Modestus Umenzekwe
The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing which duties include provision of adequate and affordable housing via home ownership and rental scheme; planning, designing, construction, rehabilitation of highways; monitoring and maintenance of federal roads and bridges nationwide, has since 2015, carried out signature projects that have given the present administration of Muhammadu Buhari a reason to be prized by Nigerians.
Dotted at every nook and cranny of the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja are signposts and landmark presence of the Federal Government courtesy of the ministry. The works and housing ministry keeps working even at a time when some other ministries have gone to sleep due to electioneering activities.
For instance, as preparation is getting hotter for the primaries by the various political parties across the nation to select, chose or vote who will eventually emerge as flag-bearers in the 2023 General Elections, it is visibly clear that many ministries, regrettably, have been abandoned to their fate, creating big vacuum as their principals have joined the race for the presidency or governorship as the case may be. The distractions of course are obvious and expected.
However the same cannot be said to be the case of the Ministry of Works and Housing, ably headed by the workaholic Honourable Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), for while other ministers have abandoned their offices, it is obviously discernable that the gentle giant have continued to work and has left no stone unturned in his effort to propel his ministry to an enviable height for the realization of the country’s infrastructural growth agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Indeed seven years down the line, the comprehensive and burgeoning infrastructural achievement of the present administration is tantamount to a presentation of the scorecard of the Ministry of Works and Housing under Mr Fashola; I stand to be corrected and I say if anyone is giving kudos to the president of Nigeria for infrastructural development, it is also an indirect commendation of the Honourable Minister of Works for a job well done, delivering on his mandate over these seven years, as new road and housing projects have been initiated and completed, and old ones concluded as well. There is no gainsaying the fact that the enormous achievements and attractions recorded by this administration manifestly emanated from the numerous roads and housing projects of the ministry of works and housing.
The evidence is clear, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has achieved more on infrastructure development for the country than any other administration in recent times. While in Kano recently during the inspection of the ongoing “dualisation” of the Kano-Katsina road phases I and II in Kano and Kaduna States, Fashola said “As you build efficiency, you are building prosperity. Even though the president cannot reach physically everyone individually, he is having a handshake with the people through infrastructural development.” and that is the simple truth. We feel government presence through the infrastructure the government provided for us, housing, roads, rails, schools, hospitals, among others.
At a Town Hall Meeting organised in Abuja by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohamed, Mr Fashola said that the Progressive government of President Buhari through the Ministry of Works and Housing is currently handling 1,019 roads and bridge projects nationwide, and that within 18 days towards the end of last year (2021), it commissioned 941 kilometers of roads connecting 10 states across five geo-political zones which are impacting positively on the lives of the people in many more ways.
It is no fairytale, the roads that were commissioned include the Kebbi-Sokoto-Kontagora-Jega – Yawuri Road in Sokoto and Kebbi States; Shuarin-Azare Road in Jigawa and Bauchi States; Azare – Potiskum Road in Bauchi and Yobe States; Vandeikya – Obudu Road in Benue and Cross River States and Nnewe – Oduma Road in Enugu and Ebonyi States. There are also the joint border bridge in Mfum, Cross River State which is a major international link to Cameroon; Ikom bridge which is now a gateway to the northern part of the country through Katsina-Ala in Benue State had all been completed by the Federal government.
The Bonny-Bodo project construction which has four major bridges and eight minor ones are already in an advanced stage of completion. The project is one of the major projects which had defied execution by past administrations but the Buhari administration has tackled and is making significant progress. Other such difficult projects include the Second Niger Bridge in Anambra and Delta States, the Abuja – Kaduna – Zaria- Kano Road, the Apapa – Oworonsoki Road and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Other infrastructure projects across the country include ongoing tertiary institutions internal roads rehabilitation, construction of new Federal Secretariats in six states and rehabilitation of 24 Secretariats across the country and construction of housing estates under the National Housing Programme in 34 states.
Another plausible milestone of that ministry is the recognition of its professionalism, dedication, competency and capacity by the Federal Government when the East-West road project was added to the ministry’s already studded road project portfolio. Fashola received the East-West road construction with open arms. It was on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio handed over the project back to the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN.
As a man who wants result Fashola has already directed the Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary in his Ministry, Engr.Chukwunwike Ogbonna Uzo to constitute a requisite team from the Ministry to undertake actual assessment with the contractors so that the Ministry will be able to sign off in the proper engineering and civil construction terms at the point the Ministry is taking over.
The road is a 328 kilometre road that starts from Effurun in Delta State and transverses the Niger Delta, Rivers State and ends up in Oron in Akwa-Ibom State, while Section 5 of the road is from Oron to Calabar in Cross River State.
Attesting to good work by the ministry, Abubakar Malami SAN spoke Monday, December 6, 2021, at the completion and handing over of rehabilitation of Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega-Kontagora-Makera Road, Phase 1 and 11, Sokoto and Kebbi. He said “This road has been built to the highest of design and workmanship and if well used and not abused, it should last for the design service life.”
The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in February this year received a symbolic cheque of N210billion of SUKUK funding for the execution of critical road projects across the country, two other Ministries benefited from a total of N250 billion 2021 SUKUK. While the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing received N210 billion, the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory received N29 billion and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs received N10 billion, which is indicative of the great importance the government attached to the ministry.
The SUKUK, which is a form of Public Private Partnership (PPP), was among the funding options adopted by the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari to fund the construction of critical roads in Nigeria.
