Umahi Orders Engineers To Abuja Over Poor Job On East-West Road

The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has condemned the quality on the Eleme section of the East-West, saying it was unacceptable having not been done according to specifications.
The minister, who was on site to inspect the level of work that has been done, said the base material the contractor, Reynolds Construction Company Limited, was using to pile the road was substandard and ordered that the contractor should stop using it.
“We paid N33 billion on this job since September (2023). Nothing reasonable has been done on the job. And then we are here under our nose and this thing is happening. I was here two weeks ago and I did the same.
“And they continue to fill this thing with useless laterite. If it is even laterite, it’s a different ball game. But this is clay. And by right it is not supposed to be on the job,” the minister said.
He stressed that henceforth only engineers registered by the Council for Registration of Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) will be allowed on federal government project sites.
“I don’t know what you people are doing here. All the engineers of the ministry (of works) should report to Abuja immediately, first thing on Monday,” he ordered.
Addressing the media later on, Senator Umahi disclosed that the federal government was considering reintroducing tollgates on federal roads to raise money to fund road maintenance.
He said the level of maintenance needed on federal roads was such that the Federal Road Maintenance Agency cannot do it. “How will FERMA maintain 36,000 kilometres of road? It is not possible. So the best thing is to outsource this just like in other developed countries. When you outsource it then you will be able to take control of it and even improve on the security,” he said.
The minister also said that solar lights would be provided on the roads to illuminate them at night and assured that there would be CCTV cameras to alert security people about attempts at vandalizing the solar lights.
He denied media reports that said the federal government had paid the sum of N8.6 billIon to contractors that abandoned or poorly executed some 19 projects in nine states.