Mu’azu Sambo and the burden of expectations

BY JEN JIBRIN

President Buhari has finally assigned Mu’azu Sambo as a minister of state, works, and housing after his confirmation by the Nigerian senate. In this new role, the new minister is expected to work with Babatunde Fashola to deliver on the core mandate and in line with the priorities of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Buhari’s key priorities hinge on providing infrastructure in terms of roads, housing, and other projects under the federal ministry of works and housing.

For Mu’azu Sambo who is an experienced engineer and has risen to various positions in the past including an area manager in the Nigerian Inland Waterways in Lagos. The new minister is also expected to bring his expertise to bear in bridging the infrastructure gap in the country.

For anyone, such huge trust has been bestowed upon him as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the confidence reposed is the best gift President Buhari has dashed Mu’azu Sambo. The president has settled for a person least expected to replace the sacked minister of power, Saleh Mamman.

Mu’azu’s coming will further boost his political profile being little known in the political space of Taraba state. Many people in Nigeria particularly his constituency have high expectations of his new role in confronting the challenges of many abandoned roads projects that transverse Taraba and Adamawa states, to mention but Numan-Jalingo road.

A key infrastructure gap is the ongoing road project involving Numan-Jalingo road. The people of Adamawa and Taraba have been abandoned to their fates by the contractor that is handling the project.

Last year in August, Taraba people took to the streets of Jalingo calling on the president to intervene in the circumstances leading to the abandoned Numan-Jalingo road construction by the contractor. Public condemnation has trailed the negligence of the minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola.

The Numan-Jalingo road contract was awarded to DEUX project Nig. Ltd in 2017 at the cost of N11 billion by the federal executive council presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.

One of the big problems confronting Mu’azu Sambo is the accusation of the federal government awarding a fresh contract on Bali-Serti road in Taraba which according to the government of Taraba has been completed. The said Bali-Serti new road contract was named in the approval of the federal executive council out of the 21 road projects in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation deploying its tax obligations to the construction of roads across the country.

Both the federal government and the Darius Ishaku-led administration in Taraba have disagreed with each other. The Bali-Serti new road contract has raised yet another eyebrow at the claims by Ishaku that the project has been completed.

The Bali-Serti road was earlier awarded to PW Nigeria Limited totaling 115 kilometers and leading to Gembu, Sardauna local government area. As claims exacerbated by the Taraba state government of its initiative and funding of the project, a refund of the money expended on the project was long overdue according to the spokesman for Taraba state government, Bala Da’abu.

Another problem this new role brings to Mu’azu Sambo is the promise by the federal government to construct 5,000 housing projects in each state of the federation of which Taraba state has been lagging behind a housing development index. Under the national housing programme, the federal government has invested a sum of N500 billion being financed by the Federal Mortgage Bank.

A big question is how can Mu’azu Sambo confront the contractor handling the Numan-Jalingo road project as people have already linked the contractor to the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu? Would the new minister be able to make headway with a stronger cabinet minister like Babatunde Fashola as his senior, especially when it comes to issues affecting the delivery of road contracts in his own constituency?

Of course, Mu’azu Sambo will be expected to engage his senior minister in the expedition of many road projects across the country in meeting the expectations of the Nigerian people in Buhari’s presidency.

Until Mu’azu Sambo makes a bold step in addressing the challenge of many abandoned contracts like Numan-Jalingo road construction, President Buhari has just left Mu’azu Sambo with a burden of expectations.

Jibrin writes from Asokoro district in Abuja. He can be reached via [email protected]