Two gruelling days traversing the ‘Power State’ with Fashola

Just back from Niger State where he, and other journalists, accompanied the Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, on a two-day tour of some ongoing highway projects, our reporter gives an account of traversing through the countryside of the ‘power state alongside the minister   When my editor, Hamza Idris, informed me that following a […]

Just back from Niger State where he, and other journalists, accompanied the Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, on a two-day tour of some ongoing highway projects, our reporter gives an account of traversing through the countryside of the ‘power state alongside the minister

 

When my editor, Hamza Idris, informed me that following a request from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing he had nominated me to join a select team of journalists accompanying the Minister on a two-day inspection tour of projects in Niger State, I had mixed feelings.

I was excited because apart from enabling me to traverse part of the largest state in Nigeria that is home to the famous Kainji, Jebba, and Shiroro dams, this tour would also be an opportunity to encounter, for the first time, the ‘no-nonsense’ ex Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola. He was once hailed by the UK’s Telegraph as “the man who tamed Nigeria’s most lawless city.”

When Hamza later forwarded to me an email with a formal invitation to this effect, I became even anxious because the minister’s Special Adviser on Communications, Hakeem Bello, who signed the letter, was my editor at the Daily Times when I covered Borno and Yobe States for the newspaper between 2000 and 2005. We had lost touch with Hakeem for over a decade hence the tour would also provide an opportunity for meeting him once again, I thought.

But my excitement was momentarily tampered by fear and anxiety based on security concerns.

Coming on the heels of President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of the deployment of fighter jets to combat banditry in Niger State, I was mindful of recent media reports about the activities of armed bandits terrorizing communities in parts of the Power State.

‘Bandits paradise: Niger State communities under siege, residents lament,’ the screaming headline from Sahara Reporters instantly came to mind.

Were we not embarking on a suicide mission?

What if kidnappers target our convoy passing through their dreaded forest or in the course of the journey we come across armed bandits and security operatives in fighter jets spitting pellets of death?

In the absence of immediate answers to these questions I reminded myself of the refrain that journalism is a risky business after all.  And as a Christian, I also took solace in that popular verse in Psalm 23 of the Holy Bible that says: “…Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow death I shall fear no evil.”

Day one

It was Monday, January 27 and we commenced the two-day tour of projects to Niger State with Fashola at the Federal Ministry of Works headquarters located at Mabushi in the heart of Abuja. The invitation letter had indicated 7: am as take-off time so as early as 6: 30 am I got to the departure venue. But we left the premises of the ministry at exactly 9:42 am following the eventual arrival of the minister.

A light blinking escort vehicle led the convoy with another bus conveying other print and electronic reporters while four of us held sway in the Coaster bus that conveyed the minister. There was also a pick up van conveying security personnel with a Federal Road Safely Corps (FRSC) coloured van later joining.

Before commencement, we were all given reflective jackets and face caps to wear in addition to the itinerary of the trip as well as hand sanitizers.

As soon as he joined us inside the Coaster bus, Fashola, who was also kitted with reflective jacket and face cap extended his greetings and apologized for his late arrival, explaining that he got the timing for the take-off wrong. This, I later found out to be true, as colleagues who had accompanied the minister during previous visits testified that Fashola was a stickler to time.

As soon as we drove out of the ministry’s premises, Fashola handed down a stern warning to the bus driver not to speed beyond 100 kilometers per hour. In what appeared like a roll call, the minister called out the names of the four journalists inside the bus one after the other as we individually indicated our presence by raising our hands.

The five ongoing projects which we accompanied the minister to inspect were: the dualisation of Suleja-Danbatta-Minna Road (Phase I and II); the reconstruction of Bida-Lapai-Lambata Road; the construction of Agaie-Katcha-Barro Road, dualisation of Jebba-Mokwa-Bokani Road and rehabilitation of New Bussa-Kaiama Road.

At the outset, the essence of the tour was underscored by Fashola, who said apart from giving him first-hand assessment of the ongoing road projects in Niger State, the roads were strategic to the country’s national development plan.

“They are important in linking the South-West to the North-Central part of Nigeria and the South-West to the North-Central,” he explained.

