- Aniagwu Says Gov. Oborevwori Connecting Communities, Transforming Lives
By Sunday Egede
Delta State Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu has said that the state government does not owe contractors because Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is determined to ensure quality and timely delivery of projects across the state.
Aniagwu disclosed this during the inspection of multiple road projects in Sapele metropolis, including the failed portions of the Okirighwre-Benin road, Okirighwre-Amukpe road, Shell Road Extension and Hausa Road Extension.
Aniagwu, who was accompanied by Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor, Sir Festus Ahon, commended property owners on the Right of Way for cooperating with the government to ensure quality road construction in the overall interest of the public.
“I am happy that the contractors themselves are on site and they are also progressing speedily. You do know that my boss, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, has made it clear that we will not owe contractors.
“As we are mobilizing them, we are paying for certificates and all; so, what we expect from them is to reciprocate that gesture coming from the government.
“We realize that what exists between us and these contractors is partnership, a partnership that must work. As a government, we represent the people of Delta in that partnership.
“What we owe them is to be able to pay them for the jobs they are doing, and what they owe us is to be able to deliver according to specification, and also on schedule. “So, the reason why we are visiting these projects is to ensure that
this partnership is working, and that is to the extent that the contractor is expected to deliver according to specification as stated in the Bill of Engineering Measurement.
“We are very very particular about those quantities because those quantities control the amount of funds that we usually deploy for the construction of these different projects.
“We have pointed out a number of some areas where they need to make amends. In some places, we have informed them that they need to demolish certain aspects of their drains, and that is with immediate effect.
“But, on the whole, we are impressed with the speed of work and the fact that they are indeed also realizing that that partnership must work.
“The Governor has made it very clear that on no account are we going to sacrifice quality on the altar of friendship and that I have also cautioned those who work with me to ensure that the highest engineering standards are maintained,” he said.
… Oborevwori Connecting Communities, Transforming Lives ln Delta -Aniagwu
By Sunday Egede
Meanwhile, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, yesterday, said Governor Sheriff Oborevwori was connecting communities and transforming lives through provision of road infrastructure across rural communities in the state.
Speaking on national television monitored in Asaba, Aniagwu said Governor Oborevwori has completed over 100km of roads with over 150km ongoing.
He said Oborevwori provided N1 billion each for road construction in the 25 local government areas in 2024 fiscal year and upscaled it to N2.1 billion each in the 2025 budget.
“When the governor came in on May 29, 2023, he made a number of promises, but chiefly, he was clear on the need to continue on existing projects in which case he was going to ensure that no project was abandoned and at the same time initiating new ones.
“In terms of connecting our communities, he has been able to ensure that every local government has roads that are ongoing or completed, which is why he created the Ministry of Works, Rural Roads, and then started with the responsibility of opening up our rural communities.
“In 2024 fiscal year, he made sure that we, first of all, amassed one billion for each of the local governments to enable us tackle some community roads.
“The moment we saw the benefit of that particular budgetary provision, at the time we now started preparing for the 2025 budget, he directed that we must increase it to above N2 billion per local government.
“As I speak to you, in terms of tackling rural roads, we provided over N2.1 billion to be able to tackle rural roads in every local government and that is not inclusive of what we have also provided for ongoing and new projects.
“The government in seeing the need to indeed link up to communities in our state, directed that we must also extend this construction of roads to riverine areas.
“Delta being a coastal state, has a whole lot of riverine communities where they need to also construct roads in addition to bridges to link up to these rural and riverine communities.
“All those are ongoing and we have commissioned a number of them. As I speak to you, not less than 100 kilometers of such roads have been completed, even as over 150 again are also ongoing,” Aniagwu said.
The Commissioner further remarked that Governor Oborevwori was interested in developing rural communities alongside the urban centres to curb rural-urban migration.
“The reason is because we believe that once the rural communities are developed, we would have been able to chiefly empower the people because the number of the people who even migrate to the urban centers also come from these rural communities.
“Making rural communities much more livable to the people will ultimately free the urban areas, because the issue of rural-urban drift that makes the urban areas to become overpopulated, puts a whole lot of pressure on the infrastructure in the urban centers.
“So, for us to be able to keep pace with this development in urban centers, we needed to do something in the rural areas in addition to the fact that it also makes it possible for us to ensure security of life and property in those communities,” the Commissioner added.
He said no state had budgeted over N125 billion for development of road infrastructure in rural communities across the country, assuring that requests for road construction in communities would prioritised on need assessment basis subject to availability of funds.
