The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has ordered MTN to pay N15bn monthly to contractors handling the construction of the Enugu–Onitsha Expressway or face contract revocation.
The minister gave this order during a courtesy call by a delegation from the Anambra and Enugu caucus of the 10th National Assembly who came to seek the Federal Government’s intervention on the completion of the construction of the Enugu–Onitsha Expressway handled by RCC Ltd and funded by MTN under the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme.
This was disclosed in a statement issued Thursday night by the Special Adviser (Media) to the Minister of Works, Uchenna Orji.
“It was resolved, among other things, that the Federal Ministry of Works would write the MTN to demand that it commit irrevocably to pay contractors on the project a minimum of ₦15bn every month for the next 10 months to enable them to fast-track the completion of the road, failing which the ministry would initiate the termination process of the project. It was further resolved that MTN would need three contractors to do the 79km within the original contract sum of ₦202bn.
“Furthermore, the remaining 72km of the road shall be awarded to other contractors through due process. MTN and RCC would be invited to bid too. The ministry lamented that what MTN is doing is not in line with the Tax Credit Executive Order,” the statement stated.
It added, “It was noted in the meeting that the delay on the job, which was due to poor funding and poor contract execution, had resulted in over a 100 per cent increase in the project cost, and to allow MTN more than 11 months on the job could further push the contract to increase by over 200 per cent and this is unacceptable to the Federal Government.”
The minister, who expressed deep sympathy over the lives that have been lost in the uncompleted sections of the expressway, especially the recent incident of a tanker explosion on the Ugwu Onyema axis of the road that killed scores of people, stated that the people of the South-East had every reason to have implicit confidence in the ability and will of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to address the road infrastructure deficits in the South-East and other geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
He stated that under Mr President, the South-East has been given a pride of place in the political landscape of Nigeria.
He said, “Again, we should also be grateful to Mr President. Since he became President, we’ve not heard about farmers and herders clashing in the South-East. Mr President inherited 2,064 projects, totalling about N13tn, and today, those projects will be over N20tn, because of the floating of the naira and the removal of the fuel subsidy. It’s nobody’s fault. But by his good heart and commitment to rewriting the story of this country, he will make Nigeria great again.
“And so, we want the National Assembly members, and of course, South-East stakeholders, to please stand up and commend the President at all times, because this is not a party thing. And I can beat my chest and say that irrespective of party, no other person will have the heart to do what Mr. President is doing for the people of South-East.”
Speaking during the event, the leader of the delegation and Minority Whip of the Senate, representing Enugu West, Osita Ngwu, commended the minister for the scale of road construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance nationwide; however, he expressed worries that some of the projects were not receiving adequate funding required for completion in a record time.
He said, “The Enugu–Onitsha Expressway was awarded to RCC and funded through the tax credit, and today, some sections of the road have become a death trap to road users. The delegation was compelled by the recent tanker mishap on the Ugwu Onyeama axis of the road in Enugu State to visit the minister. Federal lawmakers are ready to offer necessary collaborations and cooperation that would help in tackling the challenges and bottlenecks faced by the ministry in ensuring the completion of the said road.”
On his part, the senator representing Anambra Central in the Senate, Victor Umeh, pleaded with the President to give accelerated intervention on funding to the roads in the region so that the zone could fully benefit from the economic development agenda of the Renewed Hope administration.
He said, “While I joined my brother and colleague, Senator Osita Ngwu, in thanking the President for a worthy choice of Senator, Dave Umahi, to be the Minister of Works, he couldn’t have made a better choice based on his experience and what he was able to do as Governor of Ebonyi State through engineering infrastructure in that State.
“Through our oversight functions, we’ve been able to move around Nigeria in the various committees that we serve, and we’re able to see the great works the President is doing in Nigeria to transform our transportation infrastructure through ambitious road projects and railway projects across Nigeria.
“We are from the South-East of Nigeria, and while we applaud the great strides the President is making to see that our roads are good and our railway infrastructure is actualised, we want to plead, on behalf of our people, that the South-East should be given accelerated attention because of the infrastructure deficit we’ve had before he came on board.”