Directors under the Federal Ministry of Works, have put in place modalities in readiness for the 2024 budget defence with the joint committees of the National Assembly come November 11th, 2023.
The Honourable Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi is to lead the budget defence before the Lawmakers.
A statement on Sunday, the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, Hon. Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji, the minister lauded 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.
Umahi explained that the road sector needed a different kind of attention beyond the 2024 budget envelope received by the Ministry.
The minister noted that for a developing country like Nigeria, road sector development is a catalyst for economic development, adding that the sector has the potential to improve security, agriculture, trade and investment, health, education, and every aspect of the development of every nation.
The Minister while applauding highly the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the attention given to the Ministry and his approval of concrete pavement in most of the 2024 projects.
Nothing 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, amounting to N1.5 trillion up till date, saying the expected contract reviews were arising from inflation.
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.
According to the statement, 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 President Tinubu as well as the National Assembly and pledged their commitment to using judiciously whatever funds allocated to the Ministry and such funds must impact the road infrastructure improvement.
