Hon (Chief) Modestus Umenzekwe (Onwa Achina), a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and member, Federal Housing Authority (FHA); in this interview looks at the Works and Housing Ministry and concludes that the minister who has piloted the affairs of the Ministry these eight years is a performer and nation builder.
Your office falls under Works and Housing, do you think these ministries have performed well under Fashola?
To say that Fashola has performed well is an understatement, Fashola came to the ministry with a great panache, innovation and with a master-plan. He didn’t assume the work on the mantra of trial and error, no, His Excellency Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) came to the ministry well prepared and packaged for the job and he has delivered.
Eight years on the saddle as a Federal Minister, how would you describe Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola?
It has been eight years of unblemished service to the nation, it has been eight years of service to humanity. It has also been eight years of nation building. So Fashola is such a man that if you decide to talk about him, a big note book is not enough to encapsulate what you want to say about him. He came into limelight when he was appointed the Chief of Staff to Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos. To tell you how tall the man is, at the inception of this administration in 2015, Fashola was given three key ministries, Power, Works and Housing and he excelled. In 2019, the three portfolios were unbundled and pruned down to two, Works and Housing, to avoid weighing him down, after all he is a human being. Of course, you are not a stranger in this country, you see by yourself all his achievements all across the country, the six geopolitical zones bear imprints of his great work. You won’t see him talk anyhow, but any time he talks, people take him serious.
Do you think the Ministry of Works and Housing under has done enough?
I have always said it, whether people like it or not, Fashola’s ministries represent the positive face of Buhari’s administration. In one of my publications I called him Hero of Buhari’s administration. Say whatever you want to say about this administration, criticize it, talk about security, economy, but once you get to Works and Housing, you must crosscheck the records. When you talk of the great achievements of this government, you are indirectly talking about Works and Housing under Fashola, as you can see in various road and bridge constructions and housing facilities sprouting all across the nation. He is a man with a Midas touch, you cannot take it away from him.
The ministry of Works and Housing has done a lot, we all agree, but can you identify some of these achievements for those that do not know?
Let us begin with Housing. The FHA, of course you know, is under the ministry, undertook five key projects, among others within the last five years and delivered within the same period 778 housing units in Oshogbo, Owerri, Gombe, Kaduna, Lagos and Port Harcourt. Also, over 2,200 housing units are currently being completed in Apo, Abuja, Odukpani in Calabar and Yenagoa in Bayelsa State and Awka, Anambra State, many are completed while others are at their completion stage. Also, a total of 764 housing units are been constructed in the Zuba Mass Housing Project site, which is at is completion stage.
The authority is also currently carrying out direct development of 330 units of various house types with complementary infrastructure in six states across the country namely: Awka – Anambra State, Gombe – Gombe State, Makurdi – Benue State and Osogbo – Osun State, among others.
There is also the construction of the 17-storey headquarters of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Abuja which 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. Currently, no less than 4,652 housing units had been completed or ongoing across the six geopolitical zones.
Since this indefatigable master strategist took over the Housing ministry, the federal government policy for mass housing has been strategically reshaped and refocused, from the Mass Housing estate in Zuba, Bwari, Apo/Guzape, Kabusu, it speaks volume.
The FHA proposed head office site at the Central Business District and the Lugbe extension is now a reality.
The Zuba Estate sits on 18 hectares of land and consists of 75 blocks of various house types, with a total of 748 units. It includes 16 units of 1-bedroom blocks of flat, 33 blocks of 2-bedroom flats, 16-blocks of 3-bedroom flats and 5 blocks of 3-bedroom Terrace duplexes. The Kabusu, Shisipe II in Abuja metropolis; the site for the proposed FHA Smart City project sits on 700 hectares of land. The FHA Lugbe extension project is on 190 hectares of land, the FHA Ajoda GRA scheme is a partnership project started in 2020, expected to deliver a total of 896 units of various house types.
Our Progressive government under the auspices of President Muhammadu Buhari, through Fashola has handled about 1,019 roads and bridge projects nationwide and even within 18 days towards the end of 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.
I want you to further break it down, so that we can really see in clear terms what the ministry has done or still doing in terms of your claims
Okay, let’s start with the Southeast. I always tell people, when you put a detribalized person in office he would carry out his job without fear or favour, President Muhammadu Buhari and Babatunde Raji Fashola have been most exemplary in this regard, despite what happened in 2015 and 2019, the southeast still got a fair share from the infrastructure distribution by the Federal Government of Buhari. The ministry in the past seven years executed 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; and many others.
