Nobody should be afraid of probe, Umahi tells road contractors

The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has said that his activities since his assumption of office do not suggest he is probing the work done by the past administration.

Umahi said this in Calabar on Friday after the inspection of federal roads in Cross River.

He, however, said that any contractor, who did not adhere to the minimum standard, would be queried and asked to go back to the site.

“The last administration did well on road construction and I am only out to see to the status of these projects.

“Nobody should be afraid of probe.

“I am only following Mr President’s renewed Hope Agenda and no amount of blackmail will stop this agenda,” he said.

The former Ebonyi governor, who deployed concrete technology for road construction in his tenure, said the option remained the best for the country at the moment.

He commended Governor Bassey Otu for following suit, saying that “aside from the durability, it is also the most cost-effective when compared with bitumen.

The minister said: “The road is beautiful and I have seen it already and it is a good initiative of Sen. Otu.

“This is what President Bola Tinubu has been preaching, we can not continue to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result.

“We are trying to do it differently and we should expect a different result for our road infrastructure.

“It’s cheaper than the asphalt.

“Today, the dollar rate is almost N1,000 to the dollar and the cost of crude oil is about 94 dollars per barrel.

“There is no contract you sign for asphalt today and say you have a contract because you will be carrying it almost every day due to the behaviour of the dollar.”

In a remark, Otu said the concrete road constructed by his administration was in line with the president’s agenda and would be replicated in many parts of the state.