Much ado about ‘deplorable’

Our first port of call was the dualisation of the Suleja-Minna phase-1 road project. But before we got to the boundary at Suleija, Fashola engaged us in an interesting conversation about some analysts and commentators who have tagged Nigerian roads deplorable.

It would be recalled that Fashola had on Wednesday, August 6, 2019, after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, stirred controversy when he reportedly said that Nigerian roads were not as bad as people portrayed them.

Apparently clarifying that position, Fashola maintained that the view held by most Nigerians that our roads are deplorable was not completely true. Turning to us (journalists) he put the question: “What is deplorable?”

As we attempted our definitions individually, Fashola said: “The word deplorable has become recurring and I don’t know where we got it from. I have checked the meaning of the word and I think you should too. But I want you to observe that we have been driving for 32 minutes now; have we entered any pothole?

“You will drive for eighty to a hundred kilometres and get to a section of the road that has failed, and if you navigate that section you will continue your journey. Those, however, are failures of the previous four decades and would, therefore, take some time to be remedied.

“If you don’t understand what we are experiencing or dealing with, it will be difficult for you to tell the people what is really happening.

He continued: “News is no longer local but international. If an investor wants to put money somewhere, will you expect him to do so in a country that says ‘nothing is working’ or one that says we are working on it?’ This is about fairly and accurately reporting your country.”

He pointed out that like elsewhere in the world, Nigerian roads were made up of good and bad portions, saying: “So when you are driving and get to a section that fails, you navigate and continue.”

Economy of roads construction

“I would want you to pay more attention to other things apart from the road, like the economy of road construction,” the minister said.

Fashola said the construction sector had enabled the government to create jobs and promote procurement, stressing that the petroleum and manufacturing sectors were also contributing well to the economy.

Emphasizing that the main thrust of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was to create jobs, which were being partly achieved through the construction of roads, Fashola said: “On every road site, there are hundreds of Nigerians getting work. Those are the economic issues that Mr. President is getting done and paying attention to.”

Pointing towards an asphalt plant by the roadside, he said, “I am satisfied with the part where aggregate; laterites crush stones iron and people are establishing crushing plants and quarries. That is the economic consequence of this strategic infrastructure.

“So when you hear some of us in the government say that the economy is heading in the right direction, it is because we know this; it won’t happen in one night,” Fashola said.

At Dikko junction, where he inspected the dualisation of the Suleija-Minna Road, Fashola was joined by the ministry’s zonal controller of works in charge of the North-Central, Engineer Felix Umeh, as well as Niger State Commissioner of Works, Ibrahim Mohammed.

Engineer Umeh, who described the road as one of the five major highway projects in the state, explained that it was first awarded in 2010 for the first phase and 2015 for the second.

The construction firm handling the project, Salini Nigeria Limited, assured the minister that the road would be completed by 2023 but raised concern over inadequate funding, saying this was slowing the speed of work.

Project Manager, Piero Campanella, said the 40-kilometer road, whose original completion date of June 12, 2013 was later extended to December 31, 2018, was impeded by lack of funds adding that it would still require more funding to be completed.

‘Good’, ‘bad’ portions

As the minister and his entourage preceded from Suleija, the zonal controller of works, Engineer Umeh, foretold that we would be meeting some ‘bad portions.’ He noted, however that: “We are doing the entire road, not maintenance.”

Sooner than later we got to a bad sectioin of the road riddled with patches and potholes and our movement slowed as the bus sluggishly waded though.  Turning towards us (journalists) in the Coaster bus, Fashola smiled and said, “Gentlemen, we are now on the bad portion of the road. I know you will get your headlines from here but like I earlier told you, there are bad and good portions of the road. You will see how much of the road is ‘deplorable’.”

This elicited laughter.

Indeed, we encountered good and bad portions during our 32 hours on the road over two days trip. But for Fashola, even in the face of the bad portions, the hope that lies in the good portions was more important.

The minister said contrary to public perception that potholes were the major cause of road accidents, records from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has indicated that over 60 percent of road accidents in Nigeria are due to over speeding on the ‘good portions’ of the roads.

He also pointed fingers over the failed sections of the road. “Failure of the roads could be due to weather condition, but most especially it is due to abuse. Vehicles are loaded beyond the 46 tonnage limit; some people are loading up to 90 tones. That is the responsibility of law enforcement, not us.

