To be sincere, I have fed up of reading one state government or the other or even the FG double-speak on a lot of project. In some Oyinbo countries when they are building something you would not know until they are about to commission it. In most cases during the building process the whole landscaper or area would be covered with a huge scaffolding thereby making people have a wild guess as to what is being built.

And if it is road they are building they start by expanding one side of the road, making sure the road is motorable throughout the life of the project, the  flow of traffic would not be hindered whatsoever. When one side of the road is completed then they move to the other side and do the same thing. They put a lot of road cones on the road to guide people as to where they should pass. Initially the whole thing looks like a complete mess but the moment they remove the cone you would be surprised at the wonder beneath all that chaos, in surprising cases  a three lane expressway would be revealed to the astonishment of all asunder.

In Nigeria, a Governor announces to the world a 10 billion road has being awarded, only for nothing to be done months and years after. I sense the reason why they make these spurious and fake announcements is because their conscience has already started pricking them b4 the imminent fraud they are planning to commit and perpetuate over the poor folks of our nation.

N10 billion to be use for this, 25 billion to be use for that, 60 billion to be used for the expansion of those, yet nothing to show for.

I beg all 36 Governments including the Federal Government of Nigeria and  all ministers please give us a break from promises upon promise without delivering.


Some Projects we still waiting for an end date so far.


1. Lagos/Ibadan Express way Concessioned  way back in 2006 no end date insight.


                   

Shonekan’s commission faults Lagos-Ibadan expressway concession
On December 27, 2010 • In Environment

By Chris OCHAYI

THE Infrastructure Concession Regulation Commission (ICRC), has blamed the Ministry of Works for not doing a thorough job before signing the concession agreement for the N89 billion reconstruction work on the Lagos_Ibadan expressway. The road project was concessioned to Messrs. Bi_Courtney Highway Services.
The Commission accused the Ministry of hastily signing the concession agreement without a detailed survey, cost and clear risk allocation structure of the contract. These factors according to the agency are responsible for the delay in the project taking off.
The contract was awarded over 20 months ago(that is back in 2008, 3 years after still awaiting when contract would commence) under the former Minister of Works, Dr. Hassan Mohammed Lawal, but the firm is yet to make any impact on the project




2. Abuja sub-urban rail awarded back in 2008 to be completed by 2012

on February 19, 2010 in Nigeria
The new light rail system in the Nigerian capital Abuja will be in operation by 2012, Senator Adamu Aliero says. The completion date was advanced from 2013 due to the good progress made by the China Civil Engineering ConstructionCorporation (CCECC). While inspecting the work early in February, Aliero was quoted saying: “I think it would be wrong for anybody to call this project a white elephant project. A white elephant project is a project that has no direct bearing to the people it is meant to serve.” He said the system
is meant to solve the transport problems of ordinary people in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). “This is a project that can transport 500 to 1,000 people at once to the city centre, the airport, the industrial park and other satellite towns. ”
He explained that, to date, the FCT administration had paid 15% of the project’s total cost which amounts to about $US840 million. Further amounts are to be paid soon “to speed up the project”.



3. Lekki- Epe Expressway only 2km has being done on a 44KM road but yet Messers Fashola wants to start collecting Toll.

Written by Seyi Osiyemi
Monday, 29 March 2010 14:27

The concept of Public-Private Partnership is not “Nigerian”. It’s a concept that was developed in the western world. However, it’s become common practice for governments in Nigeria to borrow a foreign concept and turn it on its head.
Still On Lekki-Epe Expressway PPP Contract,  by Seyi Osiyemi
Just over a year ago, I wrote a piece on the Lekki-Epe Expressway Public-Private Partnership contract between Lagos State Government and Lekki Concession Company. My criticism at the time was informed by the decision of LCC to install three toll booths on the 44km arterial road. I couldn’t understand the concessionaire (LCC) tolling strategy. Why for example would a local resident making a short trip between Sangotedo and Ajah be subjected to a toll. I asked the question if the toll is targeted towards local traffic or long distance travellers?

