Former governor of Ebonyi State and Minister of Works, David Umahi, on this interview monitored on Come up Tv by DIVINE YUSUF, spoke on the modifications in highway infrastructure in Nigeria, and why Nigerians mustn’t hyperlink all authorities motion and tasks to corruption.
What’s it like for you coming from a state like Ebonyi to the federal stage, the place you’re making an attempt to copy tasks?I can say that it’s a lot greater work. However the precept is identical as a result of I wasn’t sitting down in workplace as a governor. I spent over 70 per cent of my time on the sphere. Many of the tasks in Ebonyi State have been designed by me, by the inspiration of God, as a result of I imagine strongly that when you have got your thoughts working for the folks, God will allow you to do issues you weren’t educated to do. And I’ve at all times quoted one verse, when the folks of God have been constructing the Tower of Babel. After which God mentioned there’s nothing the thoughts of a person units to realize that won’t be achieved. That’s why he confused them with completely different languages.
So, it’s about ardour. It’s about setting your thoughts on what you need to do and God will allow you to do issues ordinarily you’d have been unable to do. We did a whole lot of issues.
After I look again at our worldwide airport, I used to ask myself, how did this factor come about? I take a look at the mall, how did it come about? I take a look at the concrete highway, and it could actually solely be by God. So, right here once more, it’s the identical factor that’s taking place.
I’ve ardour for that and I draw inspiration additionally from the person who’s within the driving seat, President Bola Tinubu. He’s a person of braveness and he has given us all of the help. There’s no resolution we ever took within the Ministry of Works when it comes to new insurance policies to drive his agenda that he ever reversed. It signifies that we’ve the boldness to drive his agenda.
There are not any interferences. There’s no one who involves Mr President and says this or that. He has given us a free hand. So, anyone who desires to succeed will succeed with this sort of man. And naturally, he additionally has huge data in infrastructural improvement. And you may take it from when he was the governor of Lagos State. So, we’re additionally fortunate to be following a person who has a love for infrastructure as a result of that’s a catalyst for the event of any nation.
Why are you insisting on concrete roads believed to be costlier?I’m not a veteran of concrete roads in Nigeria. I give that credit score to Mr President. When he was governor of Lagos State, there have been challenges with water tables in locations like Lekki and Victoria Island. These axes have a really high-water desk, so he began utilizing what known as interlocking tiles. That is one other type of concrete highway. Right now, these roads are nonetheless standing.
I used to be in Paris and a lot of the roads have been performed with interlocking tiles. And as you go in, it is going to be making noise. And when folks ask me, I say it’s making noise, so that you just don’t sleep off whereas driving. However taking it again house, we’re doing a distinct type of concrete highway, completely different from interlocking.
And also you now say, look, the concrete highway could be very appropriate, particularly the place you have got excessive visitors, the place you have got a really high-water desk, the place you have got a really poor tender construction. Using concrete is essential and the concrete highway at all times lasts for much longer than asphalt highway.
However it’s not cheaper?It is determined by what you’re doing. The concrete roads I’m doing in some areas are less expensive than asphalt roads. And when you find yourself paving concrete roads in locations just like the riverine areas, the place you do a whole lot of sand filling, in fact, it may turn out to be costlier. However once you put it facet by facet, the query is, are you constructing this highway to fail? As a result of we’ve an issue of failure of our roads, we proceed to sentence leaders with out trying inwards at ourselves.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t go to assemble the highway, folks did it. However sadly, I came upon that it’s very tough to get any highway on this nation constructed with asphalt that lasts as much as 15 years. It’s tough and the deferred legal responsibility interval, upon which we maintain contractors accountable, is just one yr.
And also you now start to sentence the Federal Roads Upkeep Company (FERMA), it’s a collective accountability. We fought nearly all segments of the society however the President due to his antecedents and expertise and his publicity, backed us that the concrete highway is a lot better compared. In some areas, at the same time as we’re speaking, it’s cheaper than asphalt. And once more, are you developing roads with asphalt in order that even whether it is cheaper, it doesn’t have a shelf lifetime of as much as 15 years.
So, price shouldn’t be emphasised an excessive amount of however keep in mind that when the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway began, there was a whole lot of noise about it. However I ran the figures and, in truth, at one level, they have been begging me to cease. However my accounts are very clear so far as I’m involved. There’s an impression I need to make.
I used to be on the Courtroom of Attraction to ship a paper on infrastructure and I listened to Kanu Agabi (SAN), and he was speaking about the way in which we de-market this nation. Everyone is speaking about corruption and there’s a lot suspicion. That’s not good for our nation. It’s not the way in which to battle corruption. The whole lot our leaders are doing should not be considered with the eyes of corruption. It’s important to give the particular person the advantage of doubt as a result of you haven’t even understood what’s going on.
