The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN has defined what the Change agenda of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration means, informing petroleum tanker drivers that, “change” would mean reduced duration of journeys on roads where work has resumed, which include the Ilorin-Jebba road, Suleja-Minna Highway, Tatabu Bridge, among others.
Delivering a keynote address to the petroleum tanker driver’s branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, on Thursday, he categorically stated that “If people ask you what change means, please tell them it means doing more with less.”
The minister buttressed his point by asserting that, “In 2015, only N18 billion was budgeted for all Nigerian roads in the ministry of works but that only N9 billion was funded at the time Nigeria’s oil was selling at close to $100 per barrel.
“This was at the time of the Transformation Agenda (the mantra of Jonathan government), when commitment fell significantly behind stated objectives.
“What has changed under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) is that the Buhari Government has committed close to N300 billion to roads, and funded about N260 billion at a time when oil prices are manifestly below the 2015 figures.”
Fashola was recently in the news for giving contractors up to May 2019 to complete the federal road project in Yakubu Dogara, the House of Representatives Speaker’s home town.
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