Infrastructure: Recommendations For Getting Nigeria Out Of Poverty Already Being Addressed, Says Fashola   •      As Minister presides over 2022 EMBER Month Programme’s Press Briefing in Abuja •      Confirms opening of the 2nd Niger Bridge for use during yuletide period •      Also, barrier and diversions to be removed from Abuja-Kano, Lagos-Ibadan Roads to ease traffic during the festival period •      Appeals for patience and strict observance of the national speed limit of 100 Km per hour by road users •      FRSC, NARTO, PTD, Contractors, other stakeholders pledge cooperation to enable free flow of traffic, guard against avoidable accident   Pointing the way forward in the light of the recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recommendations for getting Nigeria out of poverty, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, Thursday declared that such recommendations were already being addressed by the Muhammadu Buhari administration with its massive investment in infrastructure renewal and expansion. The NBS in the report released in November on poverty index had recommended investments in Health, Education and Infrastructure among others as viable means to take the people out of poverty. But while presiding over the 2022 Ember Month Programme’s Press Briefing of the Ministry, Fashola, who noted that many people had been quoting the Report in terms of the poverty rate, explained to the audience of transport stakeholders who gathered at the Conference Room of the Ministry, “That (Infrastructure) was already happening before the recommendation came. President Buhari had started investing in infrastructure. That is why you and I are here”. Explaining that poverty has different dimensions including, monetary and multidimensional poverty, the Minister pointed out that the importance of infrastructure lay in the fact that it not only addresses monetary poverty but also multidimensional poverty which, according to him, includes absence of access, choice and efficiency. “And so for me, why is infrastructure so important? It is addressing poverty in the monetary and multidimensional modes because it provides jobs during construction and makes life better after construction. And as we have seen, as construction is going on journey time is getting better year-on-year”, he said. Stating that the Buhari administration “is on the right track” as far as addressing the poverty issues are concerned, the Minister, who noted that results would manifest in due course, added that people who express anxiety over the seeming delay in the results of the investments should commend the administration for investing the nation’s resources for the benefit of the people. He recalled that there was a time before the present administration when funds were being taken out of the country and also from an agency of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to fund elections in the country, adding, “If they took away funds meant for national development, that was one of the causes of poverty.” “NNPC is now investing N621 billion in road construction but that was the money some people used to fund electioneering campaigns and provide cars for friends in the past. Buhari has put back the money where it belongs. These are things that are heading in the right direction”, Fashola said. The Minister declared, “When there is a problem it takes time to design a solution and when you apply the solution it takes time to get the final results. But ours is past the design stage because we are already seeing the results”, adding that if people who were saying it took them days to travel to a destination are now saying it takes them a few hours to make the same destination, “it means we are heading in the right direction”. Noting the various innovative ways, the administration has introduced to fund the investments in infrastructure, the Minister explained that when crude oil prices crashed at the onset and revenues fell, this government found other funding sources. “So, we now talk of the SUKUK; we are now talking about the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, we are now talking about the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund”, he said. Fashola, who recalled that the President went abroad, early in the life of the administration, to request for the repatriation of those stolen funds from the countries in which they were being kept to enable him fund critical infrastructure like the Second Niger Bridge, the Abuja-Kano Road and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway among others adding that the execution of the road transport infrastructure projects are now going on. The Minister declared, “When the President committed in his June 12, 2019 remark that he was going to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, perhaps, not many people thought it was possible. But that process has started. “All of these construction companies would ordinarily be out of work if the infrastructure programme is not being implemented; there would be no work for the people. And then the people who depend on construction for their businesses; those who own quarries, those who own construction equipment, trucks, tractors, bitumen, cement, without construction they will be out of job”. The Minister, while reiterating his challenge to the opposition for a debate on the role of infrastructure development in achieving economic growth and poverty eradication, noted the opposition’s penchant for celebrating the negative figures often thrown up by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and similar bodies without being able to connect investments in infrastructure as the long term solution due to its numerous benefits such as creation of direct and indirect jobs as well as businesses which lead to the creation of a vibrant economy and legitimate distribution of wealth through the value chain. On the opening of the Second Niger Bridge, Fashola explained that the Bridge would be opened to traffic from December 15, 2022 to January 15, 2023, pointing out, however, that the access would only be for traffic going from the West to the East of the country adding that the flow would be reversed on January 15, 2023 to benefit traffic from the East to the