Are you able to deny the truth that the extent of corruption on this nation is appalling?What’s corruption and does it apply to the whole lot? We must always give leaders of this nation the advantage of doubt. There are lots of people like President Bola Tinubu, who’re combating corruption with out shouting. This can be a new dimension of the criticism, as a result of typically folks duck in a fort with out data. And when you find yourself not there when a corpse is buried, and also you need to exhume it, chances are you’ll begin from the legs. It’s precisely what you allude that individuals are saying.
However let me let you know one thing, the legacy tasks of Mr President aren’t simply highway tasks, they embrace investments. And so they include a whole lot of financial advantages. We chosen a number of important roads, between 9 and 15 roads per zone. Don’t neglect that we inherited 2,064 roads, a complete of 19,000 kilometres, with a complete price of N13 trillion, which if you happen to assessment now, will come to between N16 trillion and N20 trillion.
Now, what are we doing? Allow us to take a look at the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway. What are the advantages? As of at the moment, taking one side, the Apapa Wharf, we’ve a really shallow Wharf there, that huge ship can not berth there. So, we spend a whole lot of {dollars} every day to trans-load cargoes however with this highway now connecting the Apapa Wharf, then all the way down to Lekki, the place we’ve the deep-sea port being constructed proper now, it turns into very simple for the ship to return straight and berth there.
And we’re saving tens of millions of {dollars} every day. Now, the Lagos-Calabar Coast Freeway just isn’t solely a highway, we’re going to have a whole lot of windmill power. We’re going to attach all of the communities. In every single place this highway passes is an financial hall. We’re constructing residential homes. We’re constructing factories. We’re constructing industries. So, we’re connecting the highway to the prevailing ones.
The reality is that highway tasks aren’t performed in a single yr; they don’t seem to be performed in a single day. So, these tasks that we inherited, we’re redesigning plenty of them. With the floating of the Naira and with the elimination of gas subsidy, we even have one other set of challenges that every one the inherited tasks are actually being confronted with a assessment of the costs, which is in the correct of the contractors.
So, my take is that the legacy tasks, 4 of them, Lagos-Calabar, 750 kilometres. You could have Sokoto-Badagry. Sokoto-Badagry has a whole lot of financial corridors. You could have 68 dams alongside that hall, which we’re going to have irrigation. We’ve got tens of millions of hectares of land alongside that hall. And that’s what Mr President has deliberate. We’re going to leverage that hall to do large agriculture.
And they’re commending him for what he did in Brazil the place folks signed an MoU instantly to return and spend money on our livestock. So, that’s taking place. You see the one which comes from Trans-Sahara, it comes from Calabar, passing by way of Ebonyi, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, all the way down to Abuja. You now see the one that’s from Akwanga, Bauchi and Gombe.
So, you’ll be able to by no means say that these tasks aren’t related. The Abuja-Kano highway is 375 kilometresdualised, which is 750 kilometres, with six lanes. The Sokoto to Zamfara, to Kastina, to Kaduna is 350 kilometresdualised, which, if you happen to multiply by two, is 700 kilometres. So, I don’t know what you imply by these tasks are ongoing as inherited, and these are occurring now. We’ve got these tasks. The three of them are occurring. We’re redesigning the Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe on concrete, in order that it could actually have a shelf lifetime of between 50 and 100 years.
All of the roads throughout the financial hall of this nation are being performed by this administration. On Enugu-Port Harcourt highway, there are 4 sections of the highway, we’ve part one that’s coming from Port Harcourt all the way down to Aba. We’ve got a contractor there, and that mission, I can let you know, is about 67 per cent performed. That’s why I say that typically folks can cancel with out data.
I’m telling you that issues are occurring there. Even from Port Harcourt all the way down to Aba is being redesigned and is being reconstructed. We now put concrete by the shoulders after which do the carriageway on asphalt. Then inside Aba itself, you have got nearly 8.5 kilometers been performed by one other contractor. That job will likely be accomplished by February.
And then you definately now come to the tip of Enugu-axis, underneath Mr. President, we had collapsed twin bridges there. Right now, that bridge is being rebuilt by Mr President, and it’s over 95 per cent performed. It’s the identical time that we had the Shendam Bridge that collapsed. Mr President gave an order and mentioned, Minister, you need to end the 2 tasks inside one yr. And we’re beating the report.
What’s left of that part is about 61 kilometres and it’s within the 2025 funds. So, we imagine strongly that by Might, we must always have the Enugu-Port Harcourt carriageway, each side, accomplished. I used to be there not too long ago and it’s a magnificence to behold.
