FG Reiterates Commitment To Speedy Completion Of Road Projects Financed Through NNPC Tax Credit Scheme • Contractors attest to release of funds, as Truck drivers express delight on progress of work on Suleja-Minna Highway, Lambata-Lapai- Bida Road. • Funds for Roads under the NNPC Tax Credit Scheme not domiciled with us – Works Ministry The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to making sure that all the roads financed under the NNPC Tax Credit Scheme are completed and delivered as scheduled. The Director Highways, Construction and Rehabilitation, Engr. Folorunso Esan, stated this at the inspection of the ongoing dualization of Suleja- Minna highway, Phase I and II; and the reconstruction of Lambata -Lapai-Bida road in Niger State which are among the critical roads to be financed under the NNPC Tax Credit Scheme. "I am here to see that they have improved on their mobilization and they are working." Esan said that adequate fund has been released to the contractors through the governance process established to ensure prompt delivery of the road projects, adding that no contractor has any reason not to deliver as scheduled. It would be recalled that during the presentation of the symbolic cheque for the 21 roads by the NNPC in the presence of all stakeholders and the media on December 21, 2021 the Hon. Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN in his remarks said that a governance process was being put in place and that the governance process requires the Ministry to do certification of the certificates for jobs done promptly within five days. The Minister added on that occasion that as soon as the certificates were certified they would be escalated to the NNPC which would be required to pay within 30 days and that the staff of the Ministry has certain number of days within which to act to certify the certificates. The Minister also gave assurance then that all the unpaid certificates that were in existence before the scheme was approved and all the certificates that budget provisions were inadequate to pay, would be paid as from signing of the contract with the NNPC adding that what it meant was that there would be money to pay the contractors who would in turn pay their suppliers of construction materials in the chain of distribution of wealth across the divide. The Ministry has therefore clarified that given the governance process put in place for the scheme it was impossible for the Ministry officials or any other person to “hijack” the funds for any other purpose as was recently alleged in some quarters. It also noted that with many of the construction companies just resuming from the yuletide break, work has resumed on the sites with earth works progressing. Engr. Esan disclosed that the inspection team was among others reasons, on sites to prevail on the contractors to accelerate their work speed to ensure early completion and delivery of the roads because these are major road networks with heavy traffic flow in the North Central region connecting towns and cities within the region, South Western states and other regions in Nigeria. The Director, while expressing satisfaction about the volume of work done on the sites, said that the Ministry would carry out the appropriate tests to determine the quality and the durability of the construction work on roads to ensure compliance with acceptable standards. Esan pleaded with road users especially truck drivers to be patient with the government and construction workers as they ply the roads while construction work is going on because managing traffic and doing construction work on the roads is bound to slow down the pace of work, assuring them that the challenged spots would be taken care of to address the outcry of tanker and truck drivers.  “We are expecting that before the rainy season, all the challenged spots will be addressed so that outcry from the truck and tanker drivers will not be there,” he added. The Director, however, assured Nigerians of speedy completion and delivery of the roads as scheduled despite the heavy vehicular movement on the roads, noting that inadequate funding which used to be a major challenge has been permanently solved through the NNPC Tax Credit Scheme because the Corporation would fund the road projects to their completion. He added that the Suleja-Minna dualization which was projected to be completed in January 2024 would be completed much earlier due to the availability of fund. On the Bida- Lapai-Lambata road, the Federal Controller of Works, Niger State, Engineer Samotu Moshood, explained that 46kms amounting to 36 percent of the work has been completed and before the rainy season commences, the work is projected to have extended to Lapai which would be additional 60kms, and the extension would continue to Agaie, another 80kms before the end of the year 2022. The length of the road is 124.81kms which commenced from Lambata town passing through Lapai - Agaie and terminating at Bida. "The construction of the road is very imperative to link the Bida-Mokwa section already completed under the World Bank due to the importance of the segment of the federal highway being a major link for vehicular traffic from the South West to the North Central part of the country and beyond,” said the Controller of Works in the State. The Project Manager of Messrs. Salini Nigeria Limited, Engineer Daniel Kassa, the contractor handling the Suleja-Minna Road, expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for selecting the project to be among the beneficiaries of the NNPC Tax Credit Scheme. He disclosed that the company had been fully mobilized to the sites with adequate funds and assured Nigerians of accelerated speed on the work to enable it complete the road and deliver as scheduled. Kassa added that the federal government does not owe them anymore as the debt has been cleared. Also, Project Manager China Global Company Nigeria Limited, Mr. Chen Xian, the contractor handling the Bida-Lapai-Lambata highway revealed that the Federal Government has fully mobilized his company to the site. Xian who lamented that scarcity of water, was currently a hindrance to the progress of their work with the onset of dry season, assured road users that the troubled spots would have been worked upon before the rainy season because a means of supplying water to the site would be found, adding that the entire job would be completed and delivered by December, 2022. Musa Adamu and Gbenga Durojaye, who are truck drivers passing during the inspection were elated at the commencement of the work on Bida-Lapai-Lambata road and urged the Federal Government to ensure speedy completion of the road as it would enable smooth driving and reduce the hours of travelling to the barest minimum.   ...

