FG releases N162.5bn for road construction

Chinazor Megbolu |

The Federal Government has released a total sum of N162.5 billion for the reconstruction of 44 roads across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

This was disclosed on Sunday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs (Office of the Vice President), Mr. Ajuri Ngalele on his Twitter handle. In a couple of tweets, he gave a breakdown of the roads and the amount paid out already to the contractors.

Ngalele in the posts urged Nigerians to track the projects so as to hold the contractors accountable.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), last week, had said that the Federal Government is set to fix 44 roads with the Sukuk funds raised in the bond market.

The Minister stated this when the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed presented him with the sovereign Sukuk symbolic cheque of N162.55 billion to him in Abuja.

However, Fashola, during the event, assured investors in the Sukuk fund that government would ensure judicious use of the money.

According to him; “I assure you that we value that trust from the evidence of what has happened in Sukuk one, and Sukuk two, your trust is not misplaced and it will not be misplaced in the 44 road projects that will benefit from this Sukuk”.

He buttressed that the public roads that will benefit from the fund would come from all the six geopolitical zones, with the North-Central getting eight roads, eight roads for the Northeast, North-West seven roads, South-East five roads, South-South 10 roads, and South-West six roads.