By Jonathan Lois
The House of Representatives has urged President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on the East-West Road.
It urged the President to convene a National Stakeholders Summit involving all the Governors of the Niger Delta Region, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and all International Oil Companies, to among others, commit to creating a regional endowment fund for the speedy completion of the East-West Road and avoid unending variations.
The House mandated the Committee on Niger Delta Ministry to ensure compliance.
These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion titled, “Declaration of State of Emergency on East-West Road and Return the Road Construction to the Ministry Of Niger Delta Development” moved by Hon. Ugonna Ozurigbo.
The House noted that the 338km East-West road Dualization project linking Warri to Oron through Kaiama, Ahoada, Port Harcourt, Ogoni and Eket was awarded in 2006 by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo for the development and opening up of the entire Niger Delta region to the
industrial South West region.
It also noted that from 2006 to 2009 the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing achieved only eight percent work on the road before former President Umaru Musa Yaradua transferred it to the Ministry of Niger Delta as a flagship project.
The House said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari did not place priority on the East-West road project, as allocation by the Budget Office of the federation was barely enough to cover the salaries and overhead expenditure of the Ministry.
It said as a result of poor releases between 2015 and 2021, completion was further delayed and resulted in the contracts unit rates becoming obsolete due to inflation.
The motion reads, “The House is again aware that the envelop budgeting system currently being practiced, from which salaries and overhead expenditures of the MDAs are executed cannot deliver the East-West road to completion, particularly because the Ministry of Niger Delta Development had to source extra-budgetary interventions from SURE-P and African Development Bank between 2012 and 2015 to enable it complete Sections I and III of the road;
“The House is convinced that the non-completion of the East-West Road is not linked to issues of technicality or lack of competence, but funding; and as such, for the Road to be completed there is a need for a Presidential declaration of state of emergency on it, as demonstrated in the construction of 2nd Niger Bridge and other laudable projects, whereby the President has to secure special funding for the road project;
“The House is cognizant that the transfer of the East-West road project from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to the Ministry of Niger Delta Development in 2009 had the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval and Federal Ministry of Justice input; whereas the handover from the Ministry of Niger Delta Development to Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in 2022 has no FEC approval;
“The House is also convinced that the Ministry of Works which is grappling with over 4000 kilometres of road construction nationwide would be hard-pressed with funding for the numerous projects under its purview and as such, may not be able to meet the funding demand of the East-West Road project.
“The House informed that on the request of the Ministry of Niger Delta Development, the Federal Ministry of Finance through the Debt Management Office (DMO) made provision for the sum of N10.4 billion under the 2021 SUKUK Bond issuance and that the N10.4 billion was accessed by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, yet no work has been done on the project to date, apparently because of lack of commitment as against the total commitment from the Ministry of Niger Delta Development.
“The House is concerned that the Federal Government was ill-informed to conceive taking away the East-West road project from the Ministry of Niger Delta Development which was not only able to achieve 80% completion with limited funding but also had the technical expertise and competence as well as the blueprint of the East-West Road.
“The House also informed that the Ministry of Niger Delta Development before the handover to the Federal Ministry of Works in 2022 had planned to intensify the search for funding sources to complete the remaining sections II –II (Ahoada to Kaiama), IIIA (Eleme Junction to Onne Port Junction), IV (Eket to Oron) and Eket Bypass, by the first quarter of 2023.
