The Minister of Works, Arc. Mike Oziegbe Onolememen in his presentation on the mid-term achievements of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan in the transformation of the road sector in Nigeria, at the 2013 ministerial platform, said the Federal Ministry of Works has made significant strides in road development since the inception of the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR in 2011.

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PRESENTATION BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF WORKS,

ARC. MIKE OZIEGBE ONOLEMEMEN, FNIA; FNIM; FNIS ON THE

MID-TERM ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR, IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ROAD SECTOR IN NIGERIA AT THE 2013 MINISTERIAL PLATFORM

Protocols

The Federal Ministry of Works has made significant strides in road development since the inception of the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR in 2011. By May 29, 2011, Nigerian roads were described as death traps and many road projects were abandoned, while a number of on-going projects were moving at snail speed. It was a nightmare to travel on Nigerian roads. Clearly, the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR and the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Works were confronted with a situation that required urgent and far reaching changes and reforms especially in the areas of policy, management and financing of roads infrastructure in Nigeria. A paradigm shift became inevitable in the development of roads infrastructure in our country. The management of the Federal Ministry of Works under my leadership felt the urgency to reclaim the National Road Network from the state of disrepair this administration met it and elevate it to an enviable state where it could once again help to promote economic growth and national integration.

About two years on, Nigerian roads can no longer be described as “death-traps” due to the remarkable improvement in the condition of the roads as a result of the unprecedented rehabilitation, construction and expansion of major arterial highways under the leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR. Today, travel times between origins and destinations on most of these arterial routes have been drastically reduced. Also maintenance costs of vehicles have been reduced as a result of improved driving surfaces, devoid of potholes that hitherto put “holes” in the pockets of vehicle owners due to frequent repairs occasioned by bad roads. Critical stakeholders in the road sector have publicly acknowledged the breath of fresh air in road transportation in our country due to the improved condition of our roads. One of the transport companies in our country, ABC Transport Company recently slashed its fares in a widely circulated advert in The Punch newspaper of Monday, May 20, 2013 with the caption, “The Roads Are Getting Better” and gave its reason solely as the marked improvement on our arterial roads! This is one of the outcomes of the Transformation Agenda in the road sector.

When this Administration assumed office on May 29, 2011, it made a conscious decision to complete major road rehabilitation projects in the country that were either on-going or abandoned and to scale up maintenance works on Federal roads across the country. The “Operation Safe Passage” embarked upon by the Ministry in the 4th quarter of 2012 led to the recovering of failed portions of Federal roads across the country; from Ilorin to Jebba, Lafia to Makurdi, Aliade to Oturkpo, Oturkpo to 9th Mile, Enugu to Port Harcourt, Kano to Katsina, Lokoja to Okene, Okene to Benin, Lagos to Ibadan, and Odukpani to Itu. Many other Federal roads criss-crossing the length and breadth of our country have been maintained these past two years. Following the successes recorded in the past two years, Nigerian roads have again truly become not only veritable economic arteries supporting economic growth, but also a tool for National integration.

DETAILED MID-TERM ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF WORKS

In 2011, in order to make the management of the nation’s road network and on-going projects more effective and efficient, the two highway departments (Highway, Planning & Design and Highway, Construction & Rehabilitation) were restructured into twelve departments, namely:

1) Highways, Planning and Development

2) Highways, Road Design

3) Highways, Bridge Design

4) Highways, Materials, Geotechnics and Quality Control

5) Highways, Public Private Partnership (PPP)

6) Highways, Road Sector Development Team (RSDT)

7) Highways, Construction & Rehabilitation-North Central Zone

Highways, Construction & Rehabilitation-North East Zone

9) Highways, Construction & Rehabilitation-North West Zone

10) Highways, Construction & Rehabilitation-South East Zone

11) Highways, Construction & Rehabilitation-South West Zone

12) Highways, Construction & Rehabilitation-South-South Zone)

This restructuring exercise and the management training that followed brought about an attitudinal change in the Ministry, anchored on the transformation of the workforce into a well-motivated and empowered one, ready to put in its utmost best far beyond expectations.

In order to enhance checks and balances and promote transparency in road development projects, six (6) Zonal Ministerial Independent Monitoring Teams, made up of membership from the private sector were set up by me in the 3rd quarter of 2011, to monitor construction and rehabilitation efforts in the zones and based on their findings, provide independent quarterly reports on projects in the zones to my Office. This has become a reliable project management tool in the administration’s efforts to improve service delivery in the road sector.

With this new structure in place, the Federal Ministry of Works, under my leadership, has been able to make momentous improvements on the rehabilitation, reconstruction and expansion of the Federal Roads Network in these past two years. Thus far, we have completed 32 Nos. road projects covering about 2,000 km and many more are nearing completion.