Remember the master class project, the Second River Niger Bridge which consists of two secondary bridges at Amakom Village Road and Atani Road, as well as approach roads from Asaba and Onitsha, a new cloverleaf interchange at Onitsha-Owerri Road, and a toll station. There is the completion and commissioning in 2018 of the Zik Mausoleum in Awka, Anambra State, 22 years after construction started.
Now in the Southwest, there are series of maintenance work on the Third Mainland Bridge, Falomo Bridge, Ojuelegba Bridge because Lagos has the most bridges in the country. We have more than 67 road projects in Southwest. The roads include 19 in Lagos State, 14 in Oyo State, 12 in Osun State, nine in Ogun and Ondo states. Of the 67 projects, 19 are roads maintenance, excluding the regular repairs carried out by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA). Apart from the massive construction on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Benin-Ore-Ajebamidele-Shagamu road and Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta expressway, abandoned for years, there is the critical 35km Tin Can Island-Mile two-Oshodi road awarded to Dangote Construction Company; this is a 10-lane highway constructed with concrete, are you with me? Should I go on?
Go Head…
Let’s go to the South-south. The joint border bridge in Ekok/Mfum, Cross River State which is a major international link to Cameroon; Ikom Bridge which is a gateway to the northern part of the country through Katsina-Ala in Benue State had all been completed, Obudu Road in Benue and Cross River States. The Bonny-Bodo project construction which has four major bridges and eight minor ones are done and dusted. We also have the Isaac Boro Bridge in Rivers State. The East-West road project was added to the ministry’s already studded road project portfolio. 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.
In North Central, the APC Government is on Loko-Oweto Bridge in Benue; Langtang-Wase Bridge in Plateau; We repaired Tantawu Bridge, we finished that in Niger State; Iddi Bridge connecting Benue and Taraba States together; we are also in Ilorin-Jebba Road, among others. There is also the rehabilitation of Vandeikya-Obudu-Obudu Cattle Ranch Road (Vandeikya-Obudu Section) in Benue.
In Northeast, we have the Azare – Potiskum Road in Bauchi and Yobe States; we are on Chanchangi Bridge, we’re on Konto-kafi Bridge, we are on Langtang-Wase Bridge. The rehabilitation of Nguru-Gashua-Bayamari Road, Section II, are credits to APC.
Northwest is not left out, there is the rehabilitation of Sokoto-TambuwaI-Jega-Kontagora-Makera Section in Sokoto and Kebbi States, length put at 155km, we have the Kebbi-Sokoto-Kontagora-Jega – Yawuri Road in Sokoto and Kebbi States; Shuarin-Azare Road in Jigawa; the Abuja–Kaduna–Zaria-Kano Road; dualisation of the Kano-Katsina road phases I and II in Kano and Kaduna States. There is also the Kano-Maiduguri Road linking Kano-Jigawa-Bauchi-Yobe and Borno States Section II, 177.77 km, and also the Tamburawa Bridge in Kano.
How was the ministry able to fund some of these projects considering the economic downturn?
It is a sign of a leader who is driven and propelled by ideas. Let me shock you, the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in February, 2022 received a 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. 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.
It will also interest you that at the presentation ceremony, the Honourable 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.
In all, the FG has raised N742.56 billion Sukuk Fund for construction and rehabilitation of roads across the country since Fashola came to the saddle. This is between 2017 and 2022, while the latest Sukuk fund released in February, 2023, saw the Ministry of Works and Housing receiving a whopping N110billion out of total of N130billion.
So these are just part of our landmark projects and when you look at the man behind the mask, Fashola, he appears so quiet and gentle, you will not hear noise; he goes about doing his job in such a detribalized manner.
Fashola did not disappoint when he was in Lagos as Governor?
He is full of innovation. Recall, when a skyscraper caved in on Marina, Lagos, there was hysteria everywhere as people were worried on how to bring down the building without hurting the people and environment, but Fashola deployed an implosive device that brought down the building without hurting anybody. Up till date Lagosians still testify that Fashola is a good man with good ideas.
Apart from education being free, he bought textbooks for students, paid WAEC and NECO fees for students. So good work is in his DNA.
