The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has said that President Muhammadu Buhari will complete and inaugurate the Kano-Kaduna Road project before he relinquishes presidential power on May 29, 2023.
He said the federal government would not stop working on the section one of the project even after May 29, as the funding would not be interfered with.
The minister made this revelation when he visited Zaria, Kaduna State to inspect the section 2 and 3 road.
He said, “We have promised to deliver this project before the end of this administration and by the grace of God we will do that.
“Section II (Kaduna-Zaria), which is 73 kilometres, will be completed before this weekend as assured by the contractor, while section III (Zaria-Kano) will be completed next month,” he promised.
He said work would not stop on the Kaduna-Abuja section even at the conclusion of his principal’s administration, affirming that the Kaduna-Abuja section was being sponsored by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
He narrated the challenges encountered while working on the Abuja-Kaduna section which include right of way issues, insecurity and relocation of public facilities and electricity utilities.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari during the inspection visit with the minister described the project as the third legacy of the Nigerian president.
Buhari reveals his second biggest achievement as Nigeria’s president
President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed the county’s second biggest achievement in energy sector.
Buhari hailed the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which was signed into law in August 2021 as the country’s second most successful achievement recorded in the energy sector.
He made this revelation at the presidential villa while unveiling the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES).
The secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who was representing the president commended the contributions of the administration to the energy sector.
The SGF said the achievements recorded so far have been properly documented for future purposes.
“Our perspectives have provided the incoming government the tools to guide Nigerians’ energy future. I enjoin industry stakeholders to give the incoming administration the support and cooperation I received from you,” he said.
“We ensured there’s an adaptive framework for the indigenous companies to take advantage of the investment by the international oil companies.
“This has ensured that the indigenous companies grew there capacity tremendously and they are now considered for about five per cent of national oil and gas production which has led to an increase from two per cent in 2010.”
The Nigerian President who doubles as the minister of petroleum declared energy as top concern of his government till he will hand over power to another government.
“The first task we combated is the issue of funding and sanitising the oil and gas sector; we then proceeded to exit the federal government from joint registrar cash go-funding,” Buhari said.
“This freed the federal government from the shoes of funding the oil sector.
“The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) remains our second biggest achievement in energy sector. For decades, we were told that because of various vested interest it would be nearly impossible to pass the bill but we made it happen.”