By Mashe Umaru Gwamna
Minister of Works Engr. David Umahi, has directed that every project must have Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria( COREN) registered engineer as the project manager.
This was contained in statement signed and issued by Director (Information)
Press &Public Relations Unit, Blessing Lere-Adams.
Umahi gave the directives on Monday when he, the Deputy Governor of Delta State, Chief (Sir) Monday John Onyeme and the Commissioner for Roads and Bridges in Edo State Osazemen Ethan Uzamere with some stakeholders toured some ongoing road construction works in Edo and Delta States .
During the joint inspection , Levant Construction Company that is handling some of the Federal Government road projects linking Edo and Delta States in Benin were directed by the Minister of Works to do the maintainance work of the construction of Benin – Sapele road at night and that work should start immediately, while the bad spots should be made motorable within 30days.
Umahi said “we have directed them to immidiately maintain the road , we are redesigning the road irrespective of the fact that they have gotten advance payment , we are redesigning the road on concrete , We have agreed with the commissioner of Works and Bridges in Edo State that the drains should be opened so that the water can go out in order for the contractor to maintain the road, I am giving the contractor 7days to come up with the new design so that we all look at it together”
The Minister said “ I have looked at the road projects from Abuja to Benin City , the intention of the past administration all the way from Abuja to Benin City , very wonderful intention I commend the initiative but Nigerians do not have value for all money spent on the roads, I was on the road for 14hours with all the securities attached to me and if I could be on the road for 14hours imagine what ordinary Nigerians are passing through without security , this is not acceptable “.
“Unless we change our procurement process, this country cannot move forward . I am very happy that Mr President is a man of infrastructure , he is a man that knows how every aspect of this country will be reset , I am very happy about that , and I will do everything within my power to support him” Umahi told the states stakeholders.
He said , “On the side of the contractors there are no good intentions , they don’t have enough personnel that are qualified , I have just directed that every project must have a Council for the Regualtion of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN )registered engineer to be the project manager for all contracts for every company on the road and the person must not have less than 15years on road construction and I have also directed that we shall no more do surface dressing on our road shoulders , I have directed that all projects must stop and be redesigned on concrete , the truth is that non of these roads that are built from Abuja to Benin will last more than 5years and that is very unfortunate , roads are failing because most of the contractors don’t do what is called penetration test , we also have adulterated bitumen , the bitumen imported into this country are adulterated , they should go to Ondo and Ogun State and develop our abundant bitumen there.
“We don’t want to put anybody out of business but we must develop our economy, they should employ our engineers; material engineers, geo technical engineers, surveyors, structural engineers and road engineers , every project should not have less than seven professionals supervising it for Ministry of Works, we are going to reset our road construction so that the people can smile again under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu” the Minister reiterated.
The Deputy Governor of Delta State, Chief (Sir) Monday John Onyeme after touring Benin –Sapele –Warri road , Sapele Roundabout , ongoing dualisation of Sapele –Ewu road , Sapele – Agbor road and Nigerian Port Authority roads in Delta State with the Minister at a press briefing said to the Minister “ Thank you for coming to see for yourself the importance of caring to do these roads , I do know that you have been tested , we have no fear that you will do it . We assure you of Delta State support and we will give you 100% cooperation”
Earlier in Benin, a community group known as Sapele Road Bypass Axis Group ( SARBAR) , through its Association General Secretary Pastor Moses Omo- Osagiede said “ We are happy with the visit of the Minister to Edo State on road inspection and we do hope that the maintenance work will be done quickly”
Similarly , a bus driver Mr Emmanuel Felix who volunteered to speak onbehalf of other drivers who ply Sapele Road Bypass Axis and the Benin –Sapele –Warri road regularly said “ we hope with the inspection of the road by the Minister and this team , the contractor will do a good job and not their usual fake road works”.
The Honourable Minister of Works was breathing fire We felt his passion to see that the fate of Nigerian roads moves from the “Party Makeup Mode” to the Functional , Lasting and Value for money mode.
This is commendable but truth be told it’s not going to be easy.
The minister went on to state that on every project there must be COREN certified engineers and when the projects fail those engineers mat have their certificates withdrawn. Well Said Sir.
But it’s important that we remind the Honourable Minister that this decision should not just stop with insisting on Professional Engineers. Yes, being his constituency it’s just natural he would say that. The Construction industry has other critical professions in play. Surveying, Architecture, Quantity Surveying, Building and so on. All these professions have inputs too and all of them like Engineering do not always have Professional on duty on these projects. The minister should look into this.
Honourable Minister Sir,. All these professions must have certified professionals on the projects. This will not be at any additional cost because their cost has been covered already by the project. If we are to have true accountability and ensure value for money. All professions must have certified professionals working.
Honourable Minister Sir. Land Surveying is a critical component of road construction and one tool to ensure you get what you are paying for. But a non professional Surveyor has his loyalty not to the profession, not to ethics but to the contractor paying. He has no certificate to loose and he certainly has no one to answer to.
2 inches of filling over a 100km road is a lot of money that goes into someone’s pocket and whose value does not go into the road
Sir as a matter of urgency expand that proposed meeting with COREN to include the regulators of the other professions in construction. Insist that contractors use only Registered and Professional Land Surveyors as well other professionals on projects as their work has been quoted and paid for.
When projects fail have all the professionals involved explain and prove they had no hand in it.
This way Sir you will achieve your goal and Nigeria would be better off.