By Roland Ike, Abakaliki
Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi has urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to investigate all abandoned federal roads projects in the state.
Nwifuru made the call on Saturday while receiving his predecessor, the Minister of Works, Chief David Umahi who is on tour of federal roads in the state.
The governor said Ebonyi was the only state in the country which does not have an ongoing federal road project as existing ones should not be abandoned.
“You just highlighted three federal road projects in the state as the constructing firm handling one of them was disengaged by a past administration for poor job execution.
“We lost a serving local government area chairman on the road it constructed
only for the federal government to re-engage it in the state.
“The federal government has paid it N2.6billiion out the N2.8 billion contact sum for this present job and we would not allow anyone to ride over us in such manner.
“The state and zonal representatives at the ministry of works are culpable for failing to effectively supervise jobs in their areas.
“We want to know who generated, signed certificates and approved works for such roads and what are the qualifications of the resident engineers?”
Nwifuru also urged the federal government to address the issue of road construction by ministries and other entities not connected with construction.
“A situation where the ministries of health, agriculture, water resources even institutions of higher learning construct roads is worrisome.
“Road construction should be left to the ministry of works which has the manpower and equipment to construct durable roads of high quality.
“The funds that were supposed to be allotted to the ministry of works are no longer available due to multiplicity of roads projects,”
He however expressed optimism that Umahi with his ingenuity in construction will solve the numerous problems facing the construction sector in the country.
Umahi in his response, commended the governor whom he described as his product, for his policies towards bringing democratic dividends to the people.
“We are touring federal roads across the country to ascertain their status and be assured that such roads in the state would be given due attention.
“We are propagating the message of using concrete on our roads and directing relevant officials of the ministry to identify with governors for effective monitoring of roads.
