Still on Oshiomhole’s spat with Minister of Works

By SUNNY IKHIOYA

David Umahi is an intelligent man, and everyone can see this from his interactions, especially as they concern construction engineering, but how he manages to get into trouble with people, including the press, is what keeps baffling people. He came in, hands on, prepared for the job, with his performance record in Ebonyi State and a successful private engineering background, but it did not take too long for him to get into trouble, beginning with his handling of the Lagos-Calabar express road, which has attracted so much criticism. Is it that he is not aware of the perception he is creating for himself as minister of works, or he does not give a damn about what people think of him, or he is just being himself, a person with a lot of hubris to display? The performance of the minister of works is one that everyone could assess and input in the scorecard, because you can tell the state of our roads and infrastructure at a glance. People travel and come back with stories to tell, whether they are positive or negative. 

They know the state of the roads before this government took over, and they know what they are experiencing now, especially those passing through the Benin-Warri route and the Ore-Benin stretch of the expressway. What we are witnessing now is nothing to write home about, and the minister of works should have just kept quiet instead of finding excuses for failed performance. Sometimes it is wisdom to just keep quiet instead of garrulously exhibiting your nonchalance toward the people’s feelings. It is one bad habit that is common with some of the officials of this government. But we have representatives of the people who are in a position to draw the attention of the government to the areas in which they are lagging behind. That is why we have senators and members of the House of Representatives in the National Assembly. 

At the state level we also have state houses of assembly responsible for carrying out oversight functions on the activities of the executives. But because of the paddy paddy nature of our politics, our representatives have become rubber stamps for executive decisions. They do not care as long as their insatiable greed is assuaged. They prefer the crumbs from the table instead of the overall well being and prosperity of the people. They have become o yes members to party decisions and put their survival first before any other thing. That is why the representation Senator Oshiomhole is giving to his people should be a source of pride to them. He broke the paddy paddy convention by openly putting the works minister to task over his manifest failure on the job. It is rare to have this kind of conversation on the floor of the Senate. Hear Oshiomhole: “I think the federal minister of works needs to be guided. Because we have all these roads that are in bad shape, he is proposing the construction of new roads when existing roads are not there. 

Some three weeks ago, I understand 20 new roads were approved. Yet, sir, between Edo and Delta, there is manifest bias by the minister of works. You cannot go to Warri from Benin, you cannot go to Asaba from Benin. You cannot get to Auchi to Okene from Benin. What have we done wrong? I think the minister has shown consistently there is no federal allocation. It is Mr President’s good will that he directed that they should use tax credit to deal with part of this section. Otherwise, all the budgets over the past three years, in spite of the first motion under your leadership that was moved to draw his attention, the federal minister of works has failed deliberately to include that portion bordering Delta and Edo in the national budget. 

So, I plead with you to urge him to be more balanced and have a national overview in his responsibilities.” Like him or hate him, Oshiomhole says it as it is. I almost thought that he had lost his verve with the way politics has taken over him, and he indeed experienced some missteps along the way. He is beginning to sound like the Oshiomhole we knew in his days as Labour president; we hope he will continue in that direction. It is also hoped that Dave Umahi will understand that Oshiomhole is just doing his job and should not take it personally. The people are suffering and angry; they need their representatives in the National Assembly to tell their true conditions more forcefully to government. 

What is really the problem with Umahi? Is it that he is handicapped on the job? Is he not getting the necessary support to perform his task successfully? I ask because during the budget defence he told the Senate committee that the federal ministry of finance only released 9 percent of his capital budget, leaving over 2.2 trillion owed to contractors. One may want to know how an important ministry like that of works had only 9 percent of its budget released and you expect it to perform to the expectations of the people? This is where the ingenuity of performers comes into play. Umahi has been a successful engineering contractor and he knows what is possible and what is not. He should come out open to the people and schedule his priorities. It does not make sense to embark on big, gigantic projects when only less than 10 percent of your budget is released to you. 

It does not make sense when over 80 percent of the major roads are in terrible shape. It is also glaring that there is obvious bias in the allocation of road projects in the national budget. The Koko Junction-Ologbo-Benin stretch of the Benin-Warri road has been in very bad shape for years now. People sleep on the road at that portion, and scores of people died when a petrol tanker caught fire at that spot in 2020. David Umahi visited that spot when he assumed office as minister in 2023. He promised immediate action on the road. It has been a crawling action movie since then. The road has gotten worse. You are seeing Benin City with your eyes from Ologbo, but reaching Benin can take you another three to four hours. 

Contrast this with the Shagamu-Ijebu Ode express road that commenced work barely a year ago. The job is almost completed and traffic movement is going at a good pace, with no hardship. Why can’t the Benin-Warri Expressway be done in such a manner? Umahi should learn from his friend Nyesom Wike on how to aggressively initiate and complete physical projects, not by talking alone. Again, I think he is too distracted by politics and what people think about him. He should just concentrate on performance delivery and let his works speak for him. There are others who have been in that position and did not distinguish themselves with their performance, but they were less controversial and therefore attracted less criticism. Umahi appears weighed down by forces stronger than himself, but he cannot extricate himself from that bind. Is it by force to be a federal minister? As a core professional, he should be looking at the wider picture.

•Ikhioya writes from Lagos.

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