The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, revealed yesterday that the country needs N18 trillion to address its road infrastructure challenges, a figure that surpasses the annual allocations in the National Assembly’s Appropriation Bills.
Umahi made the statement while speaking to journalists after defending his ministry’s 2025 budget estimates before the Senate Committee on Works.
He explained, “Remember the President inherited 2,064 projects, totaling N13trn in 2023. If you review that project in line with the market realities now, it should be close to N18trn.”
Umahi emphasized the urgency of borrowing funds for the projects, adding, “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, then 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.”
He highlighted the economic importance of road infrastructure, stating, “The roads, when fixed, are a catalyst to economic growth. It also eliminates hunger.
This is because road infrastructure activities create a lot of economic activities. Those who are selling sand, chippings, mamaput, rocks, and so on and so forth. There will be a lot of activities. So we need to give attention and encourage Mr. President to borrow money.”
Umahi further argued, “He (President Bola Tinubu) cannot manufacture money. He has to be encouraged. You say he’s trying to steal your money. That’s very discouraging. So road infrastructure cannot be fixed by mere yearly budgets. It has to be given plenty of attention.”
Earlier, Senator Mpigi Barinada, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, acknowledged the enormity of Nigeria’s road infrastructure needs and stressed the necessity of significant funding. “We can see that these projects are very enormous and we have to see how we can engage in other ways to get money to see how projects can be delivered to our people.”
Barinada further noted, “Sometimes when people look at the National Assembly asking for projects in their homes it is not because the National Assembly just wanted to do that project in their houses.”
