The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said that Nigerians are going through a tough time because of the new naira notes policy, saying he does not have cash.
The former two-time governor of Lagos stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
Fashola said that the new policy is not working at the moment.
𝕹𝖔𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕽𝖊𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝕸𝖊𝖉𝖎𝖆 reports that Nigerians have continued to queue at Automated Teller Machine (ATM) locations or pay high withdrawal charges to Point of Sale (PoS) operators to get the new naira notes.
ActionAid seeks permanent solutions to naira, fuel crises Bagudu restates Kebbi’s commitment to bio-fuel production After governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) under the aegis of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) urged President Muhammadu Buhari to allow both the old and new naira notes co-exist last Friday, the president said he would take a critical decision on the issue in seven days.
Commenting on the naira redesign policy, Fashola said, ” The facts that I can talk about on the new policy is that I can see pain. I see people at ATMs. I see people in banks crowded struggling to get their money. I take feedback. I don’t have cash, too. I don’t. The policy is not working at this moment. It is causing unintended consequences.”
Ahead of the February 25 presidential election, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dele Momodu, has slammed the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for fielding Bola Ahmed Tinubu as its standard bearer.
Momodu, who spoke in a Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Tuesday, insisted the ruling party had unprecedentedly failed to deliver on its campaign promises.
This followed a statement credited to the former Lagos State Governor, Raji Fashola, where he insisted Nigerians needed the APC-led administration for another four or eight years.
Fashola had in an interview on Channels Television argued Tinubu had the requisite experience and credentials to become Nigeria’s next president.
However, Momodu on Tuesday maintained that the ruling party was packaging failure for the country, adding Tinubu was obsessed with ridiculous sense of entitlement.
He said: “Nigerian government has lost power. The Nigerian people are fed up. I’m happy the First Lady as well as Tinubu has talked about that on different occasions. Tinubu is placed as a regional force and he is a career politician controlling Lagos.
“It is very unfortunate to claim that Tinubu singlehandedly brought Buhari to power. Several people such as Kwankwanso, Atiku and Amaechi did a lot of work in Buhari’s emergence as President. What should they do? Then if this is Tinubu’s reason for contesting president, then other people should also be entitled to the position.
“Nigerians should know that Tinubu’s candidacy is not about power rotation to the South, but about the ambition of an individual to become president. It’s unfortunate that the party is packaging fluke and that can’t work. Tinubu cannot be president.”
Speaking on the crisis in his party, Momodu faulted the consistent calls for power rotation to the South, adding PDP had been generous and fair to the region all these years.
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He thus urged disgruntled members in the party to unite around Atiku Abubakar whom he described as a cosmopolitan candidate with formidable blueprint.
“Some contestants from the South-east opposed to Atiku’s suggestion of power rotation to the region. That’s why the ticket was thrown open in the first place. It’s after the presidential election that Nyeson Wike started to make such demands when truly most of them had manoeuvered their way to cleverly remove Secondus for a northern chairman.
“I had never said, by fire by force, the power must go to the South. The powers that be decided to change the atmosphere of the primary, and as a loyal member of the party, I had to move on. This is to the disgruntled members to also unite around the presidential candidate and move on, even though they have every right to be angry”, Momodu concluded.
The Minister of Works and Housing argued that the ruling party had made tremendous progress to deliver on its promises to Nigerians.
He also slammed the pre-election polls tipping presidential candidates other than Bola Ahmed Tinubu for victory, adding the ruling party had performed better than the major opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the last seven and a half years.
The minister said: “We are a few days to the election now, less than three weeks. We have momentum. The APC will win this election. We are not looking at a coronation. We know it’s a competition, but the opposition is clearly behind. The reason is simple.
“Election, as we all say, see is a game of numbers. Isn’t it? But in those numbers, one of the cardinal problems that the opposition has had is that they have divided. So it won’t add up. The main opposition today, Labour Party, NNPP and PDP were one side in 2019. The totality of their votes was still around three million votes short of the poll by which we won.
