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FG to construct Super Highways on Abuja-Lagos, Port Harcourt-Lagos
The Federal Government is planning two super highways across the country through a Public Private Partnership scheme.
Minister of Work Dave Umahi disclosed this to the State House Correspondents on Sunday after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
He said that the highways would be from Abuja to Lagos and Port Harcourt to Lagos, adding that they would be provided with state of art facilities for the comfort of the travelling public.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that super highways are designed for travel at high speeds, having more than one lane for each direction of traffic, a safety strip dividing the two directions.
The minister said that the government has got commitments from stakeholders to make the project a success within reasonable period.
Umahi also disclosed that the president was briefed on the need to seek better appropriation for the funding of road projects to avoid unnecessary variations in cost and specifications.
He said that the National Assembly would be carried along to see the necessity of providing enough fund to road project that are beneficial to the people.
He also said that due to inappropriate funding, he has asked the president to direct the termination of road projects that have taken more than 10 years without completion.
The minister assured Nigerians that no project initiated by the past administration would be abandoned by government.
He said that the Tinubu administration inherited 2,604 projects worth N14 trillion covering 18,000 kilometres of roads, adding that a commitment was got for payment of four trillion out of this amount.
The minister added that the government was also committed to the use of reinforced concrete for road pavements across the country.
Concrete, he said, is capable of withstanding heavy loads, such as heavy vehicles, with less deformation and serves for years without major repairs.
Several factors affect concrete pavement performance, such as traffic, soil, environmental, economic and stress distribution factors.
He said that the merit of these would be the use of local materials and elimination of imported items which has been the cause of contract variations in the country..
On the structural defects on the Third Mainland bridge, Umahi said that work has started and articulated vehicles had been stopped from plying it for now.
The Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN has warned against obstructing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from carrying out its lawful duty .
Fagbemi’s warning is contained in a statement in Abuja.
“This is a matter of very grave concern, it is now beyond doubt that the EFCC is given power by the law to invite any person of interest to interact with them in the course of their investigations into any matter, regardless of status.
“Therefore, the least that we can all do when invited, is not to put any obstruction in the way of EFCC, but to honourably answer their invitation.
“A situation where public officials who are themselves subject of protection by law enforcement agents will set up a stratagem of obstruction to the civil and commendable efforts of the EFCC to perform its duty is to say the least, insufferably disquieting’’.
He added that running away from the law will not resolve issues at stake but only exacerbate them.
“Nigeria has a vibrant judicial system that is capable of protecting everyone who follows the rule of law in seeking protection.
“I therefore encourage anyone who has been invited by the EFCC or any other agency to immediately toe the path of decency and civility by honouring such invitation instead of embarking on a temporising self-help and escapism.
“This can only put our country in bad light before the rest of the world’’.
He said institutions of state should be allowed to function effectively and efficiently.
“I stand for the rule of law and will promptly call EFCC, and indeed any other agency to order when there is an indication of any transgressions of the fundamental rights of any Nigerian by any of the agencies’’.
NAN reports that the EFCC had on Wednesday warned members of the public that it was a criminal offence to obstruct officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties.
Section 38(2)(a(b) of the EFCC Establishment Act makes it an offence to prevent officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties. Culprits risk a jail term of not less than five years.
The warning , the EFCC said, became necessary against the background of the increasing tendency by persons and groups under investigation by the Commission to take the laws into their hands by recruiting thugs to obstruct lawful operations of the EFCC.
On several occasions, the anti graft agency said, operatives of the Commission have had to exercise utmost restraint in the face of such provocation to avoid a breakdown of law and order.
Some unknown gunmen have kidnapped Joshua Rogers, the ChannelsTV reporter in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Politics Nigeria learnt that Rogers was picked up close to his residence at Rumuosi in Port Harcourt and to an unknown destination by the gunmen around 9pm on Thursday, April 11.
The reporter was driving his official ChannelsTV branded car when the hoodlums accosted, pointed a gun at him and took him away in the same vehicle.
Rogers was said to be returning from his official assignment in Government House after a trip to Andoni for a government event when the incident happened.
Already, the gunmen were said to have contacted his wife and demanded a N30million ransom for bis release.
His cameraman confirmed the incident and appealed to his abductors to set him free unconditionally.
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