President Muhammadu Buhari has asked state governors not to fix federal roads if they will eventually demand refund for the rehabilitation.

Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, made this known on Tuesday in Abuja when he appeared before the House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee on Abandoned Federal Government Projects (Works) from 1999 till date.

According to the minister, the President issued the directive due to the humongous amounts being claimed by the governors after repairing federal roads in their states.

Fashola said, “The states submitted a bill of almost a trillion naira when President Buhari was elected. He asked us to work out what was their entitlement and all of that.

“Ultimately, BPP (Bureau of Public Procurement) certified about N44bn – I don’t remember the exact amount now – except for two states; I think Cross River and…there’s another state. They didn’t have the documents at the time, which we have sent back to the President. But the decision to pay those inherited debts, including the ones I contracted as Governor of Lagos, was with the caveat that I should tell the governors to leave his (Buhari’s) roads alone. Those were the directives; I was not the one that took the decision.

“He said, ‘Tell them not to fix my roads again if they’re going to claim compensation. If you want to fix it and not ask for compensation, send me what you want to do. But if you want compensation, go and mind your business while I mind my business because I have inherited enough debts!’”

Fashola, while responding to the conversation by the Francis Uduyok-led panel that the ministry was overstretching itself by handling 472 road projects at once, said that the incessant demands by lawmakers were partly responsible.

He blamed abandoned projects on incessant budget cut.

Punch