The 32 Nos. road projects completed during the period under review include:

Completion of the Dualization of Ibadan-Ilorin road section I (Ibadan - Oyo) in Oyo State.
Completion of the Reconstruction of Vom-Manchok road in Plateau State.
Completion of the Repairs of 3rd Mainland Bridge (Phase II), covering additional works for the replacement of 8Nos. Expansion Joints in Lagos State (This was completed 10 days ahead of the scheduled completion date).
Completion of the Dualization of Onitsha-Owerri Road (Section I) and Onitsha Eastern Bypass, in Anambra State.
Completion of the Rehabilitation of Uba-Mbalala road in Borno State.
Completion of the Rehabilitation of Funtua-Gusau-Sokoto road (section II: Gusau-Talata Mafara) in Zamfara and Sokoto States.
Completion of the Rehabilitation of Obiozora-Uburu-Ishiagu Road in Enugu and Ebonyi States.
Completion of the Access Road to the Kaduna Refinery in Kaduna State.
Completion of the Rehabilitation of Efon-Alaaye-Erinmo-Iwaraja road in Ekiti and Osun States.
Completion of the Rehabilitation of Katsina-Daura road in Katsina State.
Completion of the Rehabilitation of Ijebu Igbo-Ajegunle-Araromi-Ife-Sekona Road (Section II), in Ogun State.
Emergency reinstatement of collapsed section of Gombe-Potiskum Road, (at KM 12) in Gombe State.
Rehabilitation of Jebba Bridge in Kwara State
Rehabilitation of Otukpo-Oweto Road in Benue State
Rehabilitation of Wukari-Takum Road in Taraba State
Rehabilitation of Okija-Uli-Oguta Road in Imo State
Asphalt Overlay of 2km Access Road to the Federal Science & Technical College in Edo State.
Rehabilitation of Hadejia-Nguru Road Phase I (Hadejia-Krirkasama Section) in Jigawa State
Completion of the Rehabilitation of Access Road to the Warri Refinery in Delta State.
Completion of the Dualization of Access Road to Onne Port in Rivers State.
Construction of Gombe-Bypass in Gombe State.
Rehabilitation of Aba-Owerri Road in Abia State.
Reinstatement of Washouts at km6+750, km30+400 and km35+325 along Onitsha-Enugu dual carriageway in Anambra and Enugu States.
Emergency reinstatement of Washout/Gully erosion at KM127+000 at Auchi along Okene-Benin road and Km14+000 along Auchi-Agenebode road in Edo State.
Construction of Langtang-Lalin-Tunkus-Shendam Road in Plateau State.

Rehabilitation of old Oyo-Ogbomoso road in Oyo State
Rehabilitation of Omuo-Ifaki road in Ekiti State.
Rehabilitation/Reconstruction of Lafenwa Bridge in Abeokuta in Ogun State.
Rehabilitation of Gombe-Numan-Yola road, Section II: Numan-Gombe in Adamawa and Gombe States.
Rehabilitation of Otta–Owode road in Ogun State.
Rehabilitation of Mararaba-Pambeguwa-Saminaka-Jos road section I (Mararaba-Panbeguwa) in Kaduna State.
Rehabilitation of Mainchi-Anka-Daki Takwas road in Zamfara State.
Periodic maintenance of Jebba-Lafiaji Road in Niger State.
Periodic maintenance of Takai-Albasu-Gaya Road in Kano State.
Periodic maintenance of Nafada-Gombe Abba Road in Gombe State.
Periodic maintenance of Hong-Mubi Road in Adamawa State.
Periodic maintenance of Okpala-Igwurita Road in Imo State.
Periodic maintenance of Ado-Ilumoba-Agbado-Ikare Road Section A in Ekiti State.
Periodic maintenance of Dingaya-Galambi-Rungo Road in Sokoto State.
Periodic maintenance of Rumukurshi-Chokocho Road in Cross River State.
Periodic maintenance of Akure-Owo Road in Ondo State.
Periodic maintenance of Ado - Ilumoba - Agbado - Ikare Road Section B in Ekiti State.
Periodic maintenance of Kurfi-Chiranchi Road in Katsina State.
Periodic maintenance of Lafiagi-Mokwa Road in Niger State.
Periodic maintenance of East-West-Odi Road in Bayelsa State.
Periodic maintenance of Lafia-Doma Road in Nasarawa state.

NIGERIAN ROAD DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (NRDP) UNDER THE ROAD SECTOR DEVELOPMENT TEAM (RSDT)

Under our collaboration with multilateral agencies (the World Bank, AfDB, JICA), the following road projects have been completed:

Reconstruction and Pavement Strengthening of Ikom-Mfum Road in Cross River State
Reconstruction of Abakaliki-Mbok (Ogoja Junction) in Ebonyi and Cross River States.

