The Federal Government has declared a state of emergency on the Suleja-Minna Road in Niger State.
This decision was announced by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, during a road inspection on Saturday.
Umahi explained that the road project was initially awarded to Salini Nigeria Limited, but the work was either done poorly or abandoned.
Despite more than a year and a half of efforts to get them to repair the road, the company has been unresponsive.
The minister said the intervention was a direct result of concerns raised by Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, to President Bola Tinubu.
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Umahi described the road as being “in a very terrible situation delaying travel time by seven hours instead of an hour and half hours and vehicles are falling and killing people.”
He declared the road’s sections one and two as “emergency projects” and emphasized the urgency of the situation. “When we go through due process and award the job, if the contractor waits for one day for mobilisation, I will terminate it because it’s an emergency one,” he warned.
“If you cannot trust us to start work immediately and then we will now process your mobilisation, then you don’t want to be a partner in the new Nigeria that President Tinubu is developing.”
Umahi noted that the project was inherited from the previous administration, but the problem lies with the contractors, who were funded but produced a failed job. He also revealed that despite the poor work, some individuals were still lobbying for Salini to continue the project, calling it “wickedness.”
He stated that the contract with Salini has been “irrevocably terminated due to the bad work,” and the ministry will seek intervention from the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to recover government funds if the company does not comply with directives.
“There is no going back. This fight is a fight for Nigerians, and we have no regrets doing this,” he declared.
The minister also announced that two new contractors are now working on the road.
He said the governor had already awarded a portion of the road to CCCC International Engineering Nigeria Ltd. as part of his urban renewal plan. Umahi said the road is about 103 kilometers, and with the dualization, it covers a total of 206 kilometers, out of which the governor has completed about 60 kilometers.
He gave CCCC a 10-day ultimatum to mobilize and begin work on the most critical seven-kilometer stretch, noting that under the “emergency procurement” process, “work begins first, then pricing is verified by the Bureau of Public Procurement.”
