- Akpabio: ‘I want to deliver a road that will last’
- N15bn can’t be spent on one project out of 300 projects in Niger Delta, Say Reps
By Gbenga Abulude (Politics and General Desk)
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the House of Representatives on Tuesday differed over the sum of N15bn set aside for the East-West Road in the 2021 appropriation bill.
The amount represents about 79% of the ministry’s budgetary provisions for 2021.
The House Committee on Niger Delta affairs queried why a whopping N15 billion was earmarked for the road construction and the balance of N4 billion for other projects to be carried out by the ministry.
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The lawmakers said the budget should have been youth-friendly, in view of recent development and destruction of infrastructure during the #EndSARS protests across the country.
Akpabio, in his defence of the N15b East-West road allocation, said the sum was earmarked because of the importance of the road project to the Niger Delta region and his mandate to deliver a long-lasting road before the end of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2023.
The former governor argued that it was better to complete the East-West road which had been abandoned for years despite its significance to the country’s economy, rather than having many uncompleted projects under the ministry, sighting the example of
12,000 abandoned projects undertaken by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
He said: “I want to deliver a road that will last. You may not like my state, but look at my records. The road I did 13 years ago in my state is still standing. There are no potholes in any of them.
“I have a lot of hope that I will deliver same in the Niger Delta.We will provide you with the details of the designs. I have not allowed any single variation because I have not seen the kind of quality of work I would have loved to see. There was one that entered into the Federal Executive Council and I had to step it down.
“I have not yet presented a single variation. Let them do the original work so that we see because this thing has taken too long. From 2006 till date.
“When I was not part of government, I used to think that the road was over-priced. But now, that I’m a part of government, I think it was adequately priced. It’s just that the aggregate has gone up in terms of materials.
“For that road, I think it started with Afri-NEXIM to Africa Development Bank, and tried to go to Sovereign Wealth Fund. But not one Naira was released for that.
“I believe that working together, we can take N15b and spread all over and yet we will finish this administration without completing a single road. So, let’s just close our eyes and do something.
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“Even the N4b you’re talking about, we put some in youths empowerment and skill acquisition. But if there’s any major project that we think we should do, let’s do it, otherwise we will be like NDDC (Niger Delta Development Commission) that has about 12,000 abandoned projects across the Niger Delta yet they’ve spent trillions.”
But, members of the committee disagreed with Akpabio, insisting that the N15 billion was too colossal and massive for one project at a time like this in the country when the youths are crying for youth-friendly programmes in the Niger Delta region.
The Committee members insisted that the National Assembly can’t close its eyes to the crying the needs and agitations of the youths across the constituent states of the Niger Delta region, especially at this point in time.
Chairman of the committee, Hon Essien Ayi, said: “The East-West Road has been there for over 14 years. We just finished with EndSARS and we know what happened. The whole of my state capital was turned upside down. The kind of devastation that I saw there would have taken us about 10 years back.
“If the budget is youth-oriented, then why are we going to use N15 billion for the East -West Road. I listened to the news where the Senate President(Ahmad Lawan) warned that we should be careful that if this thing resurfaces, it’s going to be very devastating.
“So minister, we have over 300 projects in Niger Delta. So, how are you going to allocate such amount of money to this kind of project? It’s not possible. We will not do it.”
Another member of the committee, Hon Edim Eta, said, ”If you’re budgeting N15 billion for the East-West Road, are you saying that only N4 billion is left for other Niger Delta projects. I don’t think that’s fair.
“I believe the bulk of the funding that’s coming in 2021 should go to youth programmes.. We all witnessed the EndSARS protests. All these were from frustrations of staying at home due to ASUU(Academic Staff Union of Universities) strike and unemployment. So how can you say only N4 billion out of the total budget of the Niger Delta will go to other projects.
“Hon. minister, I don’t think that’s a good idea. If the East-West Road has been taken from the Sovereign Wealth Fund, then, the provision for that N15 billion should have been done separately to cover that.”
After much debate on the matter, the committee went into a closed door session. It was gathered, Akpabio might appear before the committee at a later date to offer more explanations on the capital estimates of the ministry.
The minister had earlier explained that because of the importance of the East-West Road to the economy of the country as well as the people of the Niger Delta region, the ministry would work with relevant agencies to source for funds to complete the project by the end of 2021.
