Buhari’s first road?

LET us start with a confession: I frankly do not know the first road
contract which the Muhammadu Buhari administration, now about to mark
its first anniversary, awarded. But it would not be surprising if it
turns out to be the rehabilitation of the terribly failed Ihiala
section of the federal road which connects Anambra, Imo and Rivers
states and passes through the towns of Okija, Ihiala and Uli in
Anambra State; Egbuoma and Oguta in Imo State; and Omoku in Rivers
State. Contract for the road construction was awarded in 1982 by the
Federal Government following a Federal executive Council (FEC) which
Vice President Alex Ekwueme chaired because President Shehu Shagari
was out of the country.
Two ministers in the Shagari administration hailed from the towns
where the road starts and where it ends. Victor Masi, the Minister of
Works, was from Omoku while Paulinus Amadike, Minister of Youth,
Sports and Social Development, was an indigene of Okija. It is
reasonable to speculate that both men played a critical role in the
construction of the road, with Ekwueme facilitating it.
However, like many Nigerian projects, the history of the development
of this road has been anything but wonderful. The road has yet to be
completed a whole 34 years after work commenced on it, despite the
fact that it leads to the country's biggest oil and gas belt. In fact,
the Ihiala section has over the years given the impression that this
critical road is easily the worst road in the whole country.
The good news is that work has started in earnest in the
reconstruction of the failed section. The reconstruction of any part
of this road is not included in this year's budget, but the Buhari
administration somewhat found money to fix it because it considers it
an emergency. It is probably the first road contract it has awarded.