By Ajiri Daniels
The Senator representing Bayelsa West at the National Assembly, Senator Seriake Dickson, has called on the Federal Government to make budgetary provision and expedite action on the completion of the East-West Road project, to ease vehicular movement as well as reduce carnage on the road.
Senator Dickson made the call on Friday at the National Assembly when the Senate Committee on Appropriation under the chairmanship of Senator Olamilekan Adeola, met with the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu.
Following the breakdown of the Minister’s report, Dickson queried the non-budgetary allocation for the East-West Road, which serves as a major gateway to coastal states where the nation’s resources come from..
The former Bayelsa State governor, who decried the deplorable condition of the road, implored the Minister to ensure the appropriation report also reflects the state of abandonment of the East-West Road, which was awarded over 20 years ago, as well as budgetary provision to see to its completion.
“We have concerns about the East-West Road. When you mentioned projects under the Renewed Hope Infrastructure fund, I didn’t hear you talk about the East-West Road.
” As you very well know, the East-West Road started over 20 years ago and even before the Coastal Road, as important as it is, we have had the East-West Road on the front burner abandoned for different reasons.
”So, I was asking if we should not in this Renewed Hope Infrastructure fund, make provisions for it so that the hope of our people can also be renewed.
“It was very embarrassing last week when we went to Port Harcourt for the Niger Delta Summit and we found out that, for five hours people couldn’t get from Bayelsa to Port Harcourt, including governors who were attending the event..
” I think this should be drawn to Mr.. President’s attention, so that it can be accommodated”, he added..
The Minister, while trying to douse the agitation of members of the committee on the fate of other deplorable roads, and uncompleted road projects in their various constituencies, said the Federal Government has not abandoned any of the ongoing projects.
He assured that the Federal Executive Council would continue to consider and give financial approval to other roads as funds are available.
Recall that the minister was invited to provide insight into the N6.2 trillion Supplementary Appropriation approval for the 2024 budget by the National Assembly as requested by President Bola Tinubu.
Bagudu, while giving a sectoral overview of the supplementary appropriation, noted that N3.2 trillion was for Renewed Hope Infrastructure Projects, while N3 trillion was meant for the recurrent component of the budget, including the new minimum wage expenditure.
He further disclosed that President Tinubu was seeking the N3.2 trillion to fund projects under the Renewed Hope Infrastructure, which include the Lagos – Calabar coastal highway, the Sokoto – Badagry highway and the Trans- Sahara highway.
