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FG inaugurates N137 billion road projects in Borno
President Bola Tinubu on Saturday flagged off N137 billion rehabilitation work on the Bama–Banki and the Dikwa–Gamboru–Ngala roads in Borno.
He said during the ceremony that the roads, when fully completed, would boost trade and agricultural activities and enhance efficiency in security operations.
The project area borders the neighbouring Republic of Cameroon.
The existing road is a single-carriageway with two lanes, 49.15km in total length, and begins at Bama town at the Cameroon border.
Mr Tinubu, who was represented by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, said the roads were key to restoring trans-Saharan trade between Nigeria and the neighbouring countries of Chad and Cameroon, which had been disrupted by the insurgency.
“Bad roads are also a security risk. A corridor that is difficult for citizens to travel is equally difficult for security personnel to patrol and protect
“Promises acquire meaning when citizens can drive on the roads, move their goods, reach their families and live with greater security,” he said.
Earlier, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group, and the contractors handling the projects said his group had 12 major roads covering over 1,000km across the six geo-political zones.
Mr Dangote said the projects put together cost the federal government about N3 trillion under the roads infrastructure tax credit scheme.
He stated that the Bama-Bank road and Dikwa-Gamboru-Ngala road would open up Nigeria’s economy, facilitate military operations, thereby improving security and attract investors.
In his address, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, said that the projects were first awarded in 2021 at a combined cost of about N55 billion, but construction was delayed due to insecurity-related challenges.
Mr Umahi said the projects were later reviewed, with phase I estimated at N70 billion and phase II at N67 billion.
He said the projects would adopt the concrete technology system, which offered superior performance, long lifespan, reduced maintenance requirements, and gave greater value for money.
According to him, the scope of work also includes the construction and maintenance of bridges along the route, road furniture, traffic safety facilities and other ancillary works to improve road usage.
He said that the Dikwa-Gamboru-Ngala road was part of the trunk 95.A3 major North–Southerly route, which started at the road-over-rail bridge on the Port Harcourt township boundary and continued to Aba-Oktupa–Oturkpo–Alaide–Makurdi-Lafiya-Akwanga-Jos–Bauchi-Kari-Potiskum-Maiduguri and -Dikwa–Gamboru-Ngala, the Nigerian border to Cameroon.
The minister stated that, when completed, the roads would enhance the movement of farm produce and trade, improve transportation quality, boost businesses, and provide greater access for security agencies in their operations.
In his remarks, Governor Babagana Zulum also said the interventions were vital to the state’s recovery efforts, adding that the roads would expand economic activity to Chad, Cameroon, and the Niger Republic.
(NAN)
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2027: You’ll be held accountable for wasting Oyo resources on presidential ambition – APC tackles Makinde
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested scores of suspects and recovered illicit drugs across the country.
In a statement on Sunday, the agency said it recovered 966,200 tablets of Tramadol 225mg worth over N1.1 billion concealed among thrift trousers in a 21-carton consignment from Pakistan, and 57.80kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, worth over N173 million in street value, hidden inside cartons of disposable hand gloves in a shipment from Singapore at the Lagos airport.
According to the NDLEA, the recovery came weeks after its operatives, customs and other security agencies conducted a joint examination on Thursday.
“In one of the week’s most brazen discoveries, a 20,000-litre fuel tanker marked MKA 960 XC, and notorious for evading arrest in the past, was chased down by NDLEA officers along the Akoko/Lokoja expressway in Ondo State on Friday, 4th September, after its driver refused to stop,” the agency noted.
It explained that the driver later abandoned the vehicle at a church premises in Ugbe Akoko and fled into the bush, noting that a search of the tanker revealed a false compartment concealing 165 bags of cannabis weighing 2,145kg alongside its legitimate fuel cargo destined for Jos, Plateau State.
The NDLEA further disclosed that barely a month after three suspects: Yashim Dauji, Larry Ifeanyi, and Joseph Moji were arrested at Tincan Port in Lagos over the seizure of 842.54kg of cannabis-laced cookies, “another 598.08kg (890 packets) of similarly infused cookies and gummies were on Wednesday 2nd September intercepted in a 40-foot container at the port and linked to the suspects already in custody”.
According to the agency, its operatives recovered 864,000 pills of opioids, especially tramadol, from a residence linked to a fleeing suspect, Patrick KC Frank, whose Honda Civic car rammed an NDLEA patrol vehicle before he escaped.
“In another interdiction operation in Michika area of the state, a major methamphetamine supplier from Lagos to Mubi and Michika axis, Calistus Ebubechukwu, 35, was arrested on Friday 4th September with a total of 2kg of the dangerous substance, while Attahiru Hussaini was intercepted with 750,027,530 pills of tramadol and other opioids concealed in a soap-laden Ford Galaxy bus marked JJM-953XD at Namtari check point in Mubi on Monday 31st August,” the NDLEA said.
While noting that three suspects: Saidu Mustapha, 35; Zaharadeen Salisu, 29; and AbdulSalam Abdullahi, 25, were nabbed with 636kg of cannabis concealed in chicken manure aboard a bus travelling from Owo, Ondo state to Jos, Plateau state along Okene/Lokoja highway in Kogi state, the agency said Kelechi Unachukwu, was arrested with with a cocktail of over 109kg of tramadol, diazepam, pentazocine, phenobarbital, exol-5, nitrazepam, bromazepam and pregabalin in Taraba.
Arrests and recovery of illicit drugs were also made in Kaduna and Ekiti states.
NDLEA chairman Mohamed Marwa commended all the officers for their efforts, urging them to continue the agency’s current balanced approach to drug control.
Mr Marwa added that the agency continues to track down traffickers who believe they can reinvent themselves under new identities or legitimate business fronts.
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