At the presentation ceremony of the N250 billion Federal Government 2021 SUKUK cheque to the three beneficiary Ministries, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, gave an account on how his ministry spent the previous SUKUK funds given to the ministry. According to him the first SUKUK funds of N100 billion, released in 2017, 25 roads, covering 482 kilometres length were delivered; the second SUKUK of 2018 had 28 roads covering 643 kilometres length delivered, while the third SUKUK funds of N162 billion covered 44 highway and bridge projects with the total length of 757 kilometres covered across the nation.
Fashola went further to explain that SUKUK financing has enhanced completion of some priority road and bridge projects across the country which includes: the completion of 296 KM Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega-Yawuri in Sokoto and Kebbi States, completion of 142 KM Section II (Shuwarin – Azare) of Kano-Maiduguri road, completion of 106 KM Section III (Azare- Potiskum) of the Kano-Maiduguri road and the completion of 1.2 kilometer/360m length Ikom Bridge.
With the SUKUK Bond it has become easy for the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola to do what he knows how to do best. Today, 44 Federal Roads spread across the six geo-political zones are being financed under this SUKUK road project: North Central having eight, North East Eight, North West Seven, South West Six, South East Five and South-South having Ten roads each, with the breakdown of the financial implication as follows: North Central N26.5b, North East N30.5bn, North West N26.5bn, Southeast N26bn, South-South N26bn, and South West N27.05bn
Other achievements of the ministry in the past seven years include Sections 1 to 4 of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Construction of Ihiala-Orlu Road in Isseke Town-Amafuo-Ulli with Spur (Ihiala-Orlu-Umuduru Section) in Anambra State, Rehabilitation of Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Road Route Section II: Anambra/Imo States Border-Ibinta-Okigwe Road; Construction of Oseakwa Bridge in Anambra State; Rehabilitation of Old Enugu – Port-Harcourt Road (Agbogugu-Abia Border Spur to Mmaku); Rehabilitation of Nsukka-Obollo-Ikem-Ehamufu-Nkalagu Road in Enugu State; Rehabilitation of Owerri-Umuahia Road Sections I, II & III Imo/Abia States; Rehabilitation of Bende – Arochukwu – Ohafia Road Section I in Abia State; Rehabilitation of Abakaliki-Afikpo Road Sections I and II in Ebonyi State, among others.
There is the completion and commissioning in 2018 of the Zik Mausoleum in Awka, Anambra State, 22 years after construction started.
Of course Calabar, Rivers, and Onne Ports have witnessed significant infrastructure upgrades and fiscal incentives to promote their attractiveness. An LPG tanker berthed in the Eastern Ports (Rivers Port) for the first time ever in October 2019. That year Onne Port also received its first container ship in twelve years, while Calabar Port received its first container vessels in eleven years. The Concession of Onitsha Inland River Port is now in its final stages.
In Housing, following the National Economic Council (NEC) approval of the construction of 300,000 mass housing units in all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a good omen for realization of the nation’s housing need. The scheme is part of the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo-led Economic Sustainability Committee, estimated to cost N317 billion and create 1.8 million jobs as well as provide at least 1.5 million homes for Nigerian families.
The project, involves building 10,840 units of low, medium and high income units across the six geopolitical zones, backed by mortgage and another 12,008 houses under the public building and housing development Programme.
The construction of the 17-storey headquarters of the federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Abuja has reached its peak. The N39.2bn project is certainly going to be one of the landmark buildings that will shape and define the skylines of the city of Abuja after its completion.
The 764-Units Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Residential Layouts (the Abuja Mass Housing Scheme) in Zuba, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, is another classic example of what we are witnessing under this administration.
At the commissioning ceremony of the 76 housing units in Dutse, Jigawa State on April 14, 2022, the President Muhammadu Buhar who was represented by the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleman Hussain Adamu, said “Our desire and commitment towards improving the human condition and our message of change, have another facet beyond job creation. It is in response to those who have long aspired to own homes, and that dream has come true with this project)”
Again, while commissioning the 68 Units of Housing comprising, 28-Units of one, two bedroom, 16-units of three bedroom and 24 units in condominium in Edo State, Mr. President said, “This housing estate being commissioned today is an example of the fulfillment of the promise of change we made.”
The human nature of the federal government came to the forefront when it fulfilled the promise made to her husband and other Super Eagles players that won the 1994 African Cup of Nations. In Benin, one of the beneficiaries of the housing programme, the wife of the late Nigeria Super Eagles player, Mrs. Thompson Oliha who was handed Certificate of Occupancy to their property thanked Mr. President for redeeming the promise made to her husband and other Super Eagles players that won the 1994 African Cup of Nations. She said, “On behalf of my late husband I thank Mr. President for redeeming the promise that was made 28 years ago. It goes to demonstrate that this government is determined in putting smile in people faces in terms of providing shelter for Nigerians.”
On the economic and social significance of infrastructure to the people, Fashola said when contractors get money they pay their own suppliers like those who supply asphalt, crush stones, sand and others, thereby redistributing the wealth of the nation around the economy and creating employment in the process.
He said a lot of jobs have been created for suppliers of sand and building materials, artisans, labourers, farmers and even food vendors who make their daily earnings from the construction sites. He said “President Buhari is legitimately distributing wealth through investment in road infrastructure and the 100 million Nigerians he said would be taken out of poverty in a decade would be achieved,” he said.
