Nigeria Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi, has vowed that he would ensure that any contractor that did not adhere to the minimum standard in the contract it is undertaking for the Federal Government would be queried and asked to go back to the site.
Umahi said this while disputing claims that his activities since assumption of office suggest that he is probing the work done by the past administration.
The Minister who spoke after the inspection of federal roads in Cross River on Friday in Calabar said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari did well on road construction.
He added that he was only out to see to the status of the projects and that nobody should be afraid of such probes.
“Nobody should be afraid of probe. I am only following Mr President’s renewed Hope Agenda and no amount of blackmail will stop this agenda,” he said.
The former Ebonyi governor, who deployed concrete technology for road construction in his tenure, said the option remained the best for the country at the moment.
He commended Gov. Bassey Otu for following suit, saying that “aside from the durability, it is also the most cost-effective when compared with bitumen.
The minister said: “The road is beautiful and I have seen it already and it is a good initiative of Sen. Otu.
“This is what President Bola Tinubu has been preaching, we can not continue to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result.
“We are trying to do it differently and we should expect a different result for our road infrastructure.
“It’s cheaper than the asphalt.
“Today, the dollar rate is almost N1,000 to the dollar and the cost of crude oil is about 94 dollars per barrel.
“There is no contract you sign for asphalt today and say you have a contract because you will be carrying it almost every day due to the behaviour of the dollar.”
In a remark, Otu said the concrete road constructed by his administration was in line with the president’s agenda and would be replicated in many parts of the state. (NAN)