By Abba – Eku Onyekachi
Minister, Federal Ministry of Works, Engr Dave Nweze Umahi, has urged the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) to consider retraining of its members, enforcement of discipline and strict standards of ethics in engineering practice in Nigeria.
The Minister gave the charge when the national leadership of the NSE, led by its president, Engr Tasiu Sa’ad Gidari Wudil paid him a courtesy call in Abuja.
In a recent press release made available to journalists in Abuja by Umahi’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Barr Orji Uchenna Orji, the Minister underscored his point by disclosing that in China, he discovered that there was no evidence of any road maintenance in nearly 30 years.
He stressed that road contractors in the Asian country face rigorous supervision because if road in China fails within their lifetime, they will come for test and if there is any evidence of compromise, the person responsible would go to prison for life. He therefore offered partnership with the NSE in the area of supervision and consultancy.
Emphasizing the importance attached to quality delivery of construction works by the Renewed Hope Administration (RHA) of Mr President, as well as stressing that the ‘business as usual’ syndrome in road construction is no longer tenable under Mr President’s RHA, Umahi reeled out the new policies on road infrastructure to include: good, stabilized and tested subgrade; sub-base course before pavement placement; expose subgrade; sub-base and base course to 60 days vehicular movement and; continuous sheep-foot rolling before pavement placement.
Others, according to him were: introduction of reinforced concrete road pavement in most roads carriageway and shoulders; continuous maintenance of all roads under construction throughout the life of the project, under contract; effective design of road infrastructure anchored on detailed report of environmental site conditions and; geotechnical report and community relations in terms of keeping roads motorable under the period of the contract.
Stating that supervision was necessary in the actualization of quality delivery of road construction, whether concrete pavement or asphalt, the minister therefore noted that each of the two models has its own attendant conditions, just as he added that the stand of the Ministry was not about comparing asphalt and concrete pavement, but that, if you are using either of them, there are conditions attached to them.He said there are certain terrains on our roads that make it imperative for concrete pavement to be used.
Worried by the rate of increase in the cost of materials for construction of the two models, Nweze argued that the cost of materials for asphalt was in geometric progression, while the cost of materials for concrete pavement was in arithmetic progression. He also reiterated that prudence and value for money were the watchwords of the Ministry of Works under him, and according to him, it involves getting materials at the minimum purchase price, maximum efficiency and effectiveness of the product.
Earlier, the NSE president said that the courtesy call was to seek areas of collaboration with the minister, even as he hailed him for performance since his assumption of office,. He advised him to replicate what he did as governor in Ebonyi state, promising NSE’s committed to best engineering practices. The national president enumerated the achievements of the Society and the prospects of its smart office project, and expressed hope that it would be an innovation hub of the nation.
