Senator Karimi Clears Air On N43b FEC Approval for Ilorin-Omuaran-Egbe Road
By Ralph Agbana
Senator Sunday Karimi (Kogi West) has cleared the air in view of the confusion over Thursday’s approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Phase One of Ilorin-Omuaran-Egbe road, to the tune of N43bn.
The road project, upon FEC approval under the Goodluck Jonathan administration and commencement of construction 11 years ago, was originally designated as Kabba-Egbe-Ilorin road. However, work stopped barely a year after the project was flagged off in Kabba in April 2014.
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Consequently, it was the expectations of the people of Kogi West Senatorial District that work should progress from the Kogi State end where it stopped to Ilorin, in Kwara State.
However, the latest approval as announced by the Minister of Works Dave Umahi indicates a change of designation to Ilorin-Omuaran-Egbe Road, implying that work will restart from the Kwara State end—a 31 kilometres stretch to be executed under Phase One at a cost of N43 billion, while “the remaining 184 kilometres will follow when funding improves”.
Senator Karimi’s media team, in a statement issued on Friday, clarified that the sections referred to in the latest approval by the FEC have been ongoing since the last administration, and does not foreclose the serious effort being made to rehabilitate the sections from Isanlu, Yagba East for which N9bn is included in the 2025 budget, facilitated by the Senator.
The statement reads: “The Media Team of Senator Sunday Steve Karimi is aware of confusion brewing due to the approval of contracts for some sections of the Ilorin-Omuaran-Eruku road by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at about ₦43 billion. Upon receiving the news, Senator Sunday Steve Karimi swung into action for clarity and spoke with the Minister of Works, H.E. Sen. Dave Umahi, who informed him that the sections referred to in the approval have been ongoing since the last administration but just recently received Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) approval. This section runs from Ilorin to around Omupo. However, the section from Isanlu, Yagba East, which is also ongoing and funded with about ₦9 billion facilitated by the Senator, is in the 2025 budget and is still undergoing the approval process in BPP before it will be taken to the Federal Executive Council for final approval. This process is imperative as it will require BPP approval for a review of contract prices and design, and the entire section is estimated at about ₦25 billion. Another of the major reasons hindering progress at site on the phase starting from Isanlu is the non release of funds to contractors, as no contractor would be willing to work without assurance of payments but the approval by FEC after the BPP might have completed their process would sort that fear, as efforts are in top-gear to ensure funding of the 2025 Appropriation Act. We encourage all the people of Kogi West in general and those particularly affected to be rest assured that the Senator is not resting on the project. He is doing all within his power to ensure the road is rehabilitated as a short-term measure and outrightly reconstructed to meet the daily demand of users and improve the economic activities of the people in the area”.
Umahi,who addressed correspondents after Thursday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the Council considered 11 memos from his ministry — nine for reviews of inherited projects and two for new contract awards — as part of the government’s efforts to complete key national road projects.
He said several ongoing projects inherited from previous administrations were reviewed for funding and design adjustments, including the Ilorin–Omu Aran–Egbe road and the old Enugu–Onitsha road.
According to him, the 216-kilometre Ilorin–Omu Aran–Egbe road has been phased, with 31 kilometres to be executed under Phase One at a cost of N43 billion, while the remaining 184 kilometres will follow when funding improves.
Umahi also disclosed that the federal government has begun talks with several state governors to take over stalled federal road projects across the country in a bid to accelerate completion and reduce pressure on the national budget.
