Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola, has said that peace must dominate the environment for the completion of the East-West road a critical national and regional infrastructure that would drive trade and boost the economy.
Fashola said the Ministry of Works and Housing was re-taking the task after a 13-year long period after it handed over the same job to the Ministry of Niger Delta.
Fashola said this on Wednesday during the handover of the project by the Minister of Niger Delta, Goodwill Akoabio, to the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, a statement from the Deputy Director, Press & Public Relations, Stephen Kilebi, stated.
The statement reads: Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio handed over the project back to the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
At the handing over Fashola said, “It is an uncommon act because it is the decision of the Federal Government of Nigeria that this project that started then in the Ministry of Works be transferred to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and thirteen years after the President directed that the project be handed over to the Ministry of Works and Housing for completion.”
Accordingly, the Works and Housing Minister said that peace is needed within the host communities for the project to be delivered. “One condition for any project to take place is communal peace. If we don’t have peace there, we cannot do anything,” he said.
While appealing for peace, collaboration and sacrifice from the communities, Mr Fashola also urged representatives of the various communities at the event to take the message back home that peace is needed to deliver the project.
The statement continued, “Progress has been made from 2009 till date no doubt but unfortunately that progress is not reported because of the passion with which the uncompleted part has been reported.”
Fashola directed the Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary in his Ministry, Engr Chukwunwike Ogbonna Uzo to constitute a requisite team from the Ministry to undertake an actual assessment with the contractors.
“This was important so that the Ministry will be able to sign off in the proper engineering and civil construction terms at the point the Ministry is taking over, adding that Mr President will be briefed on the progress of work done so far.
Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio said that in order to fast track the completion of the project, the people of Ogoni Land demanded that the project be supervised by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing which has much more experienced professionals in terms of engineering services.
Akpabio explained that the project was awarded in 2006 by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo and that as of 2022 Sections 1-4 of the project are eighty per cent completed.
“As we hand over the East-West road to you today, about 80% of the project has been completed and the situation today is that it is easy to drive from Port Harcourt to Yenagoa in under fifty minutes.”
On the length of the road, he said it is a 328-kilometre road that starts from Effurun in Delta State and transverses the Niger Delta, Rivers State and ends up in Oron in Akwa-Ibom State, while Section 5 of the road is from Oron to Calabar in Cross River State.
On Funding, the Minister said that the sum of 10.4 billion naira was awaiting release and that he had directed that the money should be released to the East-West Road Account to be controlled by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.
