Governor Bagudu Commends President Buhari For Completing Legacy Road Projects In The State The Excutive Governor of Kebbi State, Sen Abubakar Atiku Bagudu has commended President Mohammadu Buhari GCFR, for completing one of the legacy roads his administration inherited; the Sokoto-Tambuwa-Gwandu-Aliero-Jega-Yawuri-Kotongora road. The Governor said this over the weekend when the Honourable Minister of State for Works and Housing, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu, FNSE paid him a courtesy visit. He said: “The road is one of the most important roads, not only does it link other states with the Federal Capital Territory, but it is the main gateway to Lagos.” Continuing, he said: “I remember in 2015 when we came in before the completion of the road, whenever we were having security council meeting, it was a nightmare for the Emir of Yauri to come, but today, he even looks forward to coming for the meetings.” He commended the efforts of the Ministry that made it possible for Mr. President to complete the road saying that it was one of the numerous uncompleted roads that were inherited by the Buhari’s administration. Speaking on the importance of the road, the Commissioner of Works and Transportation, Alhaji Chika Ladan commended Mr. President also saying that it has saved the road users more travelling time. “Traveling from Yauri to Birnin Kebbi used to take about five hours traveling time, but today, it takes less than two hours on the same road,” he said. The Minister, who was in the state to verify the claims of refund on the Federal Government roads undertaken by the State Government, said that out of the total distance of road we have in the country, about 34,000 kilometres of the distance is under the jurisdiction of Federal Government. “Out of the 34,000 kilometres, we are currently working on over 13,000 kilometres simultaneously with over 800 contracts currently going on all over the country, covering all the Six Geo-Political Zones” he added. The long distance Sokoto-Tambuwa-Gwandu-Aliero-Jega-Yawuri-Kontogora road is divided into two sections. The Kebbi section of the road is about 171km with an origin at Jega township roundabout with a standard 7.3m carriageway. While the Sokoto section is about 133km with additional 8.0km Bye pass and it originated from Sokoto Airport roundabout through South West direction passing through Bodinga-Shagari-Tanbuwal, Aliero and terminates in Jega town at the Birnin Kebbi-Koko roundabout. The overall percentage completion of works to date is 100% in Sokoto section and 99.94% in Kebbi State section respectively.  Lane Marking in the Kebbi section is in progress. ...

FG To Reinburse Road Projects Done By Kebbi State - Engr Aliyu Minister of State for Works and Housing, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu has said that Federal Government would refund the monies spent on Federal Government’s road projects by Kebbi State. The Minister said this over the Weekend when he paid a courtesy visit to the Governor of Kebbi State Sen. Abubakar Bagudu. Aliyu told the Governor that they were in the state to verify claims for reimbursement submitted by Kebbi State Government for the Federal Government’s road projects undertaken by Kebbi State adding that the Cabinet Committee set up by Federal Government would look into their claims for refund. “We are here for the verification and after that, we are going to report back to the main Committee for consideration,” he said. The visit was sequel to the directives of Mr. President to the Cabinet Committee to review the requests from states seeking reimbursement for the road projects executed by them. The Committee had earlier inspected the two selected road projects built by the Kebbi State government that were slated for reimbursement. It could be recalled that the Federal Government had made reimbursements of N477 billion to twenty five states in 2016 based on the recommendation of the Committee. Similarly, another disbursement of N143 billion was made to additional five states by the Federal Government in 2019 making a total of N620 billion refunded to States for Federal Government’s road projects undertaken by States. Accordingly, the Minister disclosed that the President had approved the reactivation of the Committee to look into the additional requests for disbursements on the 17th May, 2021, for Yobe, Taraba and Kebbi States. Kebbi State Government is seeking reimbursement for the 42 kilometers Melando-Garin Baka-Ngaski Wara and the 87 kilometers Dabai-Mahuta-koko federal road projects. The State was claiming over N2bn reimbursement for the 87km long Dabai-Mahuta-Koko road, which the Minister said, was why the committee came to verify. “We are here today to verify the claims by the state and get back to the Committee,” he said. Responding, the Executive Governor of Kebbi State, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagugu commended the federal government for the bold step it has taken in refunding States the monies spent in executing Federal Government road projects. The Governor said that the debt of over 500 billion naira paid by this administration were inherited debts. “Yes, we are one of the states that have done federal government roads. I am happy that you have come to verify our claims and we shall be grateful if your report will lead to refund so that we will do more,” he said. Speaking further, he commended Federal Government for completing the Sokoto-Tambuwa-Gwandu-Aliero-Jega-Yawuri-Kontogora road, saying that  the road was one of the most important roads and one of the numerous uncompleted road inherited by President Muhammadu Buhari.  “The road does not only link us with the Federal Capital Territory, but also serves as our main gateway to Lagos" he said.  “The road passes through a vast area of farm lands and many farming communities of Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States will benefit from it,” he said. The Cabinet Committee has the Minister of Works and Housing as the Chairman and the members include; Ministers of Transportation, Education, Finance, Works and housing (State), as well as the Permanent Secretaries of Works and Housing and that of the Cabinet Office and the Director, Bureau of Public Procurement. The Committee's delegation to Kebbi State for the verification was led by the Honourable Minister of State for Works and Housing, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu, and the Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).   ...

