Works Ministry Organizes Health Talk for Directors. In a bid to create awareness on health-related matters that will greatly enhance productivity, more so to aid the life expectancy of serving Officers, the Ministry of Works and Housing has organized a one-day Workshop on Health matters for Directors of the Ministry, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. The one-day workshop is on: stress management, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, work-life balance of and Cardiac Arrest. The workshop was Organized in recognition of the important roles Directors plays in their fields and capacity in managing staff and material resources of their departments. In his opening address before declaring the workshop open, the Permanent Secretary Of the Ministry, Bashir Nura Alkali, FCA, FCTI said that the objective of the workshop is to create awareness on early detection of some health-related challenges that are life-threatening diseases before they become intractable. Mr Bashir Nura Alkali added that the Ministry has maintained a robust plan as part of its efforts to improve the welfare and general well-being of its staff as part of its reward system.  " It is my pleasure therefore to underline that the health plan which initially began as a bi-monthly routine medical check-up has been scaled up to include an annual health talk for all staff of the Ministry",  he said. Alkali encouraged the Directors to reap the full benefits of the health talk and promised that the health talk workshop would be extended to other categories of staff of the Ministry. The workshop was Organized by Elyon Synergy Ltd, Lagos, in conjunction with the Ministry of Works and Housing. The two Medical Doctors who delivered the talks are Dr. Jacob Nwanchukwu a stress management consultant and Prof. David.A. Oke, the current Provost of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. Some of the important health topics discussed included: Prevention and Control of Hypertension, Economic Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases. Discussed extensively also were, kidney functions, failure and treatment, modern methods of diabetic management, sudden death and technology of medical devices. Others are high cholesterol and physical exercise for fitness, finance, wellness and stress-free investments were emphasized. The workshop was well attended by the Directors of the Ministry because of the invaluable benefit of health in relation with their work fields and capacities. Giving his Vote of Thanks, the Director, Human Resources, Alhaji Aliyu Abdullahi, appreciated the Honourable Ministers for granting approval for this health talk for the Directors of the Ministry. He said that for the workshop to get its approval, the Ministers and the Permanent Secretary truly demonstrated that they value the Management of the Ministry and therefore take seriously the health issues of its staff. " It is highly commendable and we should take the health tips serious as recommended by our health experts," he said. ...

Our Commitment to Infrastructure Development Bearing Results - Buhari President Muhamadu Buhari has said that the commitment of his administration in infrastructure development across the nation is already bearing results.  The President spoke over the weekend in Gashua, Yobe State, north-eastern Nigeria during the official commissioning and handover of the completed section I phase II and section II phase I of the Nguru-Gashua-Bayamari road.   President Buhari was represented at the event by the Honourable Minister of Power, Engr Abubakar D. Aliyu, FNSE. “Our commitment to improving road transport infrastructure, our determination to improve the ease of doing business, create jobs and prosperity to lift people out of poverty brings us here today because the results of our investment are manifesting,” he said. Accordingly, he explained that the road has been built to the highest quality of design and workmanship and if well used and not abused, it should last for the designed service life. While assuring Nigerians about the desire of his administration to complete all ongoing projects, President Buhari said “I can confidently say that as we enter the final lap of the tenure of the Buhari administration we are also entering a season of completion and delivery of projects.” The President also cautioned Nigerians to desist from indiscreet road abuses, comply with the highway code, and reminded them to adhere to the maximum 100 kilometers per hour speed limit on Federal Highways nationwide. “Now that we have this new and well-built road, we have duties to ourselves and to other road users and one of those duties is to ensure that we drive in accordance with the law as stipulated in the Highway Code.” He listed the road abuses to include: overloading of vehicles which accelerates pavement damage; spilling of petroleum products, which dissolves all the components and allows water to penetrate, and converting the road shoulders to permanent parking places, that brings the onset of road failure from the shoulder. " Nigerian citizens should do their best to avoid these practices, and to report them when they occur and also act in a lawful manner to stop them" he said. Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola represented by the Director Highways, North-East, Engr Celestine Shawusu, said that the projects represent major investment in road Transport infrastructure, which was a commitment of the Buhari administration as a driver for economic growth and prosperity. He explained that the projects were visible and incontrovertible assets in proof of what Nigeria’s resources are invested in, from a combination of our earned resources, and borrowings. Fashola also acknowledged and commended the commitment of the President and his Vice, the professionalism of staff of the Ministry in the delivering of the projects and the support of Ministers in the Federal Executive Council and the members of the National Assembly, especially the Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Works in the 8th and 9th Assembly for their support. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Bashir Nura Alkali, represented by the Yobe State Federal Controller of Works, Engr O.B. Akinmade, said that the administration of President Muhamadu Buhari has focused its attention on the completion of several on-going projects to stimulate economic development, create jobs and promote local content. He explained that it was part of the developmental agenda of the administration in addressing road infrastructural development of Nigeria. “The focus is to link the major arterial roads to refineries, ports, tertiary institutions and high-volume commercial centers with a view to reducing travel times, vehicle maintenance costs, safety and security of commuters.” he said. In his remarks, Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni stated that the project was both historic and important to the State. He said after several years of neglect by previous governments, the Buhari's administration has been able to rehabilitate the road for our use. He said: " the importance of the road to the socio-economic development cannot be overemphasized." On his part, the Emir of Bade, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Suleiman thanked President Buhari and said that ten years ago, journey from Nguru to Gashua usually takes them about two and half hour, but they now make the journey in less than forty-five minutes. "This has facilitated movement of goods from our farms to the market thereby boosting our economic activities," he said. A road user by name Abubakar Babaginda commended Federal Government for the road saying travel time has reduced drastically. " Before now we find it difficult to ply this road, we spend many hours to get to Gashua due to the bad road, but now we spend fewer time. We are grateful, " he said. ...

FG Committed to The Completion of Abuja - Kaduna - Kano Road - Engr, F. Esan The federal government has reiterated its commitment towards the completion of the Abuja - Kaduna-Kano Road phase 2 & 3 soonest. The Director of Highway Construction and Rehabilitation, Engr. Folorunso Esan stated this while inspecting the road construction by Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria Ltd on Friday 1st July, 2022. Esan confirmed that the two sections, section 1 & 2 of the road are the major concentration now while section 1 will take of shortly. "It's the same road and if we deliver a section of the road that means we are done with that particular section as you can see in this section two being inspected and section 3, that means we can concentrate our resources in section one” he said The Director said the project is being done in phases with the first phase being the 74km Kaduna-Zaria section, which is already nearing completion. He said that the second phase, which is the 137Km Zaria-Kano section, will be completed in the first quarter of 2023 while the last phase, the Abuja-Kaduna will be taking off. Folorunso added that the issues concerning challenges which the contractor was encountering in the cause of the work has been addressed and so nothing hopefully will stop them from working and also the   relocation of facilities causing obstruction on the road construction like electric poles has been attended to, noting that the contractor is going to meet up with the contract completion date. " Challenges are addressed and there is nothing that will stop then from working, another thing is relocation of facilities, for which approval has been gotten by the contractor to remove any obstruction on the site" he said The Director said he is impressed with the level of work on going, the quality and standard meets FG expectations. He encouraged them to keep up with the pace and not to hesitate to report any challenge that may crop up at any time.   The site manager of Julius Berger Construction Company for section 2, Engr. Theo Scheepers thanked the Ministry who timely helped tackle all the challenges and little hurdles they had earlier encountered. He promised that the contract will be completed six months before the date of agreed completion given them elapses. Also, for the section 3, Zaria to Kano, the site Manager, Engr. Finn Drosdowki is also of the same view that they are going to meet up with the completion date. ...