From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, yesterday, hit the ground running as he inspected the long-abandoned Abuja-Lokoja and Lokoja-Benin Highways with a promise to complete the projects in weeks.
Shortly after meeting with the management of the ministry, heads of agencies and parastatals as well as contractors and stakeholders, the minister said that his priority was to ensure that those projects are complete in a record time.
Meanwhile, upon assumption of office on Monday, Umahi gave the indication to kickstart with a tour of road projects across the six geo-political zones of the country.
The former governor of Ebonyi State also charged engineers to embrace the use of concrete technology amidst forex challenges and petroleum crises and declared that his office would encourage the use of concrete technology and patronise local content in building roads so as to stir economic growth.
According to him, his major business is not to stay in office but in the field. He sought the co-operation of the management and staff towards making the change envisaged by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda a reality.
After receiving the briefs from stakeholders, the Minister who restated his position on standard, concrete, and local content, expressed his readiness to work with contractors and support them, adding that he would not condone delay in delivery.
He also vowed that under his watch files would not stay beyond two hours before they are treated.
‘’Under my leadership, no file will stay for more than two hours. In two weeks, I will be in the field and I will settle down only when I have seen that the files have piled up. We will activate local content during our tenure in the administration,” Umahi said.
Also speaking, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Senator Gbenga Ashafa, thanked the minister for his commitment to turn around the sector for national development. He pledged full support of the agencies and parastatals to enable him succeed.