By Isah Hussein
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, in Abuja, formally accepted the Babacar Ndiaye Africa Super Prize Great Builder Award for which he had been announced as the winner for the year 2021.
While delivering his acceptance speech at the Transcript Hilton, venue of the 7th edition of Africa Road Builders – Trophee Babacar Ndiaye Inaugural Conference 2022, tagged: “Building Roads, Building Economies” which held in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Abuja on Thursday, President Buhari reaffirm the commitment of his administration to infrastructure development
He expressed delight that the dreams of the African Union (AU) for the continent were begining to manifest, noting that its policies and programmes that were inaugurated over the years are beginning to bear fruits and results.
The President revealed that Nigeria is playing her membership and leadership roles in all the programmes and institutions of the AU including the Trans African Highway programme, launched in 1971 which sought to connect the whole of African through a system of Nine (9) highways, covering an aggregate distance of 56,683km; African Development Bank and the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement set up to create a unified, borderless market of over one billion people to facilitate intra-African Trade among others towards achieving their objectives.
“Our collaboration with the African Development Bank has been productive and results are now manifest in projects like the Mfum-Bamenda Bridge that connects Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon.
“I also acknowledge the support of the Bank in financing Feasibilities, Consultancies and Pre-construction work on the Lagos-Abidjan Corridor comprising Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire which is part of Trans African Highway No. 7 from Dakar in Senegal to Lagos in Nigeria.
“I am able to report that the Nigerian sections of this highway is now under construction on the Lagos-Badagry corridor through our local financing institution such as the Tax Credit Scheme introduced by Executive Order No. 7; and in collaboration with the Lagos State Government.
“I am pleased to report that apart from Trans African Highway No. 7, Nigeria is also connected by Trans African Highways No. 2, Algiers to Lagos and Trans African Highway No. 8, Lagos – Mombasa.
“The East to West crossing of Nigeria across the Second River Niger Bridge which will be finished this year is a major investment by Nigeria on the Lagos-Mombasa Trans African Highway, as is the Enugu – Abakaliki to Mfum Highway,” Buhari said.
Speaking further, the President said, “Our most recent GDP results of 3.40%, the biggest in the last 7 years clearly show that the construction sub-sectors and related sub-sectors of the economy were among the big performers of the growth surge.”
He said the construction, expansion and rehabilitation nationwide “have been a major boost for the growth of our economy, keeping people at work; driving a supply value chain, stimulating productivity at Quarries, Cement Factories, Steel Factories, and the Petroleum sectors for lubricants, fuel and bitumen”.
President Buhari was chosen for the award for the significant improvement in the road transport network in Nigeria while Fashola Minister was chosen as the recipient of award for his commitment to road and transport infrastructure in the country during the 2021 Inaugural Conference of the African Road Builders which was held in Cairo, Egypt.
The conference members and participants drawn from some African countries also include; political authorities from the member countries, road and transport authorities, African Development Bank, development partners operating in the member countries, local road and transport actors in Nigeria, among others.
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