Sukuk Funding Has Enhanced Completion Of Priority Roads, Bridges Across The Country By FG - Fashola As one of the beneficiary ministries of SUKUK funding for road transport infrastructure in the country, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, on Thursday provided details on roads and bridges which the SUKUK funding has enabled the Ministry to undertake since its inception in 2015 across the length and breadth of Nigeria   SUKUK, which the Minister described as a form of Public Private Partnership (PPP), was among the funding options adopted by the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari to fund the construction of critical roads in Nigeria. At the symbolic presentation ceremony of the N250 billion Federal Government 2021 SUKUK cheque to the three beneficiary Ministries, Fashola gave account on how his ministry spent the previous SUKUK funds given to his Ministry.  The Minister stated that from the first SUKUK funds of N100 billion, released in 2017, 25 roads, covering 482 kilometers length were delivered; the second SUKUK of 2018 had 28 roads covering 643 kilometers length delivered, while the third SUKUK funds of N162 billion covered 44 highway and bridge projects with the total length of 757 kilometers covered across the nation. Fashola went further to explain that SUKUK financing has enhanced completion of some priority road and bridge projects across the country which includes:  the completion of 296 KM Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega-Yawuri in Sokoto and Kebbi States, completion of 142 KM Section II (Shuwarin - Azare ) of Kano-Maiduguri road, completion of 106 KM Section III (Azare- Potiskum) of the Kano-Maiduguri road  and the completion of 1.2 kilometer /360m length Ikom Bridge.  The Minister also explained that the impact of debt and borrowing on the economic lives of the people was significant; pointing out that proper usage of the debt on infrastructure in Nigeria had helped  in galvanizing the economy. “Another thing to take home is that debt properly used can galvanize the economy. It is that debt instrument that serves so many people from diverse parts of Nigeria here today,” he explained. Speaking on wealth creation through proper usage of borrowed funds, he said: "Wealth is distributed across when committed to infrastructure. Money moving around the economy, it creates consistent employment and engagement. Suppliers are at work, " he said Fashola commended the supportive role of all the stakeholders that made it possible for the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to succeed in the delivery of road transport infrastructure to Nigerians, listing the National Assembly for their approval, Federal Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office.  Earlier, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. (Dr.) Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, listed the three beneficiary ministries of the N250 billion 2021 SUKUK and the amount allocated each as :  Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (N210 billion), Ministry of Federal Capital Territory (N29 billion) and Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (N10 billion). Mrs. Ahmed disclosed that so far from 2017 to date the total SUKUK funds issued to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing was N362.577 billion which the Debt Management Office issued on behalf of the Federal Government for the funding of key road projects through SUKUK, stating that government has given priority to capital expenditure spending in order to sustain the momentum of the economy. In her remarks, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Mrs. Patience Oniha, said that presentation of the N250 billion SUKUK cheque to the three ministries was in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s strategic objectives of development of infrastructure. She said: “Improvement in infrastructure is widely accepted as one of the best means of creating jobs, supporting and attracting new businesses and promoting growth and development due to its multiplier effects”. She added that the introduction of SUKUK as a source of raising funds for government has improved road infrastructure across the six geo-political zones of the country. “sI am pleased to report that since the debut N100 billion Sovereign SUKUK in September 2017, the DMO has issued three more, getting better each time and bringing the total amount raised through SUKUK so far to N612.577 billion,” she said.   ...

INFRASTRUCTURE DELIVERY: FASHOLA CLARIFIES MISREPRESENTATION OF HIS STATEMENT ON NIGERIA, US * Alerts right thinking and well-meaning people to the antics of the main opposition The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN on Friday clarified the statement mischievously attributed to him in a section of the media as saying that Nigeria's achievements in Infrastructure has surpassed that of the United States. Responding to a journalist’s question on the issue during an inspection tour of the ongoing rehabilitation of the Abuja- Kaduna- Zaria -Kano Dual Carriageway Sections I to III, Fashola said:"The first point to make is that I didn't say that Nigeria's infrastructure was better than America's infrastructure because certainly anybody who knows what he is doing will know that America is a much richer nation, their infrastructure is well ahead of Nigeria." "What I was talking about at the presentation with the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Youth Ministerial Conference was about the challenges of infrastructure and that it is universal, every country commits to infrastructure as a legitimate way to create work, to grow the economy and distribute wealth as we have seen here." "That’s the first point I was making, and that in a democracy you always  need the Parliament to authorize what you spend on infrastructure and so I was making the comparison that Buhari has been able to get his Parliament to authorize his spending, and that is why we were even able to gather here (at the Special Ministerial Conversational Conference). But that the American government is struggling to get authorisation from their own parliament to start what we are already doing. I didn’t say our infrastructure is better than theirs," he said. According to the Minister, the deliberate misreporting of his clear statement of fact and the almost spontaneous orchestration of reactions based on the misrepresentation on the social media should send a clear warning to right thinking and well-meaning Nigerians about the type of campaign which the main opposition wants to run towards the 2023 election. “It’s a campaign of lies and misinformation. The main opposition has a very uncomfortable relationship with the truth, so they are going to run a campaign of lies and disinformation, so we must be ready for it.” "The progress we are making here make them very uncomfortable, so they can't disprove that work is going on, they can't disprove that infrastructure is being developed so they are going to look for every way to distort  and misinform the public," he said . Noting that he remains undaunted by the unwarranted attacks based on misinformation, the Minister said he took time to make the clarification in the course of the inspection tour to alert well-meaning Nigerians to the kind of campaign which the main opposition wants to run. ...