West of the country. Emphasizing that work on the access road to the Bridge was not yet finished, the Minister who said the reason for the temporary opening was to ease pressure on the first bridge which was usually congested as a result of the huge traffic on it during the yuletide period added that the access roads linking the surrounding towns to the bridge are yet to be finished. “I believe it is good news so I can confirm it. As I have told you we have completed work on the Bridge. So, as it is now you can walk from one end of the bridge to the other; you can drive from one end to the other. But the connecting roads that link the bridge are what we are working on; that has not finished”, he said. The Minister attributed the delay in completion of the entire work on the access routes to the bridge to the flooding occasioned by the predicted heavy rains and the fact that contractors could not work on Mondays in the South East leading to the loss of 52 days in a year. Fashola, however, said that the flood that occurred in the area during the season was also a blessing explaining that the original level for the design of the access road had to be changed. “We had to raise the height of that road. So that flood has made the design to be reviewed and that is good for us. Happily, and thankfully, it did not affect the bridge in any way…”, he said. Buttressing the positive impact of infrastructure, the Minister asked, “Why do we need the Second Niger Bridge; is it not because we have outgrown the first bridge? Is it not because people spend days there just to go for Christmas?” He added, “That is part of poverty. That is the multidimensional poverty which this President said “I will relieve you of it and provide you a choice”. “You don’t have to sleep overnight on the bridge because you want to go home for Christmas. That is part of what we are talking about. And he has also approved that since the bridge is finished, we should create a temporary access so that in the journey this Christmas you can begin to experience what it will look like when the bridge is finally finished and we open it”, the Minister said. Fashola assured that the Ministry’s Director of Bridges would work in collaboration with the contractors and the FRSC to work out and publicize more on the arrangement adding, “We still have time of about a week and we will be working round the clock to make sure this plan works”. The Minister said the impact of the Second Niger Bridge arrangement would also be felt on the Abuja-Kano Road and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway where, according to him, the contractors handling the projects have been asked to remove the barriers and diversions restricting traffic flow for the period of the festivities. “Let me explain the reason why we divert; we cannot build a 100 km road at once. So, we close sections of five, six to 10 kilometres on one side and divert traffic to the other side so that we can complete it. Once we open that road, that section is completed and we open it to traffic”, the Minister explained, adding that the Director in charge of Construction and Rehabilitation had sent the message to all his Controllers and all the contractors to pass the message to their staff. Noting that the directive was, “Don’t open up for construction of any new sections anymore,” the Minister said, “that is what we have done; by the 15th of December, remove the barriers, provide signage, reflective signs and flood lights to guide people through so that it is a free passage”. According to him, on Abuja-Kano, from Kaduna to Zaria there will be no diversions at all. And from Zaria to Kano, which is over 130 km, there will be only one diversion. And from Abuja to Kaduna, which is about 165 km there are going to be four diversions. So, from Abuja to Kano, which is 365 km, there are going to be only five diversions. Explaining that the five diversions are necessary for operational purposes Fashola added, “I think this is significant and the contractors are working to provide valid access. There are places where we are just going to patch so that you can drive because we are coming back to remove it for full construction which is the main contract”. “So when you see such things don’t go back to say it has failed, it has not failed, we have not built it, we have just provided relief. When you get to the built section where we have finished, you will see the quality of work we have done there, lane marking and everything and you will know this is the constructed part”, the Minister further explained. On the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, he said the instruction to the contractors was no diversions or obstructions on the Lagos-Shagamu end from the 15th of December adding that on the Ibadan end there would also be no diversion. Appealing to the commuting public for patience, Fashola said, “So what I will then say is that you will expect efficient, reduced travel time if we use the road properly. So sometimes you have heard there will be religious events, cross over nights, sometimes traffic might slow down; FRSC is there to move it”. “Please be patient; don’t be in a hurry and face oncoming traffic because it will just build up the whole place and that is what will cause gridlock and not our work but impatience as it is”, he said adding that he will interact with the FRSC during the period and give the necessary support to ensure smooth traffic flow on the road. Reiterating the importance of patience among commuters, the Minister added, “Where there is slowdown, bear with us. We don’t intend it but these things can happen with the best of plans. The reason why we are here is that we have come here to plan for the worst and we are now hoping for the best. And the best can only come from the way we use the road”. To truck drivers, the Minister appealed, “Try and keep your trucks in good condition. Don’t overspeed, if you are tired, take a break and sleep because this is what causes accidents and obstructions. Mostly I want to appeal that the maximum speed on federal roads is 100km/hour not 101 km. So, I’d rather you drive below 100km/hour because we want you to arrive safely”. Appealing to the FRSC for more stringent monitoring of the traffic, Fashola