By Favour Nnabugwu

THE Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State Mr. Nsima Ekere and Directors of Highways in the Federal Ministry of Works have ranked Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Setraco Construction Company high on quality of roads  as well as prompt delivery of jobs given to them.

The directors in an interactive session with journalists during a two-day retreat organized by Akwa Ibom State Government for officials of Federal Ministry of Works recently on the constraints encountered in carrying out their jobs, said that Julius Berger needed little or no supervision to do their jobs.

According to one of the directors who preferred anonymity, any road constructed by Julius Berger lasts between 15 and 20 years before it begins to decay while roads constructed by Setraco last between10 and 15 years before decay sets in. Other construction companies’ jobs they said, last for between two and five years.

World class infrastructure

Mr. Ekere told the gathering of eminent personalities at the state house dinner organized for the Ministry of Works Team who were in the state for a retreat that the state governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio had a strong passion and commitment to ease the welfare of the people of his state by concentrating on building world class infrastructure for the Akwa Ibom people.

He added that for the state to get the highest quality of infrastructure it desired, it deals with five star construction companies.

According to him, “when you want to build a five-star infrastructure, you go with five-star construction company. And that is why in Akwa Ibom State today, we find the best construction company that can work and which is not working in other parts of the country, particularly the Niger Delta is working in Akwa Ibom State. That is why today, we feel proud to say we have the best road network in the country”.

In an interview with Vanguard, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Mallam Burka Goni Aji said that Akwa Ibom State Government’s blueprint tallies with the transformation agenda of the federal government which the people of the state could attest to.

Aji who was amused by the state’s materials laboratories to ensure quality of its projects said the ministry would take a cue from the Akwa Ibom government to revitalize federal government laboratories for quality road constructions.

“The Federal Ministry of Works will copy the best practice of Akwa Ibom state to ensure that there must be laboratories for an enduring highways and must ensure those laboratories do exist before any commencement of any road project”.

On his part, Minister of Works, Arc Mike Onolememen said the ministry’s new Geo-Technics and Quality Control Department had been mandated to ensure compliance to ensure quality jobs at all times.

Onolememen stated that the department is to report any contravention for stance measures against offenders. “This will help eliminate substandard jobs and cases of potholes in newly constructed or rehabilitated roads”, he stated.

Minster of State for Works, Amb Bashir Yuguda said though the ministry was not just amazed by the quality of road networks in Akwa Ibom state, he was dazed by the height of quality of the roads.

According to Yuguda, “We are pleasantly surprised with the quality of roads in Akwa Ibom state. That is not to say we expected anything less but l must say that we are highly impressed by the taste of the state government. The roads are linked with beautiful networks and kept clean

Meanwhile, Controllers of Federal Highways at the retreat have promised to key into to the dynamic drive of the Ministry as they said they would not want to lose their jobs for any inefficient reasons.

The over 120 Highway Controllers who were drilled at a two-day retreat knew what was up for them if they failed to align with the new vision of the ministry.

The Controllers who said they could not afford to deviate from the change, noted that they fully well understood the path of the ministry and were ready to fall into that direction.

Speaking on behalf of other Controllers, Ejike Mgbemena, an engineer in charge of South West said “we are fully aware that if there is a change and one fails to move with the change the person will be change and we don’t want our positions to be advertised before with fall in line with the new change in the ministry”.

The retreat, he said, “goes a long way to encourage us to re-brand our mode of operation to the job including supervision and monitoring. The abuse on the right of way is having a very negative impact on our performance even affecting the engineers on sites. We don’t want our positions to be advertised because if there is a change and we refuse to move with the change, we will be changed”

Also, Mr John Azubuike Ibe, Federal Controller for Works in Akwa Ibom said the theme of the retreat was apt whilst he commended the prescience of the leadership of the Ministry, adding that the ministry had witnessed a tremendous change since the assumption of office of the Ministers.

Ibe said “what we now have in the Ministry are round pegs in round holes”

Minister of Works, Arch Mike Onolememen, said the retreat was the first in the ministry to drive the transformation agenda of President Gooluck Jonathan which was structured towards transforming the road sector.

“The objective therefore is to hone in our management staff, the skills and values that can bring about transformation in the road sector. The possibilities to be identified with this retreat must take into consideration our peculiar environment where Nigerians are yearning for good motorable network of roads.

“Much as the new reforms being introduced would sometimes conflict with existing norms, we should be receptive to the new strategies, especially when they have become universal trends”, he said.

The Minister therefore urged the ministry’s engineers to carry out their jobs and ensure they inspect and monitor their jurisdictions properly else they would bear the brunt of any lapses thereof.