Special Townhall Meeting: Fashola Renders Impressive Account Of Ministry’s Activities …Says Infrastructure Legitimate Way to Grow the Economy, Deliver Prosperity to the Citizenry. *With 895 On-going Highway and Bridge contracts across the country, the rehabilitation of Internal Roads of 43 Federal Tertiary* *Institutions,  construction of Six new Federal Secretariats in Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Nasarawa, Osun and Zamfara States and Construction of Housing Estates in 34 States of the Federation under the National* *Housing Programme (NHP) among others, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN on Thursday rendered an impressive account of the Federal* *Government’s infrastructure programmes under his Ministry.* Speaking at  Special Townhall Meeting organized by Business Hallmark Public Policy Forum with the theme," Nigeria's Infrastructure Revolution: Road to a New Future,”* the Minister explained that activities involved in infrastructure development are the sure and legitimate way of growing the economy and delivering prosperity to the citizenry. This reality, Fashola explained, informed the decision of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to make massive investment in Infrastructure a matter of choice and necessitated the expansion of the budget of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing from N18bn by the previous administration in 2015 to about N260bn despite the fact that the price of crude oil  which sold at an average of $97.98 between 2009 and 2014  fell to an average of $65.23 per barrel from 2015 to 2021. According to the Minister, the priority given to infrastructural development, informed the need to improve road transport infrastructure assets, formulate policies to address the problem of deteriorating public assets while taking advantage of the socio-economic opportunities created by the maintenance of such assets and to develop a National Strategy for sustainable Maintenance of all Public Infrastructure Assets in the country. Fashola noted that due to paucity of fund, government had to look for alternative sources of funding which include the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, SUKUK fund, Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme (RITCS), Multi-lateral loans/grants and collaboration with other Government Agencies like The North East-Development Commission in order to achieve the objectives of the Economy Recovery and Growth Plan ( ERGP) as it concerns the Ministry. Fashola also listed the rehabilitation of 60 Bridges across the country, scheduled maintenance of 5,461.88KM of roads and 8,000KM of Highway maintenance which include vegetation control, desilting of drains, Sleeves and ducts by the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the rehabilitation/Maintenance of 24 Federal Secretariats across the country as some of the results of the investments in infrastructure. Fashola explained that on the result and economic impact of the infrastructure investment of the Federal  Government, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) benefit immensely from infrastructure projects as  a lot of activities such as designing, award of contract for supply, direct employment, banking and so on that take place, generate income for the people any time an infrastructure project is ongoing, pointing out that the small firms and enterprises were engaged in supplies of cements, diesel, laterites and others in the course of construction activities. The Minister noted that the narrative in the past about no federal government presence in some state has been replaced by a new narrative about when the ongoing projects will be completed in such states. The Minister also reminded Nigerians that the recession alarm raised in 2012 by the then Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was the recession that the Buhari administration inherited and was able to overcome it despite the impact of Covid – 19 through the massive investment to renew and expand the nation’s infrastructure at a time when the country was earning much less from oil. The Chairman, Busines Hallmark Forum, Sir Marc Wabara disclosed that the aim of the Townhall Meeting was to ensure that public policy met the basic standard of service delivery to the public. He expressed satisfaction that the event was holding at a time when the nation was going through the path of growth and development. The occasion was chaired by the former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, the Guest of Honour was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha. Other speakers at the occasion were the Minsters of Federal Ministries of Water Resource and that of Power; Engr. Suleiman Adamu and Engr. Saleh Mamman respectively.   ...