Abuja residents beg Wike to complete N5.7bn roads abandoned 14 years ago

Residents of Apo Resettlement Zone A in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have appealed to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to complete road projects in the zone abandoned 14 years ago.

The residents, under the aegis of “Residents of Apo Resettlement Zone A,” made the appeal in a letter dated 19 September to Mr Wike.

They requested the minister to prioritise a revised budget and full funding of the contractor to enable him to return to the site and complete the roads.

A contract for the construction of the roads was awarded by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to Messrs CAT Construction Company Ltd in the zone at the cost of N5.7 billion in 2009 during the administration of Adamu Aliero as FCT minister.

Despite being linked to other parts of the city and intended to improve revenue generation and development in the area, subsequent FCT ministers failed to complete them.

Consequently, the roads cause damage to vehicles, and create deep and dangerous potholes thus making life difficult and miserable for the residents.

The residents told Mr Wike that the assistance and intervention of his administration would make the roads safe and accessible to the benefit of the city and the entire community.

“We the concerned residents of Apo Resettlement Zone A, respectively request your esteemed office to assist us by allocating funds for the surfacing of our roads with high-quality asphalt.

“Also prioritising a revised budget and full funding of the contractor to return to the site and complete our roads. The contract was awarded 14 years ago, and the prices of materials, diesel and labour have escalated to the point that the project has been abandoned.

“We the residents stand united in our request for a prompt resolution to these pressing matters. Our collective belief is that with your assistance and intervention, our roads will become safe and accessible to the benefit of the city and our entire community,” they said.

Self-help

A resident of the area, Ransome Owan, told PREMIUM TIMES that since he moved into the area seven years ago, he has not been able to move freely because of the deplorable state of the roads.

He said he and other residents assembled DA Caterpillars twice to scrap the roads to drive home peacefully but that rainfall had damaged it twice.

“When I came in, I saw the deplorable roads, twice I brought DA Caterpillars to scrape the road, not everywhere, but at least, the road that connects to my house. But of course, when the rain comes, the road will go bad. I have done that twice,” Mr Owan, a former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), said.

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He said the residents wrote to the last FCT administration of Muhammed Bello concerning the deplorable and impassable state of the road, and the minister returned the contractor to the site.

According to him, the contractor was able to construct drainages in some places and left because they had exhausted the funds given to them.

Mr Owan said he has remained in touch with the FCDA engineer, who is supervising the road project to get adequate information on the state of the roads.

“In the last administration, we wrote a letter to the minister of the FCT, and I sent a copy to the contractor, the next day, they came and started to do gutters, but they were able to do a small section and said the money had finished.

“I am in touch with the FCDA engineer, who is in charge of the project and the contractor. Our project is yet to get approval from the Presidency from what I was told,” he said.

Mr Owan lamented how the residents contributed money to reduce the pain and hardship they go through daily, but the rainfall washed off everything.

“As I am talking to you, vehicles’ tyres are bursting where they shouldn’t burst on the road. We have been forgotten. We need help.

“There was a time when we in the community contributed money for the contractor to ease our burden, they came and did earth covering. They did not put lateral or stones, rain came and washed the road. We can’t contribute again,” he stated.

Contractor speaks

When contacted, the contractor, Messrs CAT Construction Company Ltd, said it has faced challenges due to delays in payment by the government.

The company’s Vice President, Michael Ozigbo, explained that the project cannot continue without a review of the contract sum, given its long duration.

“Any contract that has lasted that long, for no fault of the company, but for payment issues, there is no way you can continue working without a review of the contract sum,” he told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview.

Mr Ozigbo recounted that two years ago, the company wrote to the FCDA about the need to review the abandoned project and the Authority asked it to proceed with the review.

He stated that after one year of going back and forth with discrepancies, the review was approved by FCDA in February 2023.

According to him, the reviewed contract was subsequently forwarded to former President Muhammadu Buhari by the then FCT minister on 6 April 2023, but he (Buhari) did not attend to it before leaving office.

“Two years ago, we wrote to FCDA that this contract needs a review, and they said fine, go and finish your paperwork.”

“After one year of going back and forth, they finally approved the review as of February 2023. This review went to the minister and he forwarded it to the president for approval, on 6 April but the former president didn’t do anything about it. As it is, it has not come back from the presidency.”

Mr Ozigbo said once the new rate is approved, the company “can even borrow money to return to the site because we are going to be paid the current price.”

He added, “The old contract is N5. 7 billion. The current contract approved by the ministry is not final. This is because once the president approves it, it would go to the Bureau of Public Procurement, which will look at it. But I can assure you that the FCDA did a thorough work on it and until the approval comes out, the contract is stalled.”

FCDA declines comment

When contacted, the FDCA declined to comment on the issue, saying a procurement process is ongoing.

“Kindly note, however, that we are currently unable to avail you of the requested information. This is because there is a procurement process going on concerning the project, and according to Section 15 (1C) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, a public institution shall deny an application for information that contains proposals and bids for any contract, grants or agreement, including information which if it were disclosed would frustrate procurement or give advantage to any person,” the Authority’s Director of Engineering Services, F. Ezeoha, said in a response to a freedom of Information (FOI) request by this newspaper.

Wike rehabilitates Abuja roads

In September, Mr Wike inaugurated Phase I of the rehabilitation and resurfacing of 135 roads in the Garki district, bringing the total number of roads being rehabilitated in the territory at the time to 184.

Earlier this month, the minister inaugurated Phase II of the project to resurface 49 roads in the Asokoro district and environs.

He said the projects were embarked upon to make Abuja a befitting capital.