From Adetutu Folasade-Koyi and Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana, has assured that the East-West Road would be completed soon.
He said 291 out of the 338 kilometres dual carriageway has been completed. He said 41 bridges have also been completed with two deck on pile bridges substantially completed by the ministry before the road project was transferred to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in 2021.
The minister, however, said the implementation of the project had to do with appropriation, saying yearly appropriation to the ministry was inadequate to support the execution of the project.
He said the finance ministry came up with the tax relief scheme to ensure completion of the road project.
Umana stated this when he presented the Buhari administration’s 2015 to 2023 scorecard in Abuja, yesterday.
He said having lingered for so many years, it was important that the cost for the East-West road project be reviewed.
He explained that recently, the Federal Government approved the variation cost for the sections of the East-West Road that were still outstanding, including the Onne to Eleme section which had been outstanding and had been a matter of contention and controversy.
“So, with that variation cost now approved and with the special arrangements made to use special funds to complete this project, I believe it is a matter of time to have the closure on the East-West Road. I can say so confidently,” Umana stated.
The minister said that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had completed a total of 553 projects and programmes between 2015 and 2022. Some other projects are ongoing at different completion stages in the nine states of the Niger Delta Region,” he said.
He said in the agricultural sector, 10 projects were delivered in 2016; 35 in 2017; three projects in 2018, while 2019, 2020, and 2021 witnessed 52, six, and 57 projects respectively.
In the area of education, 10 projects were delivered in 2015, 24 in 2016, 10 in 2018, while seven were delivered in 2019, seven in 2020 and eight in 2021.
Focusing on environment, Umana stated that 106 projects were executed in 2017, three in 2018, four in 2019, while 2020 witnessed two projects.
In the years in focus, Umana said the region had 29 projects delivered in the health sector; 66 in the housing sector, 21 in orientation and information, 31 in water sector, and 62 projects in the field of works.
In the aggregate figures, Umana disclosed that Abia State got 33 projects; Akwa Ibom, 55; Bayelsa, 27; Cross River, 71; Delta, 65; Edo, 51; Imo, 73, Ondo, 55, and Rivers State 26 projects.
Information minister, Lai Mohammed, disclosed that the Federal Government is working closely with META, owners of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; to safeguard the integrity of the 2023 general election.