Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, says President Bola Tinubu inherited 2,064 active road projects valued at N13 trillion when he assumed office, describing the scale of the challenge as unprecedented.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Umahi said the current administration met a vast portfolio of ongoing contracts requiring urgent prioritisation and restructuring.
“Recall that when we came on board that the president inherited 2,064 projects. You know active projects worth 13 trillion that time,” he said.
He added that despite efforts to streamline and prioritise, the total contract value has since increased.
“Even with our prioritization the total contract summed as of today 16.9 trillion,” he said.
Umahi explained that many of the projects were awarded under funding arrangements tied to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company through Executive Order 007, but that financial realities have forced a change in approach.
“As at the time we reviewed the project it will take about seven trillion to fully complete all the NNPC projects you know,” he said.
According to him, the President directed that all inherited projects be continued, but restructured into phases to reflect available resources.
“The President directed that we should take over as Minister of Works, prioritize the projects, rephrase the projects and re-scope the projects,” he said.
“The President directed continuation of all NNPC inherited projects. And that is what we are doing.”
Umahi noted that contractors had accumulated significant outstanding claims but said partial payments had been made following presidential approval.
“I know yes they have a total genetic suffragette of 263 billion which by the directive of the President 127 billion has been released,” he said.
He commended contractors for returning to sites amid funding constraints, adding that the ministry is documenting previous phases of work before proceeding with new ones.
“What we did before with NNPC is called phase one,” he said. “And so we are now saying okay phase two this is the much we can take for now. And then whatever is the balance is phase three.”
The minister also praised Tinubu for maintaining inherited projects across all geopolitical zones despite fiscal pressures.
“When the project was initiated by the past administration they not central. They had 26 percent of the project. South had 23 percent. I think Northeast had about 17 percent. You know Southeast had you know 3.5 percent. Southwest had 5 percent. And the president did not stop any of the projects,” he said.
“He inherited all of them and continued them until it became impossible now that we must prioritize.”
Umahi described the administration’s strategy as focused on delivering durable infrastructure while ensuring value for money.
“The ministry of works is doing everything possible within the limit of our ability and our conscience to ensure that there is value for money,” he said.
He maintained that while the inherited burden is heavy, the government remains committed to completing projects in phases to ensure long term sustainability.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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