Minister of Works Arc. Mike Onolememen says Works past administrations are to blame for deplorable state of roads in Nigeria. The minister spoke on Friday at the Academy of Entrepreneurial Studies, AES, Excellence Club 3rd Annual CEO’s Dinner/Awards Night in Lagos. The minister said the poor state of the roads is inimical to the nation’s development, adding that the development of societies like America is due to the success in the management of its roads. He stressed the need for “Attitudinal change in management and financing of roads in Nigeria is needed to enhance development in our country,” and greater investments in the construction and maintenance of good road network to enhance the nation’s economy. To achieve the transformation agenda of the government and for Nigeria to be among the top 20 economies of the world by 2020, investments in road infrastructure are needed, the minister add.
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THE TRANSFORMATION AGENDA IN THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF WORKS:
A PAPER DELIVERED BY ARC. MIKE ONOLEMEMEN, FNIA, FNIM, FNMGS
AT THE AES EXCELLENCE CLUB MONTHLY BUSINESS LUNCHEON ON DECEMBER 7, 2012 AT EKO HOTELS & SUITES, VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS
Protocol
It gives me great joy to be with you today to deliver a paper on “The Transformation Agenda in the Federal Ministry of Works”. Your choice of topic is no doubt deliberate and timely in view of the federal government’s new approach to the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of road infrastructure under my leadership in line with the transformation agenda of Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR.
2. I have noticed the impressive membership of the AES Excellence Club which include seasoned administrators, and captains of industries, who have at different times, contributed to the social economic development of our dear country. I am also particularly glad to know that members of the Governing Board/Patrons are individuals who have distinguished themselves in various fields of endeavour. The fact that this august body stands for excellence, honesty, accountability, determination and patriotism, is further reassuring particularly when viewed from the determination of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s Administration to instill values that will change the business as usual mentality of the polity and transform the country for the good of all.
Road Development and the Transformation Agenda
3. The importance of roads infrastructure to the economic well being of any nation cannot be over emphasised. The connection between good roads and economic well being of a nation was made many decades ago by no less a figure than Former President John Kennedy of the United States of America who stated, “America is having good roads not because America is rich, but America is rich because it has good roads”. Can we say the same of our dear country Nigeria today? The obvious answer is No!
4. We have come to this sorry state of affairs in the governance of our road sector because the leadership of our country in the past four decades failed to develop the right attitude like former President Kennedy of the United States of America to road development. Therefore Attitudinal Change in Management and Financing of Roads in Nigeria, is needed to transform road development in our country. And I dare say that the time for this attitudinal change in the road sector is NOW! A paradigm shift has become inevitable in the development of roads infrastructure in our country, judging by our recent experiences of the near-collapse of our roads infrastructure. We need to reclaim our National Road Network from its dilapidated state and once again elevate it to an enviable state where it can help to promote national economic growth and prosperity.
5. The purpose of encouraging attitudinal change in policy formulation, management and funding of the road sector is to promote the development of good roads that can truly serve as the economic arteries of the nation. Our country needs to make Strategic Investments in Roads Infrastructure if the objective of the Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government to be among the top 20 Economies in the World by the Year 2020 is to be realised. It can therefore be seen that the current leadership of the Ministry was confronted with a situation that required urgent and far-reaching changes and reforms especially in the areas of policy, management and financing.
6. A look at some of the statistics indicates that Nigeria has an uphill task ahead of her. Nigeria has a total of about 194,000 km of roads. Comparing this figure to those of the United States of America (6,506,204 km); India (4,109,593 km); China (3,806,800 km); Brazil (1,751868 km); Turkey (352,046 km); and South Africa (362,099 km), enables one to better appreciate the enormity of the challenge that we face as a Nation in the road sector. For Nigeria to be among the first 20 Economies in the World, our road infrastructure needs to grow from 194,000km to about 300,000km. This will require huge investments by both the three tiers of Government and the Private Sector. This kind of investments cannot be possible if there is no attitudinal change in the policy formulation, financing and management of roads infrastructure in our country.
7. In realisation of the above, the Federal Ministry of Works under my leadership, has pursued passionately the reform of road sector institutions in line with international best practice, as to be able to attract funding from the Private sector. We took this line of action in the Ministry because we truly believe that a paradigm shift is inevitable in the road sector if we are to develop additional 100,000km in about ten years. We need a shift in Institutional Structures that will lead to the creation of a National Roads Fund and a Federal Roads Authority by legislation; a shift in the funding mechanism of road projects, from Public Sector to Private Sector driven; And a Shift from the present Palliative regime in road development where only a paltry sum is devoted to road development to being BOLD in our approach, through the pooling together of a wide range of finances (Government Yearly Budgets, Multilateral Agencies Funding, 5% Petroleum Tax, IVT Charges, Private Sector Fund, Road Bonds, ROW Revenue, Toll Charges, etc.) into the National Road Fund for the ambitious development of roads infrastructure in Nigeria. Since the 1970s, Nigeria has not been able to embark on major road development programmes that would help to accelerate economic growth in our country, and bring the nation’s economy at par with emerging economies such as Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and India.