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“If you were not enough when you were together, how can you be enough when you are broken into three? Are you bringing more new people in from outside Nigeria? It is not going to add up. It’s just that simple. People have made up their minds. I am happy that a lot more people, especially in the mid-cadre, have shown interest in the elections.
“In persons, we have done 5,000 sample pools and APC is clearly ahead. But I won’t tell you about the percentage difference. The number of undecided voters is now averaging below 5%. We are getting to the stage where campaigns will begin to lose steam.
“Most of the promises we made, we are still working on them, evolving and making progress. In some places, we admit that we need to do more. This is why we feel that we will be entrusted with the capacity to do to complete what we have started because people can see the difference. We haven’t finished solving the problem. But there’s a stark difference in momentum that will move the needle.”
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has appealed to members of the public to bear the pains resulting from the inconveniences of construction projects along major highways across the country.
Fashola, who made a live interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, noted that most of the side roads that feed onto the main arterial roads are either state or local government roads.
According to him, one of the things the Federal Executive Council (FEC) will consider today is an “old road” to serve as an alternative route.
“Hopefully, if we get there, I think that will be one option. We mean no harm. The last 6 km into Lagos on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, we deliberately left for the last because we knew it was going to be the most difficult to build because of the traffic, the density, and the human activity there.
“So, whilst places like the Second Niger Bridge and Bodo-Bonny, which are virgin projects, seem to be moving a quite quickly, building through Abuja-Kano, Lagos-Ibadan, Ikorodu-Sagamu or Kano-Maiduguri that are trafficked every day have different logistic challenges.
“The construction site on a highway is a very difficult thing to manage, so you have to cut, divert, build and reopen. Those are the challenges, but we will get there. It’s a bitter pill for a better life,” he said.
Speaking on the ongoing Lagos-Badagry Expressway construction, the former Lagos State governor acknowledged the anxiety felt by the affected commuters, describing their “anxious” anticipation of announced completion dates as understandable.
“Don’t just take away the announcements we make about what is happening, but also the specifics to it. I had the privilege to start that project for a part of it when I was governor, but unfortunately at the time, not only were resources challenging, we were at the same time trying to build the Lagos rail, at the same time housing and so many things.
“But the main reason why we couldn’t progress beyond the point where I left it around Mile 2 was that we had to relocate water and petroleum pipelines sank under the road pavement itself. But post-that period, the economy has changed in many ways and there are new challenges.
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“The Lagos State Government still wants to complete, I think, the first 20-something kilometres up to around Okoko thereabouts, which is what we undertook then to build. Beyond Okoko to the border, we have taken it up now as the Federal Government because it’s a federal road and we left Lagos to deal with that. When they say they will complete (it), it’s that part up to around Okoko. Our responsibility is to complete it to the border.”
According to him, the Lagos-Badagry Expressway is part of a sub-regional road that runs from Lagos to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
The minister added that there is a plan by the leaders of Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire to finance the redevelopment of the highway through the African Development Bank (AfDB).
“So, we’re working on the design,” he said. “The construction that we’re undertaking now is being factored into the design that will be financed.”
Asked to give a deadline, Fashola said, “I wish I could (give a deadline), but we expect to complete before the end of this term. Some of the headways we are facing there. In January, when we return the barriers, we will have to manage traffic and in that traffic, we will have to get construction materials from Ogun.
“That construction material drives through the same traffic that commuters drive through. On the Ibadan end, the Oyo State Government is constructing a drainage channel across the highway. We need that drainage channel to be constructed before we finish the road, otherwise, it will mean completing the road and the Oyo State Government coming to cut it again.
“So, we need the drain and we need the road and it must come in a sequence. These are the challenges of construction that we face and, sometimes, just unforeseen challenges – costs just go up, supply chain is broken somewhere. But with the best of commitment, we intend to finish before the end of this term.”
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Carlo Ancelotti’s team successfully added to their four cups from 2014 to 2018, and their triumph meant European teams have won the past 10 editions of the tournament.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has stated that the federal government has completed a total number of 83 internal road projects in various federal tertiary institutions in the country.
The minister made the disclosure in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, yesterday at the handover of a 2.75 km (asphalt overlay) internal road constructed by the federal government in the University of Ilorin.He said the ministry had intervened in 64 internal road projects in various federal tertiary institutions and handed over a total of 46 as at March 2022.