Fast forward to 2010(Now December 2011), only 2km of the proposed 44km road widening project has been completed, even though we were told in 2006 that the project will be completed within three years. The concessionaire, LCC put the construction cost of the 2km upgrade at N5billion. However, some of the tolling booths have been constructed, and there are “unconfirmed” reports that LCC intends to start charging commuters for using a road that is technically, “still under construction”.
The concept of Public-Private Partnership is not “Nigerian”. It’s a concept that was developed in the western world. However, it’s become common practice for governments in Nigeria to borrow a foreign concept and turn it on its head.



4. Abuja –Kaduna Fast Train

Commuting Abuja-Kaduna In 60 Mins
Posted by TheNEWS on May 31, 2011 // 1 Comment

Very soon, Nigerians will be able to travel from Abuja to Kaduna and vice versa within an hour as the CCECC expedites work on the Abuja-Kaduna rail project

From early next year, many people working in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, may well decide to reside in Kaduna and commute everyday to work from there. The shuttle will take only an hour. Impossible?
Possible, courtesy of the on-going Abuja – Kaduna rail project. The project is one of two rail contracts the Ministry of Transport conceived dear to its heart to solve the nation’s transportation problems. The other is the proposed Lagos – Ibadan line. Yusuf Suleiman, Minister of Transport until last weekend, spoke passionately of how he intended to take vehicular pressure off the nation’s roads and afford both long distance travellers and short routes commuters faster and more convenient transportation alternatives. Suleiman was upbeat about how the cargo trains that would run the two lines after completion would drastically reduce the havoc that trailers and tankers wreak on the roads.


That is not all. Before President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved the cabinet, Suleiman had travelled to China to discuss with the Chinese government a proposal to construct the Lagos – Abuja rail project. If the project becomes a reality, it will take only three hours to travel by train from the nation’s commercial capital of  Lagos to the FCT. The Minister in charge of China’s railways was last week expected to lead a delegation to Nigeria to finalise discussions with the federal government on the epoch project.


The ministry has awarded both the Abuja – Kaduna and Lagos – Ibadan rail contracts to the CCECC, a Chinese company. The latter, a double track standard gauge totalling a distance of 312 kilometres, was awarded at the sum of $1.53bn including consultant’s fees, with the Chinese government granting Nigeria about $1bn in concessionary loan from China’s EXIM Bank. The ministry is only awaiting President Goodluck Jonathan’s anticipatory approval for the project to commence.


The CCECC has already commenced work on the Abuja – Kaduna line. Unlike the Lagos – Ibadan project, the Abuja – Kaduna rail line is a single standard gauge track covering a distance of about 186 kilometres. Commuting on it between Abuja and Kaduna is expected to take exactly an hour. The project was negotiated in 2009 and subsequently received the Bureau for Public Procurement’s and Federal Executive Council’s approvals. The contract agreement was signed with the CCECC in October of that year.



5. Abuja – Lokoja Expressway no end on sight yet!!!

FG recalls contractors handling Abuja/Lokoja dualisation project
On August 9, 2011 • In Homes & Property
Tweet
By Favour Nnabugwu

Four contractors who got the contract for the dualisation of the Abuja/Lokoja road three year ago but abandoned it midway due to lack of funds from the Federal government, have been recalled.
The contractors are expected to resume work on the road based on a fresh promise by the Federal government to release funds to enable them complete the project

Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, an Architect, who made the promise while inspecting the road admitted the challenges faced by the construction companies. He however assured them that funds would be made available to enable them resume work immediately.
“The Federal government has started funding the dualization of this road; we will look at other creative funding models which the government can employ to bring this road to completion,” he said.


The Abuja/Lokoja dualisation project was awarded to four indigenous construction companies in March 2007 at sum of N42.4 billion with 30 months completion period but inadequate budgetary provisions in the last three years affected the completion of the road.
The four companies are Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company (Nig.) Limited which got the lot from International Airport road junction to Sheda Village, covering 42 kilometers at the sum of N11.2 billion.


RCC Construction Company Limited which got the lot from Sheda Village to Abaji Junction, spanning 57 kilometers at N9.6billion.
Bulletine Construction Co. Ltd got from Abaji to Kotonkarfi, approximately 49 kilometers at N9.7billion while Gitto Construzioni Generalli Limited is to complete the construction from Kotonkarfi to Lokoja, about 50 kilometers for N11.9billion.

