha (Enugu-Onicha) with a Spur to Onunweke (Enugu)
- Rehabilitation of Old Enugu – Port Harcourt Road (Agbogugu-Abia Border Spur to Mmaku) (Enugu)
South West (150.56 kilometres)
- Rehabilitation and Expansion of Lagos-Badagry Expressway (Agbara Junction-Nigeria/Benin Border) (Lagos)
- Dualization of Akure-Ita Ogbolu-Iju-Ado Ekiti State Road, Section I: Akure-Ita Ogbolu-Iju-Ekiti State Border (Ondo)
- Dualization of Akure-Ita Ogbolu-Iju-Ado Ekiti State Road, Section II: Ita Ogbolu- Iju-Ado-Ekiti (Ekiti)
Fashola described the public private sector agreement as a very defining legacy for President Muhammadu Buhari, saying the impact of the “very innovative investment policy” would help Nigeria to really do business both locally and internationally being a sound infrastructure-based investment policy on which business is done.
He said back in 2015 at the inception of the Buhari Administration, contractors were being owed two to three years’ payment arrears resulting in the shutdown of many project sites and laying off of construction workers by the companies
According to him, the Buhari administration arrested the situation by budgetary expansion from N18 billion for the whole of Nigeria’s roads by the previous administration to N260 billion in 2016.
“You were being owed,” Fashola reminded the contractors at the meeting.
“Some of the complaints that I heard at the first meetings that I had with many of you when I was first appointed Minister were that you were paid only 10 percent advance payment two or three years ago.
“That was how bad the construction industry was when we started”, he said adding that some of the roads were contracted back to “the private sector” to go and raise fund to finance them.
Fashola also recalled that the roads contracted to the private sector, included the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Second Niger Bridge, among others.
“But where was the private sector going to raise hundreds of billions of Naira to fund them?”.
The Buhari administration had to utilize more practical funding initiatives like SUKUK, he added.
He recalled the controversies and criticisms that followed the borrowing option which the administration chose to fund the road and bridge projects and acknowledged the concern of the people over debts.
But he insisted the debts “are buying roads, bridges, airports and seaports, assets that will last and sustain Nigeria’s development for the next 50 years.”
Fashola said the administration also met debt when it took power but the difference between it and its predecessor was that the debts it met on assumption of office in 2015 had no assets attached to them while the Buhari administration invested its debts on infrastructure assets.
He said the choices at the time were either borrow or increase taxation noting that without any of the choices, the economy would collapse.
Faced with the choices, Fashola explained, the administration took the borrowing option and also utilized an expansionist fiscal budget from N18 billion to N260 billion.
He said it thereafter supported the SUKUK and also went to recover some of the monies taken away from this country which today “are building Abuja-Kano Highway, Lagos-Ibadan and the nearly completed 2nd Niger Bridge.”
Fashola gave a brief history of the NNPC/FIRS agreement, saying the NNPCL was investing its resources into infrastructure.
He explained the ideology of the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme as “a new model of partnership with the private sector companies whereby government is saying, ‘Give me my tax in advance and I will invest it in infrastructure.’
“That model is why all of you are here”, he told the audience consisting of funding agencies and government representatives as well as contractors and newsmen.
The innovation “shows the clear difference between two different government policies and it shows how they affect your businesses.”
Fashola explained that many of 44 roads have been contracted but without funds to execute them.
“This intervention, therefore, is to complete those roads and the NNPCL is providing the fund.
“And this is the crux; because it means that whether we are here, Buhari is here but is going in the next four months, there is sustainability in the completion of these roads. And they have assured me that when you work to specification, the money is there”.
Fashola said there are 21 roads in Phase One of the Scheme covering 1,804.6 kilometres, and there are other interventions by other groups like the Dangote Group, the NLNG Group in Bodo-Bonny, the MTN Group in Enugu-Onitsha Highway, which represented a very defining moment for the construction industry and allied industries.
He appealed to all the communities encroaching on the right-of-way along the road corridors to vacate the places adding that all the claims for compensation by people who have encroached on such right-of-way would not be honoured while they must quit the encroached places or risk forceful ejection.
“Our right-of-way is 45.75 metres from both sides of the centre line. Many of the people who have built petrol stations and shops are inside our right-of-way.
“We will not pay compensation to those who have trespassed into our land, so they must leave.”
He said where the federal government needs right-of-way outside its zone, state governments, village and traditional heads should appeal to their people to allow passage.
“These roads are not taking away your lands rather they are bringing prosperity to you and we expect that in the process of nation building everyone must be ready to contribute something.
“We have increased the number of quarrying companies, sand quarrying has also increased from 247 to 302. Granite quarrying companies have also increased from 334 to 655 and those who are quarrying laterite have increased from 108 to 259.
“And this translates to jobs as we build more quarries. I am sure members of NARTO and NURTW who are here can begin to calculate how many trucks trips and how much income that could bring.
“I was at their AGM recently and the least they could say is ‘Business is good’. This is the impact of a policy that is driving the economy.”
Fashola cautioned the contractors against variation in contract noting that the agreement was very specific on the variation.
“So if you are going to ask for variation please opt out and say you cannot carry on with the programme. That is one of the reasons we are signing the agreement; and that is from the investors’ side because they are not factoring in variation.
“We need to improve the governance side of payment so that when receipts come, payments should not be delayed unnecessarily. Delayed payments increase the chances of variation.
“So, it is critical now that we also, with dispatch, sign the contracts when we are able, start the work so that we can process all the advance payments.
He urged the legal department of the ministry to hasten the preparation of the documents so the agreement could be signed soon.
“We have just finished our EMBER Months programme so this meeting is very strategic and we should handle it properly. The NNPC and FIRS are ready to go. So, I call on our legal department to accelerate the completion of this agreement.”
Fashola also warned contractors.
“Quality must not be compromised; they will have their own consultants. So, if their consultant queries the quality of your job you don’t get paid. We don’t have the money, they have the money.”
