Is the Minister of Works all talk no work?

It is a legitimate question that could be on the lips of many a beleaguered traveller on our public highways. The question was also on my lips last week when I travelled on the Abuja-Kaduna federal highway.

Whenever I drive out to Kaduna from Abuja my preferred route is the shortcut through Dutsen-Alhaji which goes on to Bwari and on reaching Jere join the highway coming from Suleija. It was a smooth ride to Jere that Tuesday morning last week but on hitting the highway leading to Kaduna, the nightmare unfolded. Jere is, also, the point where you meet the abandoned road construction works which would go all the way to the tip of Kaduna.

That morning the Kaduna highway was chocked with long vehicles heaving with all manner of goods with their destination as those industries outside Kaduna, or Zaria, Kano or even further up north. Many of these long vehicles cluttering the highway carry combustible items, petrol, gas and diesel. Smaller cars, like the one I travelled in, are inexorably sandwiched.

Running a few kilometres from Jere, the entire traffic from all directions gets merged into two lanes on a stretch that is so rough and constricted that whenever there is a breakdown of a vehicle the attendant traffic hold-up could take hours to unravel. And it didn’t get any better as the two-lane ride continued for almost the entire journey. One only got some relief a few kilometres to what used to be the Kaduna tollgate.

The rot in the condition of our public highways has been with us for as long as many of us can remember.

The Kaduna-Kano highway is one of the most important arteries in the country leading to most of the state in the northwest and northeast. Over the years much of the road degraded and with rising banditry on the highway, motorists became easy targets to the bandits in the failed portions. It was therefore a great relief when some five or six years ago the Buhari administration decided to give a contract for resurfacing the road.

Somehow due to one challenge or another, President Buhari could only deliver the Kaduna-Kano stretch. He failed to deliver the Kaduna- Abuja end of the project. By the end of his tenure last year the most important part of the road Abuja-Kaduna had been made largely impassable and much worse than he found it.

Nevertheless, at the onset of President Bola Tinubu’s tenure, I saw a glimmer of hope with the appointment of David Umahi as the Minister of Works. I looked at Umahi’s CV and concluded that President Tinubu was not just dispensing a sinecure appointment to him but was procuring a square peg to fill in a square hole.

David Umahi had served as a two-term governor of Ebonyi State where he was adjudged to have acquitted himself creditably. He is an engineer and while as governor made the provision of infrastructure, along with mega projects, a priority. Of particular note is that he had constructed more than 5000 roads on concrete pavement.

I also found out from some other sources that before his public service engagements he had been a building contractor and in that private capacity was associated with highway construction. That I considered a plus because his predecessor was a lawyer and his performance by even the most generous adjudicator would not be more than so-so.

My initial assessment of David Umahi soared even higher when I saw him hitting the ground running. He was all over the media shown visiting many highway construction sites and making the right noises, here and there, berating contractors and civil servants alike. He was a regular visitor to the Abuja-Kaduna highway.

In one of the visits early this year, he announced with deliberate finality that the highway would be completed within this year.  He said that the ministry is ready to conquer all contractual obstacles and ensure the delivery of the project for the benefit of Nigerians before the end of 2024. A few days later the story changed. During a visit, along with his Finance counterpart, Wale Edun, he said that the highway would be completed within the next 24 months.

Since then, there has been silence on the Abuja-Kaduna highway project. I had hoped that with the improvement of the security situation on the road and the cessation of rain, the Ministry of Works and the contractor would seize the opportunity and make progress.

However, there seemed to be little work going on that road when I passed through it last week. To make matters worse the quick fixes that were done some time ago have all vanished under the relentless battering of the long vehicles. The craters and potholes are back in place. More quick fixes need to be applied before the rain returns.

Maybe it is too early in the day to assess the minister with such harsh undertones. Probably he had underestimated the lot to handle these highway projects, particularly funding. And despite the apparent amity between Umahi and his Ministry of Finance counterpart, some hard realities are obstructing the flow of funds to the Ministry of Works. Then we should tarry awhile before we make further judgement.