FEDERAL MINISTRY OF WORKS

 *FEDERAL MINISTRY  OF WORKS*

*PRESS RELEASE* 

*09/12/2023*

The  Directors of the Federal Ministry  of Works have risen  from their 

 in-house budget defence with the Honourable Minister in preparation for budget defence with the Joint Committees  of National  Assembly slated for 11th December 2023. 

The Honourable Minister thanked the Acting Permanent Secretary and all the Heads of Departments who handled the Ministry's budget for their commitment  to the appraisal of the 2023 budget and  the preparation of the 2024 budget proposal.

 The Mininster noted that the road sector needed a different kind of attention beyond the 2024 budget envelope received by the Ministry.  For a developing nation like Nigeria, road sector development is a catalyst for economic development.  The road sector has the potential to improve the security sector, agricultural sector, trade and investment, health, education ,and, in fact, every aspect of the development of every nation. 

The Minister thanked very highly the President of the Federal  Republic  of Nigeria, *His Excellency, Senator Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,GCFR* for the attention given to the Ministry and his approval of  concrete pavement  in most of the 2024 projects. He stated that the  Ministry is committed to the development of  road  infrastructure in line with the Renewed Hope agenda of Mr. President. The Minister  noted the huge debts arising from unpaid certificates inherited from the past administration, which  runs up to N1.5 trillion up till date and the expected contract reviews arising from inflation. 

These two factors are recognized in the Ministry as issues that must be confronted in order to move forward. 

The Minister has, therefore, set up six committees of one committee per geopolitical zone to review all debts of unpaid certified certificates generated before May 29th, 2023, and from May 29th 2023 to date. The committees will also review the approved and unapproved variation of prices and all augmentations that were approved or are yet to be approved and make recommendations to the Ministry's management. The Ministry has exposed these debts and all reviews in the  Ministry to Mr. President’s economic team and also to the Federal Executive Committee on road sector funding. It is believed that the  internal works through these constituted committees  will help them to use external Consultants to reverify the works so that concrete decisions will be made to move the Ministry forward.

Contractors who are being owed are requested to approach these committees with all documents to back up their claims from Tuesday 12th 2023 to Friday, 22nd of December 2023 from 9 am to 7 pm at the Honourable Minister’s Conference Room,  1st floor, Federal  Ministry  of Works,  Headquarters, Mabushi Abuja.

The Minister again thanked Mr. President very highly as well as  National Assembly and pledged their commitment in  using judiciously whatever fund allocated to the Ministry and such funds must impact on the road infrastructure  improvement.

The entire Directors of the Ministry pledged for a renewed vigor in  the supervision of the projects, and the results are already evident. 

*Hon. Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji*

Chief Press Secretary to the Honorable  Minister of Works