The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has disclosed that the East-West road would have been completed while he was Minister of Niger Delta. Senator Godswill Akpabio said stakeholders put a stop to construction work on the East-West road by holding a meeting with former president, Muhammadu Buhari, for the Ministry of Niger Delta to stop work on the road....READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE ▶▶
Speaking at Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Stakeholders Summit on Friday, in Port Harcourt, Akpabio disclosed that as a minister, the Ministry of Niger Delta secured ₦75 billion loan from Sukuk for the completion of the East-West road.
Akpabio said the stakeholders from Ogoni met with former president, Muhammadu Buhari and demanded that the East-West road construction be transferred to the Ministry of Works, headed by Babatunde Fashola.
The senate president said he was shocked by the meeting between Buhari and Ogoni stakeholders. He added that the Ministry of Work had no budget for the East-West road project.
Akpabio said when he took office, he met the road at 8 percent completion and was committed to ensuring the road was completed until Buhari ordered the transfer of the construction contract to the Ministry of Works.
In his speech monitored by our reporter, Akpabio said, “East-West would have been finished under my tenure as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, under the last administration, but some stakeholders, particularly from Ogoni extraction, led a delegation to meet with the then president, President Muhammadu Buhari, to inform him that they don’t want the Ministry of Niger Delta to complete the road. They want the road to be transferred to the Ministry of Work, at that time headed by Fashola. I was very shocked.
“We have just secured about ₦75 billion from Sukuk. That is why the road was transferred to the Ministry of Work that had no budget for that year. Even the ₦75 billion we secured from Sukuk was not used.
“From the day the Ministry of Niger Delta left the road, nothing has been done. We met the road at 8 percent.”
The Senate president disclosed this following appeal by Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, for President Bola Tinubu to focus on other roads like the East-West road that needed urgent intervention and not just the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway….READ FULL ARTICLE
