The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has described the ₦800 billion allocated to the ministry in the 2025 budget proposal as inadequate to fix the country’s road infrastructural needs.
According to The PUNCH, Umahi, a two-time governor of Ebonyi State, disclosed this on Friday at a 2025 budget defence session, hosted by the House Committee on Works.
He called on the committee to consider reviewing the ministry’s budgetary allocation in the 2025 fiscal year upward.
“We plead with you to help us. N800bn cannot do anything for us. It cannot address our road needs and so we plead with you to help us,” Umahi said.
He urged the committee to give the ministry adequate funding to enable it to complete ongoing projects as well as commence work on new projects spread across the country.
Umahi added that the number of road projects the ministry intended to fix couldn’t be funded from the ‘meagre budget envelope,’ stressing that borrowing money to fix the country’s infrastructural needs for the greatness of the nation was a step in the right direction.
“When the nation is in recession, you have to borrow money and do infrastructure. That is how you come out of a recession. It is the infrastructure that is going to be a catalyst for economic activities and then this hunger we are talking about will be a thing of the past. The food sellers will be there, those doing sharp sand, those doing gravel and so on. Support Mr President and let’s borrow money and do this infrastructure so that Nigeria will be great again,” Umahi said.
Umahi has also ordered the dismantling of speed bumps on federal roads to reduce accidents and improve traffic flow.
BusinessDay reports that Umahi disclosed this at a two-day retreat for Federal Ministry of Works Highway Engineers and Managerial Staff on Friday in Abuja.
According to Umahi, most speed bumps across the country were wrongly built causing accidents and delays on the road. “I came through one of the federal routes and for a journey that is supposed to last like one hour within that stretch, it lasted like three hours because every 20 metres you will see a bump.
“Although there is nothing wrong with speed bumps in certain designated locations. But there is an approved technical design for bumps. There are also allowable locations for bumps and that is what we want to do. So the National Assembly has directed that these speed bumps should be dismantled.
“Some speed bumps are high, touching the bottom plates of vehicles; that is not desirable. It defeats the aim. So, this is what we are saying; and that is what the national assembly is saying, the ministry as well as motorists want them to dismantle it.”