8. It is a well-known fact that we have had to contend with deplorable road network in the country for many years now due to lack of adequate investment in road infrastructure by successive governments to ensure the sustainable maintenance of our national road network. The challenge posed by the deplorable state of our road infrastructure has seriously impacted the cost of transportation of goods and services in our country.
9. Earlier efforts by Government to maintain, upgrade and/or modernize the existing highways to international standard did not yield the desired result. The reasons for this are not far-fetched; they include paltry budgetary provisions, poor project planning and design, poor supervision of works, road abuses, bureaucratic bottlenecks and lack of political will in the past to entrench institutional and legal frameworks that would transform the sector in line with international best practice.
Institutional Restructuring
10 At the inception of the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration and on my assumption of duty as the Honourable Minister of Works, I identified a number of challenges facing road development in the country. These included:
· Inadequate Planning;
· Poor Design;
· Ineffective Supervision;
· Bureaucratic Project Management Structure;
· Lack of Strong Quality Assurance, and
· Inadequate Funding.
11. I moved quickly to address these challenges by restructuring the Ministry to provide the needed capacity through the decentralization of the bureaucratic project management structure which I inherited, for better delivery of road projects. Consequently, Mr. President approved the creation of six Zonal Directorates of Highways to better manage and supervise construction works on sites within the geopolitical zones. The administration also created the Department of Materials, Geotechnics & Quality Control, to carry out continuous assessment of materials with a view to ensuring that quality materials are being deployed on our road projects by Contractors. This has significantly enhanced the quality of works as well as better service delivery in the road sector.
12. Independent Zonal Monitoring Teams for the six geopolitical zones were constituted with membership drawn from the Private Sector to provide independent report on projects and activities in the zones. The Chairmen of these Zonal Monitoring Committees report directly to my office to ensure that uncensored and reliable information are passed on to my office, and thereby checkmate the excesses of any dubious staff in the handling of road infrastructure projects.
Strengthening of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency
13. The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency is saddled with the responsibility of maintaining all federal roads in the country. As part of its rejuvenated programmes for road maintenance, the Agency has commenced its Preventive Maintenance and Road Surveillance Programmes on major highways. Six mobile laboratories were acquired for material testing and quality control to guide against sub-standard works.
14. The Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) recently acquired 38 new FP5 Bergkam Pothole Patches for the effective maintenance of roads nationwide. The trucks have been deployed to major highways in the six geo-political zones of the country. FERMA has also commenced cold asphalt production with a Cold Asphalt Production Base at Kuje in Abuja. The agency has increased the number of road rehabilitation and repairs across the country since the inception of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. With FERMA’s emergence as a modern Road Maintenance Outfit, the issue of potholes on our roads will soon be a thing of the past, as the Agency recently flagged off a programme that will eliminate potholes from the Nation’s major arterial roads.
Road Sector Reforms
15. By far the most important policy intervention that will impact positively on the road sector under my leadership, is the reforms we are carrying out in the road sector.
16. Prior to my assumption of office last year, earlier initiatives to reform the road sector were not accorded the needed attention. In view of the Federal Government’s inability to wholly construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate and/or maintain roads in the country due to the global economic recession and its attendant consequences to our environment, I set up a Road Sector Reform Committee, comprising international experts, professionally experienced and credible Nigerians in October 2011. The Committee painstakingly reviewed existing institutional frameworks and policies on road infrastructure development in our country. The Committee’s Report, among others, recommended the establishment of the National Roads Fund and the Federal Roads Authority, all to be guided by independent boards. These bodies, when constituted, would strengthen our resolve to drive road development in Nigeria through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative and other funding models that are certainly global best practices in meeting road sector development funding challenges. The draft bills for the two bodies are currently being studied and reviewed before a formal presentation to the Federal Executive Council.
Benefits of the Reforms on Road Projects
17. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is pertinent to state that the ongoing transformation in the Federal Ministry of Works, has started to yield dividends which are obviously impacting on the socio-economic wellbeing of the people of this country. Works are currently ongoing in most of the road projects that were abandoned due to delayed and/or nonpayment of certificates prior to my assumption of duty. This is the result of our purposive interactions with the Contractors and our consistent efforts at ensuring that payments are made within available resources.
18. Specifically, some of the major roads on which the transformation agenda of the Federal Ministry of Works is progressively yielding desired results include:
1) The Benin-Ore-Shagamu Expressway
2) The dualisation of Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road
3) The Kano-Maiduguri road Dualization
4) The Onitsha-Enugu Expressway
5) The Ibadan-Ilorin road Dualization
6) The Kano Western Bye-Pass/Flyover in Kano State
Bridges
7) The Loko-Oweto Bridge
8) The 2nd Niger Bridge in Anambra/Delta States
9) The rehabilitation of Jebba Bridge in Kwara State, and
10) The Replacement of 8 No. Expansion Joints on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State.
