FEC okays N1.44tr road contracts

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Monday approved the implementation of road projects in various states of the federation worth about N1,455,170,000,000.

Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, made the disclosure while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Umahi spoke against the backdrop of the directive by FEC, which stepped down some projects on July 10 to enable a review. The development had raised speculations.

He said even though some other projects were similarly stepped down in Monday’s session, the cabinet okayed several projects.

According to him, critical sections of the East-West Road have been tackled and vehicles are freely moving with the help of Setraco.

Senator Umahi said that the Benin-Akure-Ilesha Road, which is 150km by two, has been awarded to HiTech Construction at the cost of N525 billion.

He further said that FEC gave approval for the rehabilitation of Abeokuta-Iboro-Ilaro Road in Ogun State at the cost of N57 billion to Strabic Construction.

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Umahi said, “Let me announce that the critical sections of the East-West Road have been tackled now. Vehicles are freely moving with the help of the contractor Setraco.

“The first one is the rehabilitation of Abeokuta-Iboro-Ilaro Road in Ogun State. It’s a contract sum of N57bn approved by FEC today for Strabic Construction.

“The second one is the road from Mubi to Maiduguri Road Section Three. The contract is approved for a total sum of N89bn, and this is an NNPC project. It is being reviewed and approved for N89bn total contract sum, and that is for MESSRS Decency Associates Limited.

“Then the third project approved today was Mubi to Maiduguri Section Two. The story about this is that we have Sections 1, 2, 3, 4. Section 1 is an ongoing project. Then Section 2 was not awarded to a contractor. Section 3 is an ongoing project, and then Section 4 was awarded to Zephagold.

“But the governor of Borno State wrote that he is already on this Section 4, and the job is about being completed. So, he requested that we go back to Section 2, where there is no contract ongoing.

“And so by going back to Section 2, it means that the entire stretch of Mubi will have a stretch of ongoing projects. But this Section 2 is also very bad. So, we had to re-procure it on rigid pavement.

“So, the relocation is approved. The relocation is approved for 42km at a contract sum that was awarded before. It’s not increased; it’s N67bn inherited from the past administration.

“And then we have the Natalla-Buru in Kano State. We stepped it down to look for funds. There are no funds for it. So, we stepped it down, and we will liaise with the National Assembly if they will give us funds.

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“So, the next one is the Benin-Akure-Ilesha Road, and that’s 150km by two. So, we’re looking at 300km here, and the total contract sum is N525bn awarded to HiTech Construction to use concrete pavements to do it. So, it’s been approved.

“Then we have the third one: Benin-Akure by Ilesha. That’s Section 2, and that’s 66km awarded to HiTech Construction. To know that this project has been on in terms of procurements since September 2023. It is part of the supplementary budget, but because we didn’t have enough funding, we couldn’t present it. But now we have three stretches of funding. And that’s why we are presenting it.

“So, this one is 66km, and it is dualised for N286bn in favor of HiTech Construction for concrete technology.

“The next project is Angingali-Udobi-Udona-Umo-Uwana-Ubalaka. And that is in Imo State, and that is a review. It is an NNPC project being reviewed from N14bn to N26.46bn.

“And then you have Ojo-Odum-Okuku Road in Benue State, which is stepped down for review and to be brought back in the next FEC.

“We have another NNPC project, and that is the rehabilitation of Aba-Owerri Road, NNPC depot expressway in Abia State. The project has been reviewed in favour of a rudo Nigeria limited in the sum of N21bn.

“We have another project going from Odukpani Itu to Ikot-Ekpene in Cross River State, and it’s being handled by CCECC. This is one of the companies that we are likely to aggregate all their projects across the country and agree with them on milestone completion and how much they can inject while we now agree on a payment schedule.

“So, this project has been reviewed from N50bn to N79bn because the terrain is very bad. And we decided to use reinforced concrete pavement to do the two carriageways.

“Then we have the rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt again by CCECC. They had started the project about four years back at the Port Harcourt axis, and they’re going towards Aba, and the project is revised from N63bn to N83bn in favour of CCECC.

“Then we have the Igomu bridge, also an inherited project in a very critical condition. The bearings are gone. You have concrete-to-concrete contact, and a part of the bridge was also burnt. So, we had to do a total procurement to rehabilitate it. And it’s a total of N19.87bn in favour of Buildwell Nigeria Limited.

“We have one project in Umuahia to Aba by Arab Contractors, and that is the Aba section which was stepped down to be reviewed. But the project is 85% in completion.

“Then we have the last section of the Ikot-Ekpene road from Akwa Ibom, and it’s being done by Julius Berger. The project is reviewed from N54bn to N90bn and to be procured and executed in reinforced concrete.

“And we have the Ore-Ondo-Akure Road, which is under special intervention due to flooding. That is a 24-month duration for a total contract sum of N134bn in favour of CBC Nigeria Limited that will use concrete because of the terrain.

“And lastly, you have the Ofin-Oreta Road, Ikorodu in Lagos State, and that project is in favour of GRB for a construction period of 18 months for N27.9bn. That’s all that we got approval for today.”

Also briefing, Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, said the council also discussed fighting crime and corruption in the country.

He said: “As you all know, there are three stages. The first one is the investigation aspect. The second one is the prosecution of the sentencing and ensuring that you serve the sentence as a deterrence.

“Before now there have been what you called trans-border inhibitions, where somebody who is wanted in Nigeria, for example, goes beyond the borders of Nigeria to get him arrested. Suppose you need any document that is not within, but you know where he can be reached. How do we get this document? Somebody is trying to escape justice. How do you get him back? And after sentencing, some countries have policies that say, ‘Okay, let the convict come back home.’

“So all these three stages are being addressed. We will do it country by country, but for today, the ones dealt with were the ones concerning the kingdom of Spain, Nigeria, and the Kingdom of Spain. So we had three memos in quick succession, one dealing with the exchange of information, including investigation. We have an agreement which was signed way back in June 2022. So after the agreement, what the law requires is that you should come back and have it ratified. And it was presented to Council today, of course, and the president, sitting chair, passed it.

“The second one had to do with the exchange of assistance to bring back fugitives, people trying to escape from justice. So it is either you bring them to justice or take justice to them. So this second aspect of mutual assistance has been ratified.

“The third in the series has to do with after conviction, what do we do? Some will say, ‘Okay, if you have these convictions, can you bring the person back home to serve his sentence here?’ The same thing goes for anyone coming from, especially the country with which we have an agreement, in this case, Spain.

“So, we have an agreement that either way, we can exchange persons sentenced to either serve their sentence here or there. This has significantly shown that there is no hiding place for criminals. If they go outside the shores of the country, they can rest assured that the arms of the law are long enough to reach them.

“So these are the three memos from the Ministry of Justice which the FEC considered and approved.”