who reiterated that no driver without a valid driver’s license should be allowed on Nigerian roads, added, “We are having too many road crashes and we are losing too many lives. In the month of September, the data that I got was better than August but it is still not tolerable. We lost over 400 people on the roads. We have to bring that number down”. “I am glad that FRSC is here. One of my appeals to FRSC is to do random checks, ask people for their driver’s licenses, if they don’t have arrest and prosecute them. Only certified people will drive on our roads. The President has approved patrol vehicles for you, use it to control traffic.” Listing the sections on which motorists are prone to excessive speeding to include Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kano and Abuja to Lokoja, the Minister told the Commission, “Put your patrol vehicles on the road. If necessary, let them stay at the end of the traffic to restrict everybody to a maximum of 100km so that nobody overtakes them”. “These are some of the things we have come to share. We want to reduce the number of accidents. We want people to get home safely. We want it to be a very merry Christmas for them and certainly a more prosperous New Year that we hope to see”, the Minister said. Fashola also appealed to the people of Akure, Ado-Ekiti, people in Kabba and Benin-Sapele and all the people who use the Benin-Okene Road, the East West Road that government understands the challenges on those roads and is leaving nothing undone to solve them. He explained further, “Some of them are mired in our procurement processes which as matters of law we can’t change. So, we are working to fix them”. He added that the Ministry was also working to make recommendations to the President to get other sources of funding to invest in these roads. “So, our contractors do not despair; help is on the way. We are also mindful of this issue of inflation; we are going to address it; in some cases, we are providing augmentations. We can’t do everything. So, some of it may have to be quid pro quo, we give some and you give us some. But generally, I am optimistic that we are on the right part”, he assured. To other stakeholders, especially the road users, Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), Fashola thanked them for their cooperation in the efforts to bring sanity to the roads adding, “I am not blaming you for overloading. I am just advising you to comply with the law and I am happy to hear the report on efforts being made to do so. It ultimately means that the road will serve you for a longer period as designed; because, after all, what business do you have if you don’t have the road”. The Minister who thanked all the stakeholders and wished all Nigerians a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year, said for those being accused of overloading cement the people concerned were known to the Ministry. He added, “We will call them and we will find a solution working together. So, it is work in progress”. Those who made presentations at the conference included the Director Highways, South West Zone, Engr. Adedamola Kuti who gave a comprehensive overview of the EMBER Months intervention programme of the Ministry and its Agency from Routes A1 to A6; the Managing Director of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Engr. Nuruddeen Rafindadi who affirmed the Ministry’s presentation while also presenting additional areas of intervention by FERMA; and representatives of the road transport unions as well as the Contractors who pledged their cooperation to ensure the smooth flow of traffic during the period. Also present at the briefing were the Minister of State, the Acting Permanent Secretary, Directors, Special Advisers and other top functionaries of the Ministry as well as other stakeholders. ...

FG Committed To Quality Infrastructural Development - Fashola ... as a 1.5 km road with reinforced concrete culverts, drainage is commissioned in Hospital.  .... Health Minister of State commends Fashola's Leadership Quality.   Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, has said that the Federal Government would remain committed to the development of quality infrastructure in tertiary institutions across the county. The Minister spoke, Thursday, December 8, 2022 in Sokoto while handing over a 1.5 km of internal road with culverts and drainage built by the Ministry in the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Kware, Sokoto State. Fashola was represented at the occasion by the Federal Controller of Works in Sokoto State Engr. Maigwandu Kasim. The Minister of State for Health Joseph Maikama who was represented at the occasion by Casmir Igwe Esq, his Special Adviser on Health, commended the leadership of the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola for the intervention. In his address on the need to bridge the infrastructural gap, Fashola said "We have successfully intervened in 64 internal Road projects in various Federal Tertiary Institutions and handed over a total of 46 as at March, 2022 and we now have another 18, ready to be handed over, while we are currently attending to 19 roads in similar institutions across the country making a total of 83. Accordingly, he explained that the quality of education will be impacted by the quality of infrastructure and the learning environment, pointing out that some of the feedbacks from students in the Institutions where this type of the intervention has taken place were testimonies in that regard. The state minister for Health, while commending Fashola said " This kind of support, synergy, cooperation and collaboration is needed in governance to deliver dividend of democracy to the people. I am hopeful that the present administration will continue to bring in more projects to the hospital". Earlier, in his welcome address the Medical Director Neuro Psychiatric hospital Kware, Prof. Shehu Sale expressed happiness that an important project of this magnitude has been executed in the teaching hospital, saying that the road would allow easy access for patients seeking medical treatment in different parts of the hospital. " We are indeed very happy that the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari through the Federal