Press Release On Situation Of MINNA-BIDA Road Project (MBRP)

This road is the most important road for the reconstruction under the farmer Governor Umar Mohammad Bago.

Before the inception of the Bago led administration, this Project had an initial funding window through the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), which started in 2008, by every standard, works should have started in the year 2010 after completing all loan procedures, this was however not achieved.

Subsequently, the Government that came into power in 2015, unfortunately could not achieve much on the Project until about late 2022, when the opportunity for NNPC/FIRS Tax Credit Scheme was realized as a possible funding option for the Project.

Upon the inception of The Bago led administration a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), was immediately inaugurated to review the 2 available funding options of the Project, which are the IsDB Loan and the NNPC/FIRS Tax Credit Scheme. accordingly the final decision of the SPV was that, the State Government required both loan and the Federal Government direct funding to bridge the infrastructural deficit in the State.

However, amongs other considerations were that IsDB has the under listed benefits:

1. Quality Assurance and Control: with IsDB and ADFD management standards, it is expected that the project would be done in line with the international best practice as against the NNPC/FIRS which as usual comes with unnecessary bureaucracies, political interventions, funding challenges and gaps that may eventually delay the project longer than necessary. These factors have the potential to cause delays in project completion, extending the timeline beyond what is necessary and creating opportunities for inefficiencies to arise.

2. Opportunity for Assessing Funds for Developmental Project: Non- assessing of the IsDB loan will amount to the State losing the loan opportunity as the funding cannot be reassigned to another project in the state.

3. In addition IsDB, the package comes with social intervention initiatives such as:

i. 10km Feeder roads

ii. 5 Health centers

iii. 6 Schools

iv. 3 Trade facilities

V. 20 water facilities

Vi. 2 toll gates

Vii. Empowerment of 50 women/youths, and other road interventions.

For NNPC/FIRS tax Credit it was concluded that the State Government can easily request the FGN to reassign the NNPC/FIRS funding to other state developmental projects which will include:

I. Dualisation of Bida – Illorin road Bypass: with an ultra-modern truck/ haulage car park, social amenities, Bida township road linking Bida – Illorin road (Now on going Project by the State Government as 44k Bida ring road

II. Dualization of Minna – Sarkin Pawa – Kaduna (Interchange) Road

III. Dualisation of Kontagora Township roads and linking with federal roads in Kontagora inclusive of the pass By (Now in the just awarded 556KM roads)

IV. Dualization of Minna – Abuja road Bypass with an interconnecting flyover Bridge

V. However, this funding for NNPC/FIRS Tax Scheme is now assigned to Bida-Lemu-Zungeru roads.

Going forward, the under listed are the achievement (1-18) of the Project under this current Administration through the project SPV

These are the achievements recorded from June 2023 to date, after being laid back since 2017. (This record achievement is indeed unprecedented). as this works were practically not done for over 16 years from the conceptualization of the Project to be funded under the IsDB

What is left for the physical implementation of the project is as encapsulated (1-7) below.