19. Two weeks ago, the Federal Executive Council approved the continuation of the Abuja-Lokoja road dualization to Benin City, to connect the dual carriageways of the North-East, North-West and North-Central zones to those of the South-East, South-South and the South-West zones. This will ensure that, for the first time, Nigerians will be able to drive on dual carriageways from any of the six geo-political zones to any of the other zones in an unbroken chain/network of dual carriageways. This will also truly ensure the transformation of road transportation in Nigeria, which is one of the cardinal objectives of Mr. President’s transformation agenda.
Recovery of Road Washouts
20. The threats of Washouts and Gully Erosion on the nation’s roads have become a recurring decimal in parts of the country. The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Works has, through its transformation programme, risen to the challenge with prompt reinstatement of affected roads in the past one year. Notable among them include -
(i) Gombe-Potiskum road Washout in Gombe State.
(ii) Auchi-Okene road Washout in Edo State.
(iii) Onitsha-Enugu road Washouts at Km 6, km 30 and km 35 in Anambra State, and
(iv) Sokoto-Illela road Washout in Sokoto State.
21. Most recently, the country witnessed an unprecedented flood which adversely impacted on some federal roads and bridges and ravaged communities where vehicles, houses and other properties as well as farmlands were submerged, and agricultural produce destroyed. In particular, the Lokoja-Abuja Highway was cut-off at three different locations. My Ministry rose to the occasion by creating temporary alternative routes for motorists who were stranded in the areas. We are currently working round the clock to accomplish the task of reconstructing failed sections of roads and collapsed bridges/culverts as mandated by Mr. President during his national broadcast on the flooding.
Projects Funding by Multi-Lateral Agencies
22. To address the challenges of funding road projects, the Road Sector Development Team Unit was upgraded to a full-fledged Department. It was strengthened and repositioned to meet contemporary needs, including soliciting and managing funds obtained from multi-lateral agencies for road development projects in the country.
The Ministry under by watch is collaborating well with the Africa Development Bank and the World Bank, and has been able to enhance access to finance for the rehabilitation of the following critical road projects:
i. Ikom-Mfum Road
ii. Abakaliki-Ogoja Junction road
iii. Enugu-Abakaliki road
iv. Ogoja Junction-Ikom road
The final procurement for the Mokwa-Bida road and Akure-Ilesha road respectively are currently ongoing.
Additionally, fourteen (14) roads are variously undergoing periodic maintenance under the road development programme through the collaboration between Federal Ministry of Works and the World Bank.
Public Private Partnership Initiative
23. I inherited the Public Private Partnership Unit with no performing project. In view of the urgent need to reposition the Unit to meet the funding challenges in the road sector in the country, it was upgraded to a full-fledged department. It is no longer news that government alone cannot fund road infrastructural projects with the annual budgetary provisions.
24. The pressure on the Federal Government to provide additional kilometres of roads to the network and rehabilitate existing ones is presumably high, considering that federal roads serve as major arteries to economic centres like sea ports, airports, petroleum depots and refineries, and connect various States and important cities/towns. The dual carriageways linking the six geo-political zones are also owned by the Federal Government, and a major priority of the Federal Ministry of Works is to ensure that the six geopolitical zones are connected by unbroken chain of dual carriageways in good and motorable condition all year round.
25. To sustain this increasing demand for good and sustainable road network, it has become pertinent to involve the private sector as it is now fashionable all over the world. It is also important to note that roads all over the world are fast becoming big businesses because of the demand to keep them in perfect condition all the time.
26. It is in this regards that the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Works has been working round the clock to produce a private sector driven road development programme in Nigeria. We have been engaging the organized private sector and the international community on the need for them to invest in Nigerian road development programme.
27. Late last year, the Federal Ministry of Works called for Expression of Interests from willing private sector investors in the concession of the following projects:
i) The 2nd Niger Bridge linking Delta and Anambra States;
ii) Bridge Over River Niger at Nupeko, Niger State; and
iii) Expansion and Upgrading of Apakun-Murtala Mohammed International Airport road in Lagos State.
28. So far the responses have been very encouraging and the Federal Ministry of Works intends to deliver world-class road concessions on the above federal roads and bridges, among others.
Conclusion
29. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, you will appreciate therefore that change and reform have been very important components in our efforts to reposition the road sector since my assumption of duty. Indeed, we shall continue to make change and reform cardinal factors in our determination to foster a vibrant and performance based management environment, to drive road sector development in Nigeria.
30. The challenges of repositioning the Federal Ministry of Works with a view to providing good motorable roads in our country are enormous. I am, however, not deterred by the challenges but committed to ensuring that during my stewardship, there would not only be substantial evidence to show that development of road infrastructure can be executed in line with the Transformation Agenda of Mr. President, but to also ensure that efforts are institutionalized for the sustainable development of Nigeria’s road infrastructure.
31. Finally, I wish to assure all that we at the Federal Ministry of Works shall continue to work in ensuring that world-class roads infrastructure are developed in our country to help support real economic growth for the good of our people.
32. I thank you for your attention.
Arc. Mike Onolememen, fnia, fnim
Honourable Minister of Works
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