The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said the crack on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is not a structural failure.
The Minister revealed that he has received over 500 messages from Nigerians about the crack that was noticed on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
This was as he announced that the government needs a total sum of N3tn to fund the completion of all road projects ongoing under the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited tax credit scheme.
Umahi spoke at a press conference to address the issues around the project on Wednesday in Abuja.
He noted that the section of the road where the crack was noticed had not been completed.
“I have gotten over 500 concerns about a crack they noticed at the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Highway Section 1.
“And I was wondering whether they’re sending it in good faith, or they’re sending it to mock me to say, look at the project you’re proud of, looking at what is happening. Let me tell you that nothing is happening. Nothing!
“Absolutely, it’s not an issue at all. That section has not been completed. Section 1 is 47.47 kilometres by six”. And so you have the main carriageway, you have the shoulder, and so where you notice the crack is some huge section of the shoulder, and not the carriageway with stone base, where we are not presently working on”.
“So ladies and gentlemen, that thing is not a structural failure at all”, he clarified.
While calling on the members of the public to disregard the crack and the negative impression created from it, the Minister emphasised that there is no section of the completed carriageway that has cracked.
“I want the society to disregard that, you know, social media circulation, and to be assured that work is ongoing. In fact, I directed them to go and close these places. So it’s not an issue at all.
“Disregard it. And there is no section of the completed carriageway that has cracked, and it will not crack, he concluded.
Speaking further, he also revealed a N3tn funding deficit for roads under the road tax credit scheme following the decision by the state-owned oil company to stop its funding.
Despite this, he said that no project under the scheme would be abandoned.
He said, President Bola Tinubu has directed that another means of funding should be provided for the projects to ensure they are completed.
He added, “And for me, he is our President, you know, is a man with a large heart who decided to do that.
“So, now, we have NNPCL stopping the funding of the projects since the 1st of August. And so, we tabled the matter to FEC, in the last FEC on Thursday.”
“And Mr. President, sitting as the Chairman of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, directed that we should provide another means of funding the project, and to complete it.
“So, let me announce that Mr. President directed that no NNPCL project should stop, and that an alternative funding mechanism will be put in place to do it.”
Umahi noted, “Like I said, NNPCL projects where we need a total of N3 trillion to have them totally completed. So we have compiled them.
“We are going to make it available to Mr. President on that and any of them that qualify for PPP, and then we will see that the contractor has capacity and has funds.”
The Minister, however, warned contractors without the capacity to execute contracts of such magnitude to stay away, noting that the Ministry will not tolerate contractors hoping to play a game.
He said, “When we go into the exercise, we not leave the fate of our people in the hands of anybody that wants to play games, playing games to believe that along the line, the federal government will bring money to them, or that they will default, and then they will do call up option, whereby they go to take money from Federal Government.”
Meanwhile, the minister has disclosed plans to introduce spikes under flyover bridges to prevent the destruction of beams by overloaded trucks.
He said the plan will be the use of a 6.5-meter gantry with spikes to stop the continuous destruction of beams, which are important to the sturdiness of the flyover.
He said the lack of it and disregard for traffic laws led to the destruction and closure of the beams holding the recently destroyed Keffi flyover.
While stating that the situation is rampant on flyovers on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, he said the first will be implemented for the Keffi flyover.
“We have a couple of them between Lagos and the Ibadan Bridges, completed in the last administration, but some of the beams have been knocked down. And the beams are the structural elements that are carrying the slab.”
“So when the beam is knocked down, it means that it’s not safe. So for some of such bridges, we have closed them down to vehicular movements, and we are very concerned. It is difficult to moderate these overloaded vehicles. So what we have decided to do is to plant a gantry before the end of the flyover and after the flyover. And of course, we have directed that instead of the engineering mandatory 5.6-metre headroom, which is the design standard, we are increasing beyond the standard to 6.5, to accommodate very undisciplined commuters.”
“This gantry is that if you are 6cm lower than the bottom of every beam in every flyover and we are going to have spikes. If you are coming and then you are overloaded and touch the beams to bring them down. That spike will bring you down first. It will bring down your windscreen and the load so the bridges will be safe.”
Shifting to politics, Umahi urged the people of the South East to support the continuation of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, saying they can’t get the presidency through sentiments and hate speeches.
Umahi said Igbos need to be patient to wait till their turn, as an Igbo will do eight years and not four.
He, however, believes it will come if we don’t support other regions.
“The Igbos need to support another region so that another region will support them. I am not joking about it. Recently, an Igbo women’s group stated that he was speaking for himself when he supported the president for a second term. In their comment, they also mentioned that they didn’t say he was unqualified to be president.
“So let nobody annoy me, because as you see me, I am ready to face anybody who is deceiving our people, and they are full of sentiments.
“The Igbos will never get to be president by being sentimental, or with hate speeches, or by saying half of the truth. All I said there is that Mr. President has done very well for us in infrastructure development, and they did not counter my narration. They did not counter it. They begin to talk against a noble man like me, who the president has used to bring what was never brought before.”
He added that if the past administration did not give many appointments to the Igbos, the infrastructure it put in the region says a lot.
“You are now forgetting infrastructure; you are talking about appointments. And I ask, appointment and infrastructure, which one is more important? As Minister of Works. How many ministers would he be equated to? So, our people must be wise, and we are not going to stop.
“Anybody can be president when the time for Igbo presidency comes. We have a lot of qualified people who are very intelligent, but who are not being cunning, who are being honest, and are very truthful. Because when you are truthful, you tell your people the truth. Politics is a question of dialogue. It’s a question of, you rub my back, I rub your back.”
