The Minister of Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, has handed over the 1.636 internal road in Bayero University Kano (BUK) to the University authorities.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Ministry’s Deputy Director Press and Public Relations, Mr. Stephen Kilebi.
TheFact Nigeria gathered that the handover of the roads was met with mixed feelings as students of the beneficiary institution idle at home due to the FG/ASUU face-off.
According to the statement, the Minister who was represented by the Federal Controller of Works in Kano State, Engineer Yahaya Baba Ali, commissioned and handed over the road on Wednesday, March 23, 2022.
Fashola stated that the internal road construction and rehabilitation in tertiary institutions by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing on behalf of the Federal Government was part of the steady effort by the Federal government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to bridge the gap in the Infrastructural needs in the country.
He said “The gap of our Infrastructural need is steadily being bridged by the gradual process of repairs, renewal and reconstruction on major highways and it has reached the schools.”
He further said, “We have successfully intervened in the internal roads network of 46 Tertiary Institutions and handed over 29 as at 2021 and we now have another 17 ready to be handed over while we are currently attending to 30 roads in similar institutions across the country making a total of 76”.
The Minister revealed that efforts were being made for another intervention work on the internal roads of BUK that is three times bigger than the one that was being handed over to the University. This is in addition to the plan to construct a pedestrian bridge at the entrance gate of the institution to put a stop to the accidents that occur sometimes when people are trying to cross the road to the University.
In his address, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University, Professor Sagir Adamu Abbas expressed gratitude to the Federal government and the Ministry of Works and Housing for the intervention work adding that the road being handed over which leads to the solar plant of the institution was in a very bad shape before.
He said, “We are really very grateful to the Minister and the Federal Government and we are appreciative of another gesture of coming in to rehabilitate more roads for us so we extend our gratitude to the Minister and the Ministry.”
The VC also disclosed that the University had received the award letter to the contractor that is coming to install transformers in the institution, adding that once that is done most of the problems of the school associated with power supply will be a thing of the past.
Mustapha Aminu, a Deputy Registrar in the University said in an interview, “Before the commencement of the project, this place was very hard to reach. Now with the completion of the road done by the Federal Government, it has linked the main road that leads to all parts of the University community. So it will make movement and other activities easier. I want to commend the effort of the Ministry for doing a great job.”
