According to reports, the House of Representatives Committee on Works on Thursday, threw its weight behind the Minister of Works, David Umahi, over his insistence on constructing concrete roads in place of the age-long tradition of using asphalt.
The decision to back the minister’s position was taken at the inaugural meeting of the committee at the main bowl of the National Assembly in Abuja.
The move is coming on the heels of Umahi’s appeal to aggrieved foreign contractors to stop sabotaging the implementation of concrete road technology in Nigeria.
Although the minister was reluctant to mention the culprits, he vowed to clamp down on contractors cheating the federal government and Nigerians on low-quality asphalt, denying them value for money.
But Chairman of the committee, Akin Alabi, assured in a statement issued on Thursday that an effective oversight will be carried out at the Ministry of Works to ensure there is value for funds appropriated for road construction and rehabilitation in Nigeria.
He said the use of concrete may be considered and adopted by the committee for road construction against the use of asphalt which had led to a deplorable state of road infrastructure in the country.
“With oversight of the Works Ministry and its agencies, there will be visible transformation on our road infrastructure. As you are all aware, Order 20 (b), Rule 109 of the Standing Orders of the House established the House Committee on works with jurisdiction as oversight of the construction and maintenance of federal roads and bridges.
“This committee in this 10th Assembly needs to be much more proactive considering the myriads of challenges on our road infrastructure. As most of you must have watched with keen interest, the revelations coming from the minister of works from his tour of various road projects across the country, I do not doubt that our job is well cut out for us.
“As a parliament of the people, our intervention is very crucial to ensure that we ameliorate the sufferings of our people on the roads. We, as a committee, must come up with legislation, policies and interventions that will improve the situation on our road infrastructure. On every sitting day in the House, the committee receives nothing less than two to three referrals on motions from members drawing attention to road infrastructure in their constituency, calling for attention. There is no doubt that the situation of our road infrastructure is highly deplorable.
“That is why we need to swing into action immediately. Though the last government carried out some initiatives, policies and interventions on road infrastructure, we need to review some of these ideas and determine their workability or effectiveness in addressing our general concerns.
“In line with the legislative agenda of this 10th Assembly, this committee will collaborate effectively with the ministry of works and its agencies to promote interventions that will bring about, rapid transformation on our roads,” he stated.
