Niger Gov Begs FG on Minna-Suleja Road

In an effort towards  ensuring safety, enhancing socio-economic activities  and reducing road accident, Niger State Governor, Alhaji  Abubakar  Sani Bello has pleaded with the Federal Government to complete the abandoned dualisation of Suleja-Minna Road.

Governor Sani Bello  made the plea during an inspection visit and interaction with  key officers of the Company handling the project, Salini Nigeria Limited, and stakeholders , at a failed section of the road at Bonu Village in Gurara Local Government Area of the State.

 The Governor who expressed concern over the present condition of the road which is a Federal road, said something urgent needed to be done to address the situation.

He explained that the state Government has made several effort in maintaining the road but did not yield the desired result due to volume of traffic, heavy  duty vehicles and lack of routine maintenance of the road since it was constructed over two decades ago.

“Even though , it is a federal road, we have tried as a state Government to fix it. Indeed, I directed continuous maintenance  of the road, but due to high volume of traffic, heavy duty vehicles and age of the road,  it didn’t last long. It is clear that considering the strategic importance of the road,     the final solution is  for the federal government to complete the dualisation project started over 6 years ago. ” the Governor appealed .

 “it is absolutely necessary that Federal government through ministry of works intervene  as a matter of priority.  Ordinarily the journey from Minna to Abuja which is about 1 hour 30 minutes,  now takes  over 3 hours  resulting in discomfort,  and waste of human resources. “

Governor Sani Bello therefore appealed to the Federal Government to expedient action through adequate budgetary allocation to enable the contractor complete the road in record time.

Earlier in his explanation, the Project Manager, Engr Paolo Campanella disclosed that inadequate funding was responsible for slow pace of work adding that only 20per cent has been released for the project since it started .

“The project is suffering inadequate  budgetary provision. Only 20 percent of funds have so far been released. The total cost of the project Phase I and Phase II, is N34 billion naira, but in six years only  N6 billion naira   was released which is inadequate.”

The project manager who expressed delight over the interest shown by Governor Sani Bello revealed that the project was designed to be completed in 3years.

“This is a project of 30 months duration. Phase I was awarded at end of 2010 and suppose to be completed in July, 2013 now the time has elapsed redoubling the contract period”. Phase II, was  awarded in February 2015, although,  there was no mobilisation to kick-start the work and largely due to the outstanding debt we have in phase I, we couldn’t go ahead with the project.”

In their remarks, former caretaker Chairman , Gurara local Government, Alhaji Yakubu Garba, and District Head of Bonu, Alhaji Ibrahim Baba Shaba appreciated and applauded Governor Sani Bello for maintaining the road and assured of him their  support  to government policies and programmes.

Even though, about 70 per cent of Federal Capital Territory,FCT, was carved out of  Niger state, it is the only state close  to FCT  which has not been linked by dual carriage way.  Kaduna, Nasarawa and Kogi have all been linked  to the FCT by  dual carriage way.

Jibrin Baba Ndace

Chief Press Secretary