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The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has commended the Ministry of Works for jobs done on Federal Government roads. The NANS talking on infrastructure projects inspected across the North-West Zone presented their report to the Minister at the Ministry’s Conference Hall, Mabushi, Abuja, by the President of NANS, Mr. Akinteye Babatunde Afeez.
The assessment followed a nationwide student-led inspection initiative aimed at enabling Nigerian students to obtain first-hand information on the progress, quality and relevance of Federal Government infrastructure projects.
The NANS President, however, revealed that the students identified areas where additional interventions could further enhance the impact of some projects. Among the recommendations contained in the report was the provision of pedestrian infrastructure around educational institutions located close to major highways, as well as the construction and improvement of access roads linking some major Federal highways to citadels of learning. He stated that NANS would continue to undertake similar assessment exercises in other parts of the country and communicate its findings to the Ministry.
One of the students who pleaded anonymity appealed to the Minister to focus more on the dilapidated roads across the country arguing that the terrorists were able to rampage because the roads were in bad shape. He argued that the amount of money used by the Federal Government in building new roads that have not been in use could be enough to repair at least four-fifths of all the damaged roads in the country. “Time is money and anything that could result in any one spending ten hours when he should spend four hours should be prevented before it gets beyond repairs. People are now spending more hours of production traveling to places of work and having fewer hours for production,” he said.
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Upon receiving the report, Minister Umahi commended NANS’s leadership and the participating student representatives for embarking on the tour, describing the initiative as a responsible demonstration of youth participation in national development. He reiterated that the Federal Ministry of Works welcomes constructive assessments from students, civil society organisations and other stakeholders, noting that such engagements provide the Ministry with unbiased feedback on projects and help identify areas requiring further attention.
According to him, the Ministry has continued to open its project sites to stakeholders and independent observers to enable them to assess ongoing and completed projects and gain a better understanding of the scope, quality and progress of work being undertaken by the Renewed Hope Administration of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Umahi assured that the Ministry would carefully study the observations and recommendations contained in the NANS report and take appropriate action, where necessary. He specifically directed relevant Directors in the Ministry to note the students’ recommendations on access roads and pedestrian safety around educational institutions, including the request for a pedestrian bridge at the Federal Cooperative College area of Kaduna.
Presenting the report, the NANS President, Mr. Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, disclosed that the students embarked on the inspection tour because they considered roads leading to educational institutions an important component of the infrastructure required to support access to education. He said the North-West leg of the exercise covered major road projects across Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara States. Among the projects inspected, according to NANS, were the Kano Northern Bypass; Kano–Kwanar Danja–Hadejia Road; Kano–Maiduguri Expressway; Dualisation of Kano–Katsina Road; Kaduna–Zaria–Kano Expressway; Zaria-Funtua–Gusau-Sokoto Road; Kaduna (Mando)–Birnin Gwari Road; Kaduna–Pambegwa–Jos Road; and other Federal road projects across the zone. On the reconstruction of Kaduna (Mando)–Birnin Gwari Road, the students described the project as strategically important to interstate connectivity and access to communities and educational institutions.
Babatunde said the delegation observed that several of the roads inspected have a direct impact on students by improving access to campuses, reducing travel difficulties, and strengthening connectivity between educational institutions and surrounding communities. He commended the quality and scale of work observed at several project sites, particularly the detailed attention given to road pavement construction, the adoption of continuous reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) technology, drainage infrastructure, subgrade preparation, and the installation of solar-powered streetlights along selected corridors.
