The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State Mr Adedamola Kuti, said yesterday that consultations had begun for the closure of the Third Mainland Bridge for repairs.
Kuti told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the Ministry of Works was going to hold a meeting with stakeholders today to discuss how to manage traffic during the repairs.
He, however, did not specify the exact date the bridge would be closed or how long the repairs would last.
The Ogun State government has completed the rehabilitation of some bad portions on Abeokuta-Lagos and old Ilaro roads – within the state – to ameliorate the suffering and loss of man-hour motorists and other road users plying the roads face daily.
In a statement yesterday in Abeokuta, the state capital, by his media aide, Mr. Temidayo Agida, Works and Infrastructure Commissioner Olamilekan Adegbite said though they are Federal roads, yet the rehabilitation had become necessary because of the large volume of human and vehicular activities that occur daily on them.
He said: “It is our duty to ensure that all the roads within Ogun State are in good condition. But due to paucity of funds, we have to strategically choose the roads to be rehabilitated in terms of importance.”
The commissioner said the state had repaired a number of Federal roads in the past six and a half years, adding that the state could no longer wait for the Federal Government, as the affected roads are critical to the socio-economic life of the people.
The commissioner assured road users that the state government would put all roads in good shape, not minding their classification.
THE Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said yesterday the elevators at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja are undergoing repairs.
The reaction came after some of the aged, sick and disabled passengers complained of the difficulty of accessing the boarding area and the aircraft.
Reacting to the complaint, the General Manager, Corporate Communications of FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu said: “The Escalators at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport are all functioning.
“The lift that is unserviceable is being serviced right now and it will be available for use again very soon”.
Also reacting to the complaints, the Chairman of Air Transport Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSAN) in Abuja, Emmanuel Kerri, said: “There are serviceable elevators at the Wing B but it are not working at the moment.
“In Wing D, we don’t have challenge of escalators or elevator because the boarding area is not upstairs.”
On how they convey the disabled and others who need assistance to boarding area, Kerri said: “We use the baggage area which is downstairs to convey the handicap and we don’t have problem conveying people to the aircraft.
“Any sick person, aged or disabled person is boarded through the baggage area and the airlines are aware of that.”
Nigeria’s largest multi-brand automobile workshop has begun operations in Lagos.
The hi-tech auto firm can service and repair all passenger and commercial brands – from Ferrari to Toyota.
TSL offers 30 per cent discount on service and repairs from last Thursday till October 31.
TSL founder Raju Sawlani said the company will not only be able to service 1000 vehicles in a day, it will also be equipped to service and repair all passenger and commercial automotive brands “from Ferrari to Toyota.”
He added that corporate bodies that register their fleet with the company between the same period “will receive special pricing.”
After the promotion date, TSL, he said, will match any reputed workshop in Lagos that has at least 18 service bays.
The firm will also engage in sale of new and used vehicles.
“We will provide Gold Certification and peace-of-mind on used vehicles, as well as 24/7 roadside assistance,” he said.
Sawlani said his decision to set up TSL was necessitated by a need to restore customer confidence in the nation auto market.
He said: “Having sold over 200,000 vehicles, valued at $7.2 billion in Nigeria over a 21-year period, my customers have voiced their concern to me about after sales issues. For this reason, I needed to launch TSL. I handpicked the best technical personnel in the Nigerian auto industry. These are highly experienced individuals, who I have observed over a 21 years period.
“The main parameters that define repair quality are quality of workmanship, genuineness of spare parts, lubricants and fluids used and the overall customer experience, which includes a reasonable price and the least amount of downtime.
“TSL will provide only genuine lubricants, fluids and parts. The downtime and stress caused by fake and substandard motor oil and motor parts drain billions of Naira from the economy. Customers have lost confidence in most high and low workshops.
“In addition, our machinery and equipment are from the top manufacturers in the world. We will prove to the world that supercars do not need to be flown out of Nigeria for service and repairs. Nigerians are highly talented and capable people.”
