Lafia-Makurdi Road: Umahi Apologises to Tinubu, Blames Concessionaire for Negligence
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, yesterday apologised to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian people for the disruption of traffic due to the flooding that occurred along the Lafia-Makurdi road when he (President) travelled to Benue on June 18.
Umahi said he has, therefore, directed the immediate deployment of the ministry’s personnel and the maintenance team of China Harbour Operations and Maintenance Company, concessionaire for the Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi road to come up with a permanent solution to the flood disturbances along the road.
Earlier, there were reports that during Tinubu’s condolence visit to Benue state, the event was impacted due to the heavy flood that submerged sections of the Lafia-Makurdi highway. A video broadcast from the scene showed a security convoy stranded in the rising waters along the major route.
But in a statement in Abuja signed by the minister’s spokesman, Uchenna Orji, the minister condemned what he described as the negligence by the concessionaire, whose duty under the Highways Development Management Initiative (HDMI) of the federal government is to operate and maintain the road.
“We have got information on the unfortunate flooding of a section of Keffi-Makurdi road which is under HDMI, that is, a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with China Harbour. We know that the project has been completed and it is tolled.
“But unfortunately, there was a lot of debris that covered an existing culvert there and that led to flooding. But in the midst of that rain, we deployed our ministry of works personnel in Makurdi and also China Harbour personnel and they went to the inlet of the culvert and removed all the debris and the flood has been totally evacuated. That section of the road has been reinstated,” Umahi stated.
He directed the concessionaire to critically assess the primary cause, provide a permanent solution to the flooding along the carriageway, and take all necessary steps to prevent future occurrence.
“We apologise very profusely to Mr. President and Nigerians for the embarrassment this unfortunate incident caused him and Nigerians,” the minister stressed.
He commended the President for his intervention in the incident in Benue state, noting that it has made a lot of impact in the lives of the people of the state.
Speaking earlier during a visit by the Managing Director of Citibank Nigeria Ltd, Nneka Enwereji, the minister highlighted some of the initiatives of the federal government under the present administration to improve the quantity and quality of the road assets in Nigeria.
“We have had a very fruitful meeting, and I am very happy that the efforts of Mr President on external inflow is yielding desired results and that the international community has commended him very highly on his transformative reforms,” he stated.
Also speaking, Enwereji expressed the willingness of the bank to partner with the federal government through sustainable investment and funding in the development of the four legacy projects.
“We are here as Citibank to discuss how we can effectively partner with you, to know the project you are undertaking, and see how we can leverage the access that we have to support some of those projects and make a positive impact to the progress of the country.
“We want to discuss some of the specifics and some of the projects that we are already looking at in the country. We are very impressed with the big strides that you are making and we want to support that as much as we can,” she was quoted as saying.
