Fashola Attributes Delay In Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Project To Oyo Govt

The Federal Government (FG) has attributed the delay in the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to the Oyo State Government’s construction of a drainage channel at the Ibadan axis of the ever-busy road.

“The State Government of Oyo is constructing a drainage channel across the road.” So we’re having difficulties because the contractor has slowed down, and we have to slow down as well,” Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola explained.

Fashola, on the other hand, stated that the Second Niger Bridge and the rehabilitation of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway had been completed.

While 12 road projects totaling approximately 896 kilometers had been completed and inaugurated, he added that 83 in Federal Government-owned tertiary institutions were being rehabilitated.

Sixty-six other institutions, he claims, have also been completed.

The minister spoke at the launch of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Scorecard 2015-2023 Series in Abuja on Wednesday.

The event, which included ministers and other top government officials, was organized by the Ministry of Information and Culture to highlight the accomplishments of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration as it comes to a close.

Fashola stated that the Change Agenda, which was unveiled in the Ministry of Works and Housing in 2015 as part of the Buhari administration’s larger goal, was to grow the economy.

Noting that the 127.6-kilometer Lagos-Ibadan Expressway had made significant progress, the minister urged motorists and commuters to bear the delays at the Ibadan and Lagos ends of the road.

“We don’t want to finish the road only to come back and destroy it for the drainage channel construction,” he said.

“We’re working on the last six kilometers into Lagos on the Lagos axis.” You are aware that that axis is densely populated. We saved it until last because we knew it would be the most difficult.

“We ask that you bear with us, and we hope that there will be relief there very soon.”

Fashola promised that the Second Niger Bridge, one of the Buhari administration’s legacy projects, would be open to the public in December.

He explained that the bridge couldn’t be used right away because a four-kilometer link road on its Asaba, Delta State axis needed to be repaired.

According to him, the recent flood that hit most states in the country, including Delta, had a negative impact on the link road.

Fashola slammed claims in some quarters that the Buhari administration abandoned projects started by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

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-kilometre 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 slowed us down. On the Onitsha side, there is a seven-kilometre road that links the bridge and the Onitsha-Owerri interchange.”

The minister, who noted the impact of the country’s low budget on road construction, stated that N200 billion was only appropriated for roads in 2002.

“It appears that as our income from oil prices increased over the last decade, our spending on roads decreased,” he said.

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