The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi has called on governors to help in the construction of roads, saying while he was a governor, a huge per cent of the road projects were federal roads.
He said this on Thursday while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“So, I find it very funny when some people go to put up signboards because they’re trying to do palliatives and they say this is a federal road and it’s being done by the state government cause it’s still one government and one people. So, I advise state governors to come in.
“Over 70% percent of the roads I did in Ebonyi State, they were all federal roads and I wasn’t complaining. If there’s an avenue for refund so while others are moving for refund, my governor would also move for refund’’.
“I have a different view about this issue of federal and state roads and when I was a governor, I didn’t consider federal roads to state roads, I had to do them, It’s better to do the job and then you start asking for a refund but the beauty of it is that Nigerians don’t know[the difference between] federal roads and state roads,’’ he said.
Aside from this, Umahi also urged contractors to utilize public funds for the betterment of the people.
“They have to make up their mind to work for Nigerians. They have to make up their mind that this is public funds and I tell people public funds have a lot of problems because when you take public funds without using it to work, you’re taking lives and it has a lot of consequences. This is very important,” Umahi added.
As part of moves to drive to better the quality of Nigerian roads, Umahi said Nigerians can always reach him to report issues bothering on roads to him.
“Even when I was governor, I had only one line and I responded to all text messages and phone calls,” Senator Umahi said. “Some call me to abuse me and sometimes I abuse them back, that is the beauty of democracy, freedom of speech and I’m also human.”
He added that his administration constructed roads that would not need maintenance in 50 years.
The former Ebonyi State governor who said roads in the country should be constructed according to Nigeria’s temperature, added that quality should be looked at at all times.
“I also noticed that some of the projects, while you are still on the roads, they have gone bad,” the former Ebonyi State governor, who was sworn in, among 44 others, on Monday, said.
“When I was on Abuja-Lokoja Road, I discovered that the asphalt was flowing. And if you enter that road with speed, that is the end of such a person,” Umahi added.
“I did 3,500 kilometres of concrete road in Ebonyi State, and it is maintenance-free. For 50 years, you would not maintain it.”
He said: “I have directed that all the ‘no objections’ my ministry submitted to the BPP be returned. We need to look at the new method of constructing our roads based on our climate”.
According to him, the government of President Bola Tinubu is ready to provide funds for the construction of quality roads in the country. But he said the government is also looking at reducing the cost of construction.
“We are looking at all these things. How do we cut down costs? Because the primary issue is also the cost of construction,” he said.
“We are looking at the figures but it looks like a lot of contractors are not willing, but I will make them to make the change – we are all engineers.
“I am telling them your profit, I will protect whatever thing you want to make but, let’s help Nigeria, let’s build a road that will last and the funny thing is that the government – the President will give out the money.”
