The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has argued that the N800 billion allocated to his ministry in the 2025 budget is not enough to address the country’s road infrastructure needs, as he pleaded with the National Assembly to increase it.
Umahi made the plea in Abuja on Friday during the 2025 budget defence session organised by the House Committee on Works.
He urged the committee to use its legislative powers to jack up the ministry’s budgetary allocation for the 2025 fiscal year.
Umahi stressed the need for adequate funding of the ministry to enable it to complete ongoing projects and initiate new ones across the country.
“We plead with you to help us; the N800 billion cannot do anything for us. It cannot address our road needs and so we plead with you to help us,” he pleaded.
He further argued that the allocation cannot cover the scope of road projects the ministry was planning to undertake in the year.
Umahi said that borrowing funds to address Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit was crucial for the nation’s progress.
“When the nation is in recession, you have to borrow money and invest in infrastructure. That is how you emerge from a recession.
“Infrastructure is a catalyst for economic activities and this hunger we talk about will become a thing of the past.
“Food sellers, sand suppliers, gravel workers, and others will benefit; support President Bola Tinubu, and let’s borrow money to build infrastructure so that Nigeria can be great again,” he said.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Akin Alabi (APC-Oyo), agreed with Umahi that the ministry’s allocation is low and promised to meet with the Minister of Finance and the Budget Office to investigate the rationale behind the low budgetary allocation.
FG requires N16 trillion to complete inherited road projects across Nigeria
Last year, Umahi said that the Federal Government required at least N16 trillion to complete inherited road projects across the country.
He disclosed that President Tinubu’s administration inherited 18,932.50 kilometers of uncompleted road projects and ongoing under 2,064 contracts.
He noted that the total value of these projects as of May 2023 was approximately N14.42 trillion.
What you should know
- Nairametrics reported that the Federal government would prioritize the completion of four key road projects per geopolitical zone in 2025, focusing on finishing ongoing projects rather than launching new ones.
- The government has also expressed plans to toll major roads in the country under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), as a way to recover cost.