The Federal Government has begun emergency and remedial repair of some major roads and bridges in Lagos State, the Federal Controller of Works for Lagos, Mr Godwin Eke, said yesterday.
Eke told reporters in Lagos that some of the bad roads required urgent attention and that the Federal Government was determined to make its roads across the country motorable.
He said the repairs on some roads had been completed while others were ongoing.
The controller noted that remedial work on the carriageways of Apongbon Bridge undulations had been completed.
According to him, the repairs were completed speedily because the contractors worked at night.
Eke identified the emergency repair projects as those on Ijora Causeway, Ijora Flyover (East Link), Funsho Williams Avenue, replacement of 1 N (one number) expansion joint on Eko Bridge, Costain Roundabout to Eko Bridge Ramp and Costain to Iganmu Bridge (Orile Bound).
Others are: Funsho Williams Bridge to Alaka, Carter Bridge Roundabout to LAWMA Junction (Eko Bridge Bound Carriageway), Herbert Macaulay Way (Jibowu Junction to Adekunle Junction) and Outer Marina to Ahmadu Bellow way (From Apongbon Bridge to Bonny Camp).
Also affected are: Falomo Roundabout through Kingsway Road to Osbourne Road, Apapa Road to Western Avenue (between Iganmu Bridge ramp and Western Avenue Bridge ramp (Alaka-bound carriageway), Apapa Road towards Iganmu Bridge (Orile-bound) which were receiving attention.
Eke said Ijora Olopa to Ijora-7Up (beside Oloye Nursery and Primary School (Ijora Olopa-bound), Alaka to Apongbon through Eko Bridge (both carriageways) and Onikan Junction through Independent Bridge to Apongbon Bridge (Apongbon-bound) were undergoing repairs.
According to him, the following roads – Lagos Island/General Hospital to Apongbon, Onikan/Lagos Island to Apongbon through Apongbon Bridge/CMS (CMS Bound), Eko Bridge approach to Ijora, Ijora to Apapa Road through underneath Iganmu flyover (Costain-bound) and the National Theatre train station to Costain (Costain-bound) – are being worked on.
Eke said the government was working assiduously to conclude plans for other roads not yet captured.
The controller urged Lagos State residents to be patient with the government as the repairs would soon reach those roads not earlier captured.
He said: “Due to paucity of funds, government cannot repair all the roads at the same time.”
The controller said the bids for the repair of Apapa Oshodi/Tin Can Island Road was passing through the procurement process, adding that government was planning to rebuild the network of roads on the Apapa/Tin Can Island/Oshodi Road corridor to reduce congestion to the barest minimum.
He added: “We will carry out some palliatives as soon as the procurement process is concluded.
“The high water table at Apapa requires proper design and adoption of rigid pavement to ensure longevity of our roads.”
• Begins 1500Mw expansion plan
The management of Egbin Power Plc has said the owners of the largest Nigerian power plant, Sahara Group, have invested $400 million in the plant since they took over the company in November, 2013 to date.
Egbin Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Dallas Peavey, stated this during his presentation on the activities of the company to a delegation of the United States congressmen led by Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and accompanied by the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, to the power plant at Ijede, Lagos.
Peavey said: “At the time of takeover of Egbin Power, the power plant was operating at less than 30 per cent capacity and Unit-06 had not been operational for over 10 years. Despite the extensive regulatory challenges, KERL have successfully moved the plant to original generation levels and operate the assets based upon international standard position, investing substantially, over $400 million, in the plant since take over. The Egbin Power Plant is now operating at over 88 per cent with Unit-06 returned to full original operational service.
“Prior to the privatization of the plant in November 2013, Egbin averaged generation of below 240 megawatts per hour due to the dismal operational state of its six units. At its lowest point, only two of the six units were partially operational.