Ministry of Works realized the importance of this project which was carried out through special Intervention, the result is what we are seeing all around the hospital today" he said The MD also commended the high quality of the work which he said cannot be compared with any of the previous work done by the past administration, and thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the giant strides in ensuring that all tertiary institutions, be it education or health were connected by internal roads. Accordingly, Professor Sale stated that with this intervention by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, all the routes within the hospital are now eighty percent completed. " The hospital wards are now connected with the offices, patients can now be taken from the optician departments to the wards very easily, no more dust disturbing the atmosphere of the hospital causing harm to patients and the staff. We are happy with the government " he said He also commended the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for the support given to the hospital in terms of improvement of the health care system in the county. In his remarks, the Emir of Kware, Sarkin Yamma Kware Alh. Muhammadu Dan-Iya, expressed joy and appreciated the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and its Health counterpart for the infrastructural development for the people of Kware. He said " I am very happy to be part of this occasion and with the achievements I saw in this hospital, we the people of Kware are happy for this hospital because this achievement is not only for the people of this town but for Nigeria as a whole" Chairman Union of Nurses and Midwifery of Nigeria Kware branch Abdul Kolawale thanked President Buhari and the Minister of Works and Housing for the internal road intervention. He said " this has brought relief to the people and Patients. Before the intervention Patients and visitors to this hospital suffer from dust due to the bad road". ...

Ember Months: There Shouldn’t Be Any Barrier On The Roads This Season- Fashola ... Mr. President approved opening of 2nd Niger Bridge for traffic in December... The Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN said, “There should not be any barrier on the roads this season." He made the remark while chairing a meeting with stakeholders on road sector in Nigeria in Abuja. He said, “We have told all the contractors that they shouldn’t open anymore sections for construction i.e., there shouldn’t be any barrier on the roads this season. “    Fashola also disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the opening of the 2nd Niger bridge to traffic from December 15, 2022 to January 15,2023 to ease human, goods, services and vehicular movements during this yuletide from the Western part of the country to the Eastern part. Fashola said, “Let me be clear again, we haven’t finished construction work but we would open it for people to use to relieve the pressure from the old bridge. It wouldn’t be available for heavy duty trucks. It would only be small vehicles for now until we finish our work. On the 15th of January 2023 we would reverse that movement for those coming from the east to the west. We have told all the contractors that they shouldn’t open any sections of Federal roads for construction during the yuletide. That means that there shouldn’t be any barrier on the roads this season."              In his remarks the representative of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMW&H), Engr. Chukwunwike Uzor, Director Highways Planning and Development of the Ministry said that the essence of the ember months meeting was to sensitize road users and other stakeholders towards having a successful road passage. The Director South-West, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Engr. Adedamola Kuti during his graphical presentation of the roads under the Ministry on the 2022 ember months stakeholders meeting, highlighted all the critical roads across the six geo political zones of the country under the Ministry, and their conditions with the efforts made so far to put them in good condition towards having good travelling experience during the ember months. Engr. Kuti said “All controllers of works have been directed to remove construction barriers as from the 15th of December 2022 on the roads for road users to have seamless driving during the festive period.” The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FERMA, Engr. Nuruddeen Abdurahman Rafindadi who spoke at the meeting said, “We have identified some selected locations within 17 corridors where Federal Roads Maintenance Agency is having interventions across the country presently in working relationship with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing." The representative of the Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC ) at the event, Assistant Corps Marshal Rindom Kumven  said,  “All Federal Road Safety Commands  have  been directed to collaborate with stakeholders and the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to implement presidential directive  on road infrastructure and  we have flagged off the ember months sensitization  in all the state commands  to create awareness among the motoring public in order to  have hitch free traffic movement during the ember months. “ From the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners represented by Kassim Ibrahim, they appreciated the Ministry of Works and Housing and its Agencies for making the roads better. He said, “We will ensure we put the roads into good use."  He drew the attention of the ministry to the activities of some cement companies that ply the roads with overweight cargos. The Second Deputy Chairman of the Petroleum Tankers Drivers, Comrade Peter Mudesola said at the meeting, “We can see that the roads are getting better. We thank the ministry and all the Agencies for the efforts.” The Managing Director of Mothercat Nigeria Limited, Jark Najjar and the Marketing Manager of CGC Nigeria Limited, Engr.  Kevin Jian with all other road contractors at the event thanked the Ministry for financing their operations through regular special funds and budgets. They expressed their readiness to make the roads safe during the yuletide. ...