On Tuesday, October 10, the Minister of works, Dave Umahi, threatened to oust individuals from the ministry who had been working with contractors to thwart the government’s development efforts.
After meeting with President Bola Tinubu, Umahi talked to press at the State House in Abuja and added that he would be using the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to prosecute the affected personnel.
The minister, who had claimed that some major contractors had a grudge against him over the federal government’s plan to make using concrete reinforcement for road construction a policy, however, announced that he now has President Tinubu’s support for the implementation of the new policy.
The Minister stated people within the system, who are gaining from those threatening him and the country over the new path being taken by the administration, have become a problem in the ministry in response to questioning from journalists after outlining his justifications for meeting the President.
He said:
“There are some elements within that are also fighting me, who are also benefiting from the system and that is the greatest problem we have and I just pretended. I will flush those elements out and send them to ICPC to handle them because nobody can hold this country to ransom.”
He, however, added that some have keyed into the policy just as major cement producers have agreed to discount prices for such government road builders.
He also highlighted the advantages of cement roads over asphalt/bitumen, including cheaper costs and the need to encourage local production of cement against the importation of bitumen.
Umahi further warned contractors against the dodgy attitude of securing about 20 projects but ended up deploying as few as two units of equipment to the site.