“The Power plant was saddled with an excess of over 1000 employees with an alarming number of aging experienced workforce approaching retirement. The Administrative Building was in a deplorable state, un-safe and a very bad occupational environment which made it difficult to work in for the employees.”
He also stated that the management wants to increase the capacity of the plant by 1500mw by 2020. Currently, Egbin’s capacity is 1320Mw, so on completion of the expansion, the total capacity of the plant will be 2820Mw.
“Everything is now working and fully usable. We have done major changes and overhaul of facilities. We have also employed 107 engineer graduates from universities in Nigeria. We have invested heavily on Egbin. In the next month, we will be building a training facility for Egbin.
“We have upgraded the Distributed Control System (DCS) to Units 4, 5 and 1 to the latest modern technology available. The remaining DCS unit upgrades are being performed concurrently with the remaining unit overhauls.
“We have carried out replacements and repairs of major essential parts of the plant such as of re-tubing specific sections of the boilers, replacement of the high pressure heaters and switch gear-breaker system, among others,” he added.
Fielding question from reporters, Director and Co-founder of Sahara Group, Mr. Tonye Cole, said: “The privatisation that happened in Nigeria is first of its kind in Africa. Everyone knows that when Nigeria succeeds, other African countries will succeed. This is the reason we have put so much efforts so that it does not fail.
“We have had a lot of discussions with people engaged in power, and the most important thing for the power sector in Nigeria has to do with the policies, advocacy and making sure everything is in place to enhance investment growth.
“When we took over, nobody was coming from the university to work in the power sector, so we had very aging population of engineers in the power sector and now we have to fill that gap very well. So we have been able to make the business good for the young people to come in and the only way we can do that, is to make this a success. We need to ensure that the power sector in Nigeria does not fail.”
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has started emergency repairs on some of the failed portions of the East West Road, especially the dilapidated sections between Eleme Junction and the Onne Junction.
The NDDC Executive Director Projects, Samuel Adjogbe, who inspected the on-going repairs on the road on Friday, was met at various points by excited road users who were visibly happy with what the interventionist agency was doing to ameliorate their sufferings.
Similar interventions by the NDDC on the Calabar-Itu Road and the Calabar-Ikom Road last year were the saving grace for Cross River State, which was virtually cut off from the rest of the country.
Engr. Adjogbe said that the emergency intervention was a follow-up to the commitment made recently by the Commission to save the road from total collapse. He recalled that the NDDC Managing Director, Mr Nsima Ekere, had assured the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, who visited the Commission on June 16 that contractors would be mobilised to site immediately to carry out the emergency repairs.
The Executive Director said the emergency repairs was the only remedy to what he described as a critical situation, adding that the intervention was necessary to save the very busy and important road artery in the Niger Delta.
Adjogbe said the NDDC had to embark on the urgent repairs to arrest the deterioration of the road and reduce the pains of motorists commuting to Akwa Ibom and Cross River states. He said he was hopeful that the emergency repairs would be completed within 30 days.
He expressed satisfaction with the performance of the contractor, adding; “We want to encourage local contractors to continue to improve on their capacity to deliver quality projects for the benefit of the people. This is very important to the NDDC and I am pleased that people in this area are happy with what the contractor is doing here.”
The site engineer for the construction firm, Mr Celestine Egbe, said that because of the nature of the soil in the area, they were excavating several metres of unsuitable materials before filling back with sharp sand. He noted that they had made substantial progress since they mobilised equipment to site one week ago.
Some motorists were happy with what they had seen so far and appealed to the NDDC not to relent until the job was fully done.
For Marcus Wisdom, a bus driver, “the NDDC has saved us from the nightmare that we used to go through on this road. In fact, motorists using this road are very happy with the commission. It used to take travellers about four hours to commute from Eleme Junction to Refinery, a journey that should normally take 20 minutes,” he said.
Christopher Godwin said: “Drivers that dared to use the road before now ended up in mechanic workshops. We are very happy with NDDC for what they have done in the last few days.”
