The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has stated that the ministry will not engage in new projects in 2025 due to the backlog of unfinished road contracts it inherited.
The minister, during a briefing on Thursday, August 22, to mark his one year in office, stated that the ministry is currently handling over 4,000 ongoing projects with a funding deficit of N16tn.
He said instead of new projects, the ministry will channel its attention toward completing several ongoing and abandoned projects in the country.
Speaking further, he noted that what can make the ministry recommend any new project is if it comes from President Bola Tinubu.
“We will not propose new projects for the 2025 fiscal year unless otherwise dictated by Mr President. I am going to tell the Ministry of Finance to provide funds for us to complete ongoing projects. Right now, we have over 4,000 ongoing projects and a funding gap of N16tn, most of them were inherited by this administration. Some of these projects were awarded when the naira was exchanged for N150 to $1USD.”
The minister further explained that inflation has contributed significantly to the rising cost of most of these projects, and it would be in the nation’s best interest for them to be completed.
