Nigeria’s Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola has said that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has accomplished what the United States government is trying to do in terms of infrastructural development.
He assured Nigerians that all ongoing road projects would be completed before the end of Buhari’s second term in office.
The minister spoke yesterday in Kano during the “APC Conversation Series”. The series is the ruling All Progressives Congress’s initiative to create awareness on its achievements in the last seven years, The Nation reports.
Fashola, who also inspected the Kano-Katsina highway, said: “I can assure you that the present APC administration of President Buhari has achieved what even the U.S. government is trying to do in terms of infrastructure.
“As at December 2021, we had completed 941 kilometres of roads across all states and geopolitical zones.”
He said the ministry is now on the border between Kano and Katsina states, with work ongoing on the Katsina boundary section.
He explained that the Buhari administration has been making progress in road construction amid challenges.
Fashola said: “In Kano state here for instance, there are 21 road projects in or around the neighbouring communities.
“Before the APC administration, when last did you remember the Federal Government completing a 50 kilometre road in any part of the country?
“So, this is the positive change we promised Nigerians in 2015 and it is already happening. They say we are the same with them, but we are not. They stole money and took it abroad, but we are taking this money back and investing it in the area of infrastructure.
“Presently, there are 850 ongoing projects under the ministry of Works, including road/bridge constructions as well as houses in 34 states of the federation.
“We are doing everything possible to make sure all the urban roads like the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, 2nd Niger Bridge, Kaduna Western bypass, Kano-Maiduguri road and many more in the Southern and Eastern parts of the country are completed before the expiration of PMB’s tenure.
“With the coming of the present administration seven years ago, there have been serious commitment in infrastructural development and that is why the federal government disbursed most of its resources on payment of contractors.
“This is so because the most legitimate way to reach out to the common man is by settling contractors who will in turn pay their workers to stimulate the economy.
“However, there are challenges but we are making progress, as you have heard from our controllers of the Kano section.”
The minister urged governors to cooperate with them “as we expect cooperation from them so we can provide the needed infrastructure that will connect the states for speedy development of the country”.
____
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2022 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