Mr. Ogbonna Chukwudi, a welder, was full of praises for the NDDC for “coming to the rescue of road users.” According to him, a few weeks ago, the road between Eleme Junction and Refinery Junction was virtually impassable.
The NDDC told the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs that it would take over N70 billion to complete the construction of the East-West Road which straddles the six Southsouth states.
In December, 2016 alone the facility handled about 5000 domestic flights justifying its rating as the second busiest airport in the country after the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) in Lagos. Completed in 2000 and officially opened for operations in 2002, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, recorded a growth in passenger movement at the facility from 2, 126, 645 in 2005 to 4, 341, 637 in 2015. Yet, this critical facility’s runway, designed and built to last for 20 years had, before the advent of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, functioned for 35 years without undergoing the requisite periodic, comprehensive maintenance. It was thus inevitable that critical portions of the runway had completely failed constituting a danger to flight and passenger safety and necessitating its closure for six weeks from March 8 this year to enable far reaching repairs and upgrade.
Of course, it would have been easier and more convenient to assume that since no major air mishap had ever occurred at the airport, luck would continue to smile on the facility and all would always be well. Unfortunately, as several air crashes in the nation’s aviation history has shown, once an ordinarily avoidable air fatality is allowed to occur through complacency, neglect or carelessness, the consequences are eternally irreversible. It would also have been perhaps more preferable and popular with the flying public if the airport had been allowed to continue to function normally while necessary repairs were carried out piecemeal possibly at night. The federal aviation authorities however deserve commendation for firmly standing by the decision to completely shut down the airport for the stipulated period while preparing the Kaduna Airport as an effective although admittedly inconvenient alternation for the duration of the Abuja airport repairs.
As the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, rightly said at the time in reaction to popular opposition to the closure of the airport, “The total architecture of the runway failed touching on the safety component of our operations which we cannot negotiate. So we better stay safe than do something stupid. We decided to close down the airport and make a total rehabilitation of the runway itself in the interest of safety”. Apart from the distance of about 200km between Kaduna and Abuja and the rampant incidence of criminality on the road, most people were pessimistic as regards the possibility of the six-week deadline being met for the reopening of the Abuja facility. This was a reflection of a chronic and largely justifiable lack of confidence in the ability of public authorities in Nigeria to meet set objectives within specified timelines.
To the surprise of all, however, work on the Abuja airport was completed ahead of schedule and the facility was opened for use a day before it was formally expected to resume operations on April 18. The new Abuja airport runway was reconstructed using new technology such as glass glide for the first time in the country to reinforce its durability and prevent surface cracks. Apart from the runway, other facilities have either being newly provided or upgraded at the facility to meet the global protocol on standard and best practices set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Lift and escalators for the aged and physically challenged persons have been provided at the departure hall of Terminal B. A new terminal, the D wing, which had long been abandoned has been rehabilitated, equipped and put in use complete with its own fingers for flight boarding. The local B wing and the international C wing have been given a comprehensive face-lift including the overhauling of their air conditioning systems and provision of new toilets, VIP lounges and other ancillary facilities.
However, the cost of allowing the Abuja airport runway to deteriorate over the years due to lack of maintenance was the expenditure of another N3.2 billion on the preparation of the Kaduna Airport to serve as an alternative. But this has luckily not been a waste after all. For, the Kaduna Airport has now been substantially upgraded and now enjoys an expanded and improved runway, enhanced fire cover, more efficient instrument landing system, improved air space services and weather reports, the repair of its Voice Omni-directional Radio Range (VOR) and other navigational aids and the completion of a previously abandoned passenger terminal.
In order to ensure that the Kaduna Airport does not lapse into disuse thus frittering away these gains, it would certainly be wise for the aviation authorities to commit additional funds to further modernization of the facility. The experience of the last six weeks has shown that Kaduna can be a viable aviation route if the necessary facilities and conditions are made available. The new Kaduna-Abuja train line, started by the preceding Jonathan administration and completed by this government, improvement on the road between the two cities, provision of free shuttle bus service and the maintenance of tight security facilitated the smooth and safe movement of arrivals at Kaduna Airport to Abuja.
