Akure – Nigeria’s Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, says the outgoing administration of Muhammadu Buhari will not stop working until the midnight of May 28.
Fashola stated this on Thursday in Akure, the Ondo State while flagging off the reconstruction and dualisation of the 49-km Akure/Ado-Ekiti road .
The road contract was awarded at a cost of N90 billion to Samchase Nigeria Ltd. and Kopeck Construction Company.
The road reconstruction and dualisation works are expected to be completed within the next 24 months.
“People are asking why we are still awarding contracts when we have just a few days to go.
“Should we stop this road now and wait for the next government?
”It is a juvenile conversation. They forgot, among other things, that the term of this administration ends at midnight on May 28.
“This road really represents the paradox of governance, about roads, and about public debts,” Fashola said
While commenting ion the delay in awarding the contract, the
minister said “all kinds of stories have been told about me, but none of them bothers me.
“They just dedicate me to my job and tell me to do it as best I can.
“All lies have been published that Fashola does not like Ekiti and Ondo states.
“That is absolute nonsense.
“There were suggestions that we should asphalt and rehabilitate the road, and I said no, that we will dualize the road and we are going to reconstruct.
“Before we could do that, we had to first do the design, which took some time.
“But many were ignorant about this. It is not as easy as it looks.”
The minister explained that infrastructural development could only be actualised through borrowing or taxation, saying that the project cost of N90billion would be taken care of by the NNPCL through the tax credit policy of the federal government.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Transport, Ademola Adegoroye, praised Fashola for his efforts at ensuring that the construction of the road commenced.
(vitalnewsngr.com)
