Senate summons Fashola for abandoning major highway in northeast

The Senate on Wednesday directed its Committee on Works to summon the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, for abandoning the Mararaba-Mubi-Michika-Bama road despite the payment of N1.6 billion to the contractor.

This followed a motion by Senator Elisha Ishaku (Adamawa North) who said no meaningful progress has been made on the road that spans between Adamawa and Borno states except the construction of drains and culverts.

The Red Chamber mandated the committee to investigate the level of work done and why the project was abandoned and report back in two weeks.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his concluding remarks, said “The Committee on Works will actually investigate by calling on the Ministry of Works to appear before it and find out why the road is abandoned.”

Senator Ishaku, in a lead debate, said economic and social lives in Adamawa and Borno have been affected because the bad state of the road has made movement almost impossible.

This, he said, has made residents susceptible to Boko Haram attacks.

He suggests that the project should be revoked and re-awarded to another contractor.

Seconding the motion, Abba Moro (Benue South) said across the country, road contracts are abandoned with contractors not held to account.

“Most contractors especially the local ones get contracts just to grab what they want. We need to investigate it as part of our legislative intervention,” Moro said.