Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa
Obviously reacting to grumblings in Nigeria’s oil-producing areas about the imbalance in the allocation of the N621 billion road intervention fund approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday gave a breakdown of what each region will get during the projects’ implementation.
Some Niger Delta groups, especially the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) had earlier in the day, raised questions over the matter, stressing that the projects were unfairly distributed, especially since the resources come from the region.
Of the 1804.6 kilometres of roads to be fixed, the entire South got about 455 kilometres, while the Northern region was allocated 1,347 kilometres.
On Wednesday, FEC approved the N621.2 billion for the NNPC to take over the reconstruction of the 21 federal roads across the six geopolitical zones of the country during a meeting presided by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The approval was in response to the threat of a strike action by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), which decried the loss of its members and properties to dilapidated roads.
Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who spoke after the FEC meeting, said that the approval was in line with Executive Order No. 007 of 2019 cited as the companies income tax (Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme)
In all, he explained that the selected roads were 1804.6 kilometres, stressing that it was a strategic intervention.
The minister explained that the order allows the private sector to deploy in advance the taxes they would pay for infrastructure development, adding that nine of the selected projects were in North-central, three in North-east, two in North-west, two in South-east, three in South-south, and two in South-west.
But the aggrieved youths argued that while for instance, the Bida-Minna road, in Niger State covers a distance of 791.1km, within the same Niger State, the entire Niger Delta region has only 81.9km designated to be fixed.
In addition the angry youths listed the reconstruction of the Bida-Lambata Road of about 125km, Mokwa-Makera-Tagina-Kaduna state border of 164km, Illorin-Jebba, Kwara State of 110.8km, Bali-Serti road in Taraba State of 110km as some of the roads in the North which will be reconstructed.
The leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Central Zone, expressed discontent over the non-inclusion of Bayelsa State, especially in the approved 21 roads.
Chairman of the group in the area, Clever Inodu, faulted the NNPC for “channelling all the available resources without recourse to connecting major petroleum activity destinations to the rest of the country.”
But a release titled: ‘Cost/Spread of Roads by NNPC Under FG Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme’, signed by spokesman of the organisation, Garba Muhammad, last night indicated that the 81.9 kilometres in the South-south will gulp about N172 billion of the funds.
The 252.7 kilometres to be covered in the South-west will take N81.8 billion, the 122 kilometres in the South-east will consume N43.2 billion, while the North-central’s 791.1 kilometres will gulp N244 billion, North-east’s 273.3 kilometres will take N56.1 billion and the North-west with 283.5 kilometres will have N23 billion respectively.
“The NNPC once again expresses its appreciation to FEC for its timely approval of the take-off of the project and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for its support,” the statement noted.
Typically, it costs more to build infrastructure in the Niger Delta because of the nature of the land, which is mostly riverine as against the north which has mostly plain dry land.