According to him, “We now have another 18 ready to be handed over, while we are currently attending to 19 roads in similar institutions across the country making it a total of 83.
“The 2.75 km road links the University of Ilorin main campus to the institution’s teaching hospital, thereby easing vehicular movement along the axis.”
Represented at the event by the Federal Controller of Works, Federal Ministry of Works in Ilorin, Lasisi Rafiu, the minister described the project as an investment in education.
“Today, we converge on the University of Ilorin Main Campus to hand over an important asset of 2.75 km rehabilitated/reconstructed road by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing on behalf of the federal government.
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“While it is true that a lot of work needs to be done in many sectors of our national life, including education, the Buhari government has stepped up to lead the process of getting that work done.
“The gap of our infrastructure needs is steadily being bridged by a gradual process of repairs, renewal and construction on major highways, and it has reached the schools.”
Fashola added: “It is undebatable that the quality of education will be impacted by the quality of infrastructure and the learning environment, and those who doubt it should simply listen to some of the feedback from students in the schools where this type of intervention has taken place.
“The students are expressing renewed enthusiasm with regards to attending classes, because some defective roads have been restored to good condition.
“This is consistent with our progressive ideal of improving the human condition, and that process continues here today as we hand over this one in the University of Ilorin Main Campus as a critical intervention to support education.
“During the construction, 85 people were employed in the process contributing to the job creation initiatives of the government, and it is hoped that the school will now ensure that this asset is used properly and not abused.”
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The police said the 250kg bomb was discovered on Tuesday by a contractor working on the third crossing over the River Yare and exploded as workers attempted to diffuse it
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Wednesday, confirmed that the construction of the 2nd Niger bridge is now completed and will soon be released to the public for use.
He stated this at an ongoing press briefing to present the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd.) scorecard in Abuja.
According to him, the only factor delaying the commissioning of the road is the construction of the link road which the recent surge of flooding has impeded.
He said, “I can confirm that the second Niger bridge itself is finished. People can walk through the bridge now unimpeded. What remains is the four-kilometer link road on the Asaba side.
“Right now, our dredger is in place, we have to rebuild the road by reclaiming sand, the recent surge of flood has slowed us down. On the Onitsha side, there is a 7kilometer road that links the bridge and the Onitsha-Owerri interchange.”
Speaking on Channels Television on Friday, Fashola assured Nigerians that the APC would carry out more projects if elected in 2023.
According to Fashola: “Of course, there are many projects that will not be finished in the tenure of this administration, the Buhari-led administration. That would for me be a reason for members of the electorate to make an informed choice.
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“Who do you want to continue with it? Those who did not start or those who started it and time did not permit them to finish it?
“That will be a reason for conversation in the future as the electorates make their choice.
“Now, we have momentum and I’m sure that if we are trusted with this mandate again, we will do more and complete many of the projects that the precious time and resources may not have permitted us to complete.”
The Federal Government has disclosed that the Second Niger Bridge linking Anambra and Delta states, scheduled for completion in February 2022, is now 91 per cent completed.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, made this announcement on Thursday during the Special Weekly ministerial briefing at the State House in Abuja.
According to him, the 206 billion naira project has directly employed 1,486 people, while 8,110 indirect jobs have equally been created.
The Works and Housing Minister pegged major projects under the Presidential Infrastructure Development fund including the 375km Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway estimated at 797 billion naira; the 11.59km Second Niger Bridge at 206 billion naira and the 127km Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at 310 billion naira, at 1.3 trillion naira.
He noted that the Lagos Ibadan Express Way and Second Niger Bridge will be completed by the end of the year while the main Carriageway of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano expressway is scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2023.
The Second Niger Bridge was first proposed during the 1978/79 political campaign by then-candidate Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
However, in August 2012, the Federal Executive Council under then-President Jonathan’s approved a contract worth ₦325 million for the final planning and design of the bridge.
A somewhat complicated procedure continued under President Muhammad Buhari, who first cancelled the earlier contract in August 2015.
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