“This road connects people to South-West, South-East and part of North-Central. It is very important to this country because most economic activities come through this road. We are therefore very determined to bring this road to completion during our tenure,” the Minister said.
Meanwhile, the Minister as advised local construction firms to consider merging their firms in order to boost their competitive advantage with foreign firms.


The advice came on the heels of government’s concern over the inadequacies of indigenous companies which lack the technical-no-how and the managerial capabilities to compete favourably with foreign companies in construction projects.
Onolememen who received the governing board of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN led by the body’s president, Engr Mustapha Bulama in his office enjoined small firms to merge so that they can become bigger and better positioned to compete with the foreign companies.

And silly Jonathan would say we have no money, where has all the money on all these projects gone.

Remember the Crocodile tears of Allison-Madueke? She deserved an Oscar for that performance. Probably the most notable thing she did as Minister of Works back then. Oga GEJ is obviously impressed with failure seeing as she is Petroleum Minister today. God save Nigeria from all these mediocrities everywhere.

http://www.hollerafrica.com/showArticle.php?artId=399&catId=1

Benin-Ore Expressway: Beyond Daggash’s lame lamentation

By:
Joel Nwokeoma



It is often said that those who do not learn from history, more often than not, tend to repeat mistakes of the past. To discerning Nigerians, history was repeated on Friday, April 16 when, exactly 1, 090 days after the former Minister of Transportation, now Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, announced her entry into Nigeria’s political consciousness by weeping over the Benin-Ore Expressway, Nigerians were treated to another needless emotive spectacle when the new Minister of Works, Senator Sanusi Daggash, during an inspection visit to the Sagamu end of the infamous road, lamented its sorry state. He labeled  it “the worst on the planet and one of the notorious in the world”.
                     
In August 2007, Alison-Madueke, fully attired in her red overall and helmet to match, had, during a visit to the collapsed road, whose strategic importance to the socio-economic life of the country cannot be over-emphasised, on August 6, 2007, wept bitterly because of the atrocious state of the road. After wiping her tears-soaked face, she mustered some emotional strength to declare that she was “actually very, very unhappy today at what I have seen. I am very displeased that this road was allowed to degenerate to this level”.

To cut the image of an uncommon public official in this clime, where government holds the citizens with legendary contempt, Alison-Madueke did the unusual by going ahead to offer her sincere apologies “for the deplorable state that I have found this road in”, stressing that  “This is inhuman and unacceptable”. (There are many who would even say that the visit was the only thing of note the woman achieved all through the period she held sway in the Ministry of Transportation before she was later moved to the Solid Minerals ministry). [size=18pt]Whether the bad state of the road she complained about was unacceptable to her as a person or the government she served is unknown, but what is known is that more than two years after this incident, nothing has changed for the better on the road and other federal roads across the country.


Instead, the condition has since deteriorated to such a level that failed portions of the road, which have become a nightmare to both motorists and commuters, have, as a recent report put it, “craters wide enough to swallow vehicles”.[/size] A recent study even suggested that “more than 5,000 premature deaths are recorded annually on Nigerian roads”, much of which reportedly occur on the Benin-Ore stretch.
                                                   
Perhaps, it was this sad reality that informed the widely reported statement credited to Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, recently, that Nigeria’s highways are worse than those of war –ravaged countries, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. An elder statesman and international diplomat of repute, Anyaoku is not given to making frivolous or inflammatory statements, but at the inaugural lecture series of the Federal Road Safety Commission last November in Abuja, he uncharacteristically blamed the nation’s political leadership for the appalling state of roads across the country.

Delivering a lecture entitled, “Capital Waste on Nigerian Roads”, Anyaoku attributed the incidence of auto accidents in the country to the “dilapidation of existing road networks”. In particular, he asserted that the pathetic state of Nigerian roads was a direct consequence of the failure of the government in road construction and maintenance, resulting in Nigeria’ roads becoming a ‘huge slaughter slab, where human lives are worth little or nothing”.

Remember the Crocodile tears of Allison-Madueke? She deserved an Oscar for that performance. Probably the most notable thing she did as Minister of Works back then. Oga GEJ is obviously impressed with failure seeing as she is Petroleum Minister today. God save Nigeria from all these mediocrities everywhere.

These people in Government are shameless gluttons, is it not the same Maduake and Ngozi championing the removal of subsidy in 2011. Where has the money for the refurbishment of that road gone too, My guess is as good as anybody’s.