N18trn needed to fix Nigeria’s roads, says Works Minister Umahi

Dave Umahi, the Minister of Works, has disclosed that the country needed at least N18 trillion to fix its road infrastructure.

This is has the minister lamented that the annual provisions in the National Assembly Appropriation Bills are inappropriate to address.

Umahi spoke with newsmen after he appeared before the Senate Committee on Works to defend his ministry’s 2025 budget estimates.

He said, “Remember the President inherited 2,064 projects, totalling N13 trillion in 2023. If you review that project in line with the market realities now, it should be close to N18 trillion.

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“So, when the President, who is an economist, who has gone through all the segments of what we are passing through, by reason of his experiences, and is making efforts to borrow money to do these projects, the public will be challenging his actions.

“That’s what I have been telling the National Assembly, and we are on the same page now. We have to borrow money to fix the roads.

“The roads, when fixed, would be catalyst to economic growth. It will also eliminate hunger. This is because road infrastructure create a lot of economic activities.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Mpigi Barinada, noted that Nigerian roads’ infrastructural challenges needed huge funds to address.

Source: Daily Trust