The cooperation and harmonious operations of the Ministries of Transport; Power, Works and Housing; the Kaduna State government and Julius Berger Plc, which made the completion and reopening of the project ahead of schedule possible is laudable. Surely, the more we have of this kind of inter-governmental and inter-agency rapport rather than the needless conflict, rivalry and turf wars that has been a huge distraction to the Buhari administration, the more effective and productive use will be made of what remains of its tenure.
President Buhari has expressed his appreciation to the Ethiopian government for that country’s extraordinary cooperation with Nigeria during the period that the Abuja airport was closed. Unlike most other International carriers that refused to fly to Kaduna, Ethiopian Airlines was reportedly the first to land an aircraft at the Kaduna airport on the very day the Abuja airport was closed and consistently maintained its operation on the route for the stipulated six weeks. The Airline’s Airbus A350 was also the first to land at the repaired Abuja runway on the very day it reopened. This is certainly an inspiring indication of the immense possibilities of inter-African cooperation if the political will and commitment can be mustered.
Given the over N400 billion reportedly expended by the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration on the expansion and modernization of 17 domestic and five international airports across the country, including a $1 billion Chinese loan for the same purpose, it is amazing that most of our airports are in the state they are today. Yet, rather than continue to whine and moan over the mess inherited, the aviation authorities simply went ahead to do what they had to do to enhance the operational safety of the Abuja airport. This is the kind of spirit Nigerians expect to see from the Buhari administration in the days ahead.
Federal University, Oye Ekiti shows the light
As a young member of the Editorial Board of the defunct Daily Times in the mid eighties, I benefitted enormously from the presence of the then Dr. Kayode Soremekun as a visiting member of the Board.
The political scientist, international relations expert and specialist in the national and global politics of oil was then on sabbatical from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). His contributions on the board were radical, enlightening, uncompromising, irreverent and penetrating. One of the articles I remember him writing for the Daily Times was titled ‘Nigeria and the Pertamina affair’ in which he likened the opacity and corruption that characterized the management of Nigeria’s oil sector under the Babangida regime to that of Indonesia’s graft ridden state owned Pertermina oil corporation. In another piece, titled ‘Bitter Life’, he descended heavily on the then flamboyant First Lady, the late Mrs Maryam Babangida’s Better Life for Rural Women pet project describing it as of little relevance to the lives of millions of poverty stricken Nigerian women. It certainly took great courage to write such articles under military rule and on the platform of a paper like the Daily Times.
At the inception of the Buhari administration, Professor Kayode Soremekun was appointed Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE). I am not surprised at the choice of three eminent Nigerians who will on Saturday, 29th of this month be conferred with honorary degrees by the university. They are a centenarian and retired principal of Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti, Chief Adepoju Akomolafe; 89-year-old retired principal of Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti, Chief Francis Daramola and the first indigenous principal of Queen’s College, Lagos, Efunjoke Coker. They will be conferred with honorary Doctor of Educational Administration in recognition of their contributions to education, scholarship and manpower development in Nigeria. Justifying the decision at a pre-convocation briefing, Professor Soremekun submitted that honorary degrees should not be reserved exclusively for politicians and moneybags arguing that “The gesture is to remember these great Nigerians, who contributed to scholarship. It is sad that we are all suffering from amnesia which makes us forget people so easily. With this, we will be setting a new moral standard for society”. Surely, FUOYE is commendably showing the light for others to find the way.
Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame Chairman Mr Wale Edun has hailed Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for embarking on road construction.
Edun, a one-time Commissioner for Finance, described the road project as a dividend of democracy for Ademola Street in Ikoyi and a legacy for Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area Executive Secretary Miss Toyin Caxton-Martins.