“We need weighbridges and we are working on that. But we believe it is more effective to enforce at the point of loading, the ports and the petrol stations,” Fashola said.

Reading the ‘Riot Act’

During a 20 minutes stopover at Gawun Babangida in Gurara Local Government Area, the minister came face to face with the menace posed by trucks on the road. Convoys of articulated vehicles loaded with different items were parked on both shoulders of the road. The diesel and petroleum products that leaked from the parked trucks had begun to damage portions already asphalted.

This prompted the minister to read what sounded like the Riot Act as he issued a five-day ultimatum to drivers of articulated vehicles and fleet owners to remove their vehicles from the shoulders of highways under construction or face sanctions.

But before then, Fashola took time to explain to the truck drivers the importance of the road to their economic wellbeing and how their activities damage the road.

Briefing journalists, he noted that the Suleija –Minna Road is very critical to the country’s national petrol supply in view of the NNPC depot at Suleija and other places.

“I have seen the work being done on the road and the challenges faced there. But trucks using shoulders of the road are posing a menace. Even on the portion that was asphalted two weeks ago, you started seeing diesel and petroleum products are dumped onto the road. That would break down the molecular binding capacity of the asphalt and, ultimately, in a matter of weeks, if not months, the road will fail.

“That is a brand new road and then the uninformed will say that the road was not well built. It was well built but petrochemical products and asphalted roads just don’t mix. Therefore, we warned all the truck users; NARTO, drivers association, to take note and direct all their members to leave our highways. Those who want to generate vehicular fleet have a responsibility to also acquire their parking area.”

A night at Kainji

We spent the first night of the tour to Niger State at New Bussa, which is home to the popular Kainji hydro dam. It was past 9: pm when we got there after 12 hours on the road.

The next morning, we set out at about 9 am to inspect the dualisation of Mokwa-Bokani Road, where he was received by a large crowd led by the Emir of Borgu.

As the convoy moved, the minister who occasionally peered through the window observing and taking photos with his cell phone observed that the road provided options for interconnectivity to many parts of Nigeria which should have happened long ago “but is happening now.”

We drove past a particular community with green vegetation where Fashola turned to the reporters, once again, and remarked: “Take a look at those yam farms, and those mango and cashew trees that are just growing in the wild. People don’t understand how blessed this country is. By the time this agriculture thing catches fire, it will be bigger than Nollywood and music combined.”

At another community, he pointed at some shops and houses where electric bulbs were left on even in the hot afternoon. “This is one of the communities in this country that consume light 24 hours daily without paying a dime as tariff…,” he said.

The contractors handling the Mokwa-Bokani road project, CGC Nigeria Limited, informed the minister that they received only N200 million since mobilizing to site.

They said the money was used to pay compensation for land and other property on the right of way. From this point, the convoy commenced the return journey through Minna.

It was also here that he expressed satisfaction at the rate of ongoing work and the commitment of the contractors handling the highway projects in Niger State, saying they had shown sufficient capacity, despite working under tight financial condition.

While noting that most of the issues raised by the contractors, which had to do with funds would be resolved, Fashola said government was working to ensure that more budgetary allocation was made for the roads.

“The complaint about funding is already out there in the public space. So, when you hear government trying to raise money or borrow money, it is important that you take the message to Nigerians.

“The concerns of Nigerians about borrowing and national debt are legitimate concerns, but it is also important to let them know that those concerns must be balanced against what they are asking for. They are asking for infrastructure and if the borrowing is for infrastructure in a way that the money is used to deliver roads, I believe that the concerns must be assuaged.”

After a brief stopover at Kpakungu in Chanchanga LGA, where he inspected a Federal Housing Project, we proceeded to Minna at 5:35 pm. It was getting late so we simply waded through the potholes in Minna Township without stopping and eventually returned to Abuja at about 10: pm.

Indeed, the 36-hour journey with the ‘workaholic’ Fashola was as interesting, revealing and adventurous. There was no dull moment as Fashola proved to be a reporter’s delight. Apart from lecturing us on ‘potholes’, ‘deplorable’ as well as ‘the economy of road construction’, there was much to see and hear about the sights and sounds of the largest state in Nigeria.