Cabinet ministers have finally been nominated, vetted and assigned portfolios and are to resume duty on Monday, August 21, eleven weeks into the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who took over the reins of governance in Nigeria on May 29.
This is a sure sign that the work of governance is set to rev up in earnest, in a space where there is much work to be done and no time to waste.
Strident voices are calling from everywhere, asking to be lifted out of the despair of rising prices and stagnant wages, following on the cancellation of the fuel subsidy and free float of the naira, twin steps confirmed by experts to have long-term benefits but numbing cramps in the immediate.
Material palliatives will surely deliver some respite but an enabling environment is sure to go farther and enable the people fend for themselves, rather than wait for government at every turn.
David Nweze Umahi, a civil engineer to boot, who was governor of Ebonyi State from 2015 to 2023, has been appointed Minister of Works.
Umahi fits the bill by his training and practice in civil engineering and creams it off with his years of experience as governor of Ebonyi, where he is said to have changed the face of the state for the better through good network of roads and other physical infrastructure.
The proof of the pudding, however, is in the eating.
Bad roads (or the lack of roads) have been a perennial drawback to business and quality of life in Nigeria. As such, Nigerians will be looking to Umahi, the new Minister of Works, to uplift and construct strategic roads to enable a better quality of life, trade and commerce with the support of the President.
The roads requiring urgent attention include the East-West Road in the oil-producing Niger Delta, the Benin-Auchi Road, the Sapele-Benin Road and the Ovia Bridge stretch in Edo State.
There are also the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, which has for long been the preferred area of operation for kidnappers and other criminals because of its deplorable state, the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, the Onitsha-Owerri Road, and many more.
The conclusion of Nigeria’s much-talked-about East-West Road, which kicked off in 2006 and is to span 413 kilometres, with the promise to deliver incalculable benefits to the country, will without a doubt be one of Umahi’s major challenges.
The proposed coastal road is structured to run from Epe in Lagos State to Calabar in Cross River State.
The deliverables from this and other road projects listed include a significant shortening of travel time from East to West of Nigeria and points between.
Also included is a reduction of accidents, many of which cost life, limb and material of economic value. Further included in the benefits are a boost in trade and commerce, job creation, a reduction in the percentage of farm produce spoilage en route markets on account of bad roads, and the lowering of the cost of food and other goods to market, as a result of lower transport costs, the growth of industries on account of cheaper and speedy delivery of raw materials, as well as the distribution of finished products, among others.
The encouragement of farming and processing activities that will come with the road will also boost exports and foreign exchange earnings.
Crops grown in this region include cassava, rice, yam, cocoa, rubber, pineapples, maize, oil palm, sweet potatoes, okra, sugar cane, garden eggs, plantains, bananas, pawpaw, cocoyam, among others.
For these reasons, a good road network connecting the entire Niger Delta region of Nigeria and the rest of the country is viewed as the beginning of economic development and emancipation in the region and, indeed, the entirety of the nation.