Edun urged the contractor to do a quality work, which will propel residents to pay their taxes promptly.
He praised the government for approving the reconstruction of Ademola Street under the project.
The residents are upbeat about the project.
A former chairman of the residents’ association, Mr Tunde Coker, said the road would be reconstructed with provisions made for drainages and street lights.
Caxton-Martins described the project as part of Ambode’s initiative to develop the state.
She said the construction of 114 roads, two roads in each local government and LCDA, showed the governor’s commitment to drive the state through community development.
She urged the community development association to assist the contractor when the work begins.
African nations plan to target more private investment in key regional projects to help address a lack of infrastructure that is slowing growth and regional integration, a unit of the African Union (AU) said.
Priority projects under the Programme for Infrastructure Development, which began in 2012, need $68 billion by 2020 and an additional $300 billion for those planned to 2040. The initiative, known as PIDA, has assisted in developing 16 priority trans-national projects so that they are now “bankable,” New Partnership for Africa’s Development Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim Mayaki said in an interview in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
“Fundamentally we need to attract the private sector,” said Mayaki, a former prime minister of Niger. “They were not interested in Africa 10 years ago, but even if the risk is a bit higher the returns can be much higher than what they’re getting.”
The investment drive seeks to address deficiencies that leave 62 percent of Africans without access to electricity, less than 10 percent able to use the Internet and only a quarter of the road network paved. The result is “expensive infrastructure services, constrained industrial productivity, limited participation in global trade and holding back the competitiveness of production,” according to Nepad, a technical body of the AU leading efforts to improve transport, power and communications.
The union will be encouraged to focus on infrastructure and PIDA during Zimbabwe’s one-year chairmanship that began Friday, President Robert Mugabe said in an acceptance speech. “We need to continue and perhaps redouble our current collective efforts in this sector,” he said in Addis Ababa at the AU. “The road and power projects that we’re developing are a positive step in our quest to improve the African infrastructure.”
The African Development Bank will conduct feasibility studies for the 16 projects African leaders agreed in June. The Abidjan-based lender plans to attract an initial $3 billion in equity capital for the programme using a fund known as Africa50. Well-prepared African infrastructure deals may be attractive to investors including U.S. pension’s funds looking for high returns, Mayaki said.
The top five projects outlined by Nepad are the Ruzizi III hydropower plant between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda; expansion of the port in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; construction of the Serenje to Nakonde road in Zambia; a gas pipeline from Nigeria to Algeria; and an upgrade of the railway from Senegal’s capital, Dakar, to Bamako, the capital of Mali.
During its annual summit at its headquarters in Ethiopia last week, the African Union signed an accord with China for it to support efforts to improve transport links and industry as part of the organisation’s 50-year strategy to transform Africa by 2063.
“This is a very grand and ambitious project but it’s also a feasible project,” Zhang Ming, China’s vice foreign minister, said at the Jan. 27 signing in Addis Ababa.
The deal to improve rail, roads and aviation will enable China to access the resources it needs from Africa over the next decades, said Christie Viljoen, senior economist at NKC Independent Economists in Paarl, South Africa.
“Any efforts to stimulate regional integration is surely aimed at enabling landlocked countries to export their commodities more easily,” she said in an e-mailed response to questions on Wednesday.
State-funded Chinese rail projects in Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti are current examples of the type of work it’s pledged to do with the AU, Zhang said. There are opportunities for all African nations and the continent, and other “international partners” can contribute, he said.
A reliable indicator of China’s future commitment to Africa’s infrastructure development will come at next year’s meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, said Deborah Brautigam, the Director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University.
“For quite some time the Chinese banks have been interested in financing cross-regional infrastructure projects, but these are difficult to coordinate,” she said in an e-mailed response to questions last week. “The AU can’t take out loans obviously, but it can provide a venue for discussions of interested stakeholders, who might be able to work out a cross-regional project and apply for funds.”