While the following projects are ongoing:

· Enugu-Abakaliki Road

· Ogoja Junction-Ikom Road

The Federal Ministry of Works is also embarking on major on-going road projects including the dualization of major arterial highways in the country. These include:

Dualization of Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road in FCT and Kogi State.
Dualization of Kano-Maiduguri road in Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Yobe and Borno States.
Dualization of Lokoja-Okene-Benin road in Kogi and Edo States.
Rehabilitation of Apapa-Oshodi expressway in Lagos State.
Construction of Loko-Oweto Bridge over River Benue with approach roads in Nasarawa and Benue States.
Dualization of Suleja-Minna road in Niger State.
Rehabilitation of Benin-Ore-Shagamu expressway in Edo, Ondo and Ogun States.
Rehabilitation of Sokoto-Jega-Kontagora-Makera Road in Sokoto, Kebbi and Niger States
Rehabilitation of Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi Road in Kano State
Rehabilitation of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway in Lagos and Ogun States
Rehabilitation of Ilorin-Kabba-Obajana road in Kwara and Kogi States
Rehabilitation of Abakaliki-Afikpo Road in Ebonyi State
Rehabilitation of Calabar-Ugep-Katsina Ala Road in Cross River and Benue States
Rehabilitation of Vandekiya-Obudu Cattle Ranch Road in Benue and Cross River States, and many more.

Very impressive progress has also been made in these on-going dualization and rehabilitation projects. The example, the journey from Benin to Lagos which hitherto took upwards of nine hours in 2011, now takes between three to four hours. Travel time between Abuja and Lokoja has equally improved from an average of four hours to about two hours. Sections of Apapa-Oshodi road which were in deplorable condition in 2011 are now wearing new looks. Travel time on Kano-Maiduguri road has also been reduced by half in the completed sections. In the same vein, while travel time from Owerri to Onitsha is down from two hours to just forty-five minutes, it now takes only about six hours to travel from Owerri to Lagos from an average of fifteen hours it took in 2010.

With these improvements, maintenance costs of vehicles have been drastically reduced, thereby increasing the purchasing power of vehicle owners. Not only that; the progress made in the last two years in our road development programme has led to a reduction in the rate of accidents on our roads. For example, our interventions in constructing reinforced concrete balustrade and crash barriers in Ovia River Bridge in Edo State and Tamburawa Bridge in Kaduna State, have addressed the incidences of vehicles plunging into the river with high casualty figures which became a weekly occurrence in both bridges in 2011. This same model is being replicated in other impacted bridges across the country.

The construction of a new bridge over River Benue at Loko-Oweto is becoming a reality, as the structural members are fast springing up from the under-waters. During my recent visit to the project site on May 22, 2013, about 115 Piles have been drilled and 1 No. Reinforced Concrete Abutment, as well as 15 Nos. Piers have been constructed. This project which is currently at 25% completion, is progressing satisfactorily and ahead of schedule.

Ladies and Gentlemen, following the floods experienced last year in some parts of the country, and its adverse effects on road infrastructure, the Ministry intervened in the following washed out road infrastructure:

1) Construction of 2 Nos. bridges at CH.11+850 (two span) & CH.12+850(three span) along Kano – Katsina road in Katsina State to replace the collapsed 7 cell and 11 cell box culvert respectively.

2) Reinstatement of Washout on Bridge approach & Embankment at CH.0+100 along Shendam-Yelwa-Ibi Road in Plateau State.

3) Reinstatement of Embankment Washout at CH.15+025 along Langtang-Lalin-Tunkus-Shendam Road in Plateau State

4) Reinstatement of washout and reconstruction of collapsed triple cell culvert at 4th Interchange, Enugu-Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway in Enugu State.

5) Constructions of 75m span bridge at Kolo, along Yenegoa-Kolo-Nembe-Brass Road, with Spur to Kolo town, Bayelsa state.

6) Reinstatement of washout sections along Irrua-Illushi Road in Edo State

7) Reinstatement of washout on Lokoja-Abuja Highway at Banda in Kogi State, and many more.

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS

The ministry during the period under review embarked on the procurement of the following projects using the Public Private Partnership model:

1. The Second Niger Bridge in Anambra and Delta States

2. Apakun/Oshodi–Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road in Lagos State

3. Nupeko Bridge Across the River Niger in Niger State.

While a successful bidder (Julius Berger-AIIM Consortium) has been announced for the 2nd Niger Bridge and pre-contract works have started on the bridge, the process for the selection of the successful bidders in the other two projects is ongoing and a preferred bidder each will be announced for the projects by July 2013.

