Oshiomhole Blasts Umahi Over Neglected Roads, Alleges Bias

(Adams Oshiomhole. Photo Credit: Daily Post)

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has come under fire from congressman Adams Oshiomhole, who represents the Edo North Senatorial District, for putting new road construction ahead of the upkeep of deteriorating existing roads.

Oshiomhole emphasized the dearth of infrastructure connecting Edo and other cities in Delta state during his speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

A senator has accused the Minister of Works of bias in road project allocations, urging the Senate to intervene urgently and call for a more balanced, national approach to budget allocation.

He said the minister’s actions were seen as biased and unbalanced, urging the Senate to speedily intervene and calling for a more equitable and national perspective in the minister’s budget allocation.

He argued that the Minister of Works needed to be guided, noting that despite the poor state of many existing roads, the minister was proposing the construction of new roads where none previously existed.

He said he understood that 20 new roads had been approved three weeks earlier, yet there was manifest bias against certain areas, including Edo State.

He lamented that it remained impossible to travel smoothly from Benin to Warri, Asaba, Auchi and Okene, questioning what those affected had done wrong.

He said the minister had consistently shown a failure to ensure fair federal allocation, adding that it was only through the President’s goodwill that a directive was given to use tax credit to address part of that road section.

He further said that despite a motion moved under the current Senate leadership drawing attention to the matter, the Minister of Works had, over the past three years, deliberately failed to include that section connecting Delta State in the national budget, as done for other regions.

He therefore appealed to the Senate President to urge the minister to be more balanced and adopt a national outlook in his responses.