Umahi says Abandoned Abuja-Lokoja-Benin Highways To Be Completed Soon
The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi has hit the ground running as he inspected the long-abandoned Abuja-Lokoja and Lokoja-Benin Highways with a promise to complete the projects in weeks.
Umahi gave this assurance shortly after meeting with the management of the ministry, heads of agencies and parastatals as well as contractors and stakeholders, adding that his priority was to ensure that those projects are complete in a record time.
The minister upon assumption of office on Monday, stated that he was going to kickstart with a tour of road projects across the six geo-political zones of the country.
He also charged engineers to embrace the use of concrete technology amidst forex challenges and petroleum crises stressing that that his office would encourage the use of concrete technology and patronise local content in building roads so as to stir economic growth.
The former governor of Ebonyi State hinted that his major business is not to stay in office but in the field and sought the co-operation of the management and staff towards making the change envisaged by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda a reality.
The Minister also reiterated his position on standard, concrete, and local content, after receiving the briefs from stakeholders, and expressed his readiness to work with contractors and support them, but he would not condone delay in delivery.
He also pledge that under his watch files would not stay beyond two hours before they are treated.
In his words: “Under my leadership, no file will stay for more than two hours. In two weeks, I will be in the field and I will settle down only when I have seen that the files have piled up. We will activate local content during our tenure in the administration.”
On his part, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Senator Gbenga Ashafa, thanked the minister for his commitment to turn around the sector for national development and pledged full support of the agencies and parastatals to enable him succeed.