ROAD MAINTENANCE BY FERMA

Road maintenance under the Federal Ministry of Works is carried out by the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA). In the last two years, FERMA has been repositioned and equipped with state of the art Mobile Pothole Patchers and its capacity enhanced for prompt intervention on federal roads. Two Nos. Asphalt Plants was acquired by FERMA some years ago and abandoned, have been installed and commissioned in Kuje and Lagos. Five others are being installed in Enugu, Ikot-Ekpene, Osogbo, Gombe and Funtua to serve the needs of FERMA in its road maintenance activities across the country.

Since the beginning of this administration, FERMA has been involved in the recovering of road washouts, general maintenance and vegetation control in some federal highways in the country. In 2012 alone, a total of 1, 980 km of road corridors were maintained by the Agency while an area of 1,337,343 square metres of pot-holes have been patched. Some of the notable corridors maintained by the Agency (FERMA) in the past two years, include:

1. Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road

2. Jos-Bauchi Road

3. Asaba-Benin Road

4. Okene-Auchi-Benin Road

5. Sapele-Agbor-Uromi Road

6. Mbiama-Yenegoa Road

7. Lafia-Makurdi Road

8. Katsina-Dutsinma-Kankara Road

9. Okene-Kabba-Omuo-Ekiti Road

10. Kajiji-Gimi Road

11. Gusau-Talata Mafara-Sokoto Road

12. 9th Mile-Obollo Afor-Otukpa Road

13. Onne-Port Harcourt Road, and

14. Otukpa-Anyagba Road

With FERMA’s preventive maintenance policy, coupled with the road surveillance campaign, many more corridors will be maintained in the next two years. In addition, over 4,000 youths have been engaged, mobilized and trained by FERMA on road maintenance and are currently carrying out maintenance works in most of our road corridors under the SURE-Programme.

NEW POLICY INITIATIVES

Within the past two years, the Federal Ministry of Works under my leadership has implemented a number of policy initiatives that promise to positively impact on service delivery in the road sector in the years ahead. Some of these policies include:

1. Abolition of the use of cut-back bitumen (MC-1) and its replacement with bitumen emulsion, thereby freeing kerosene for domestic usage and promoting environmentally friendly construction methodologies in road projects.

2. Introduction of a new project management template that makes provision for the valuation of only permanent works in Interim Statements/Certificates, thereby deepening performance management approach to road development, and mitigating frequent augmentation of projects consequent on wash-out of on-going road projects, and

3. Introduction of the of the “Safe Passage” policy that ensures that road corridors on subsisting contracts are maintained and made motorable by Contractors throughout the duration of the projects.

ROAD SECTOR REFORMS

In the past two years, the Federal Ministry of Works under my watch, has pursued relentlessly the reform of the Road Sector, to bring it in sync with its counterparts in other parts of the World as to fully professionalize road development in Nigeria, and provide better services to road users in our country in line with international best practice. Already, the National Council on Privatization (NCP) has approved the proposed Road Sector Reform Bill and will be transmitted to the National Assembly after approval by the Federal Executive Council.

It is pertinent to state here that once the Reform Bill is passed into law, it will lead to the establishment of a Road Authority and a Road Fund, which will help to ensure better funding of road projects in our country.

CONCLUSION

Distinguished stakeholders, Ladies and Gentlemen, if the purpose of Government is the pursuance of happiness for the greater number of citizens, clearly, the Government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, has achieved this purpose through the transformation of the road sector these past two years. Today, our citizens are able to travel happily on our roads from one part of the country to another without the uncertainty of arrival that hitherto marked road transportation in Nigeria by 2011 when this Administration came into being.

Looking ahead, the next two years hold even bigger and bolder promises for Nigerian road users, as the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Works strives to deliver two new bridges across the two great rivers that define our country – the River Niger and the River Benue: I am referring to the 2nd Niger Bridge at Onitsha-Asaba over the River Niger and the Loko-Oweto Bridge across the River Benue. Not only that; the Government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, will also complete the on-going dual-carriageway projects across the country that will have the salutary effect of enabling our citizens to travel from one part of the country to another, without regards to their geo-political zone of residence, in an un-broken chain of dual carriageways.

Distinguished stakeholders, Members of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, the transformation of the road sector in our Country, is on an irreversible forward movement, and it is already yielding good fruits. While many more dividends will follow as we make more progress on this journey, I wish to state unequivocally that for Nigerian road users, better days are here again!

I thank you for your attention.

Arc. Mike Onolememen, fnia; fnim; fnis

Hon. Minister of Works

Federal Ministry of Works

Abuja

3rd June, 2013


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