No More Long Trapped on Tarred Roads: FG Tells Contractors to Finish Blockages in 2 Weeks.

If you’ve ever been stuck for months in gridlock because a road contractor decided to shut down an entire highway, there’s some good news. The Federal Government has just laid down the law: no contractor is allowed to block traffic on a major road for more than 14 days. Period.

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, gave this directive while inspecting several ongoing projects in Kogi and Edo States. He’s clearly fed up with the endless excuses and the anger from ordinary Nigerians. He didn’t stop there he also turned the heat on his own staff, accusing them of “pampering” contractors and issuing payment certificates carelessly while the public blames him and the President for the slow pace of work.

In a related move, the government issued a 72-hour ultimatum to GELD Construction Company to show serious progress on the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway or face the consequences.

Umahi had a direct message for contractors waiting for government money: don’t just sit around. He suggested that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) should step in and pay the contractors directly on the projects they are funding. To manage limited resources, he revealed that one section of the Abuja-Lokoja road had to be shortened from about 50 kilometres to 28 kilometres just to focus on the worst parts.

However, it wasn’t all bad news. Umahi had high praise for one company, JRB Construction Company, calling them a model of professionalism basically saying, “If everyone worked like them, nobody would be blaming the President.”

Meanwhile, Aisha Yesufu has a bold idea:

Outside the ministry, socio-political activist Aisha Yesufu is pushing for a new law that could change the game entirely. She wants to force all levels of government federal, state, and local to pay contractors’ invoices within 30 days of finishing a project.

In a fiery post on her social media, she argued that the constant delay of payments is killing small businesses, stalling infrastructure, and destroying jobs. Her proposal? If the government is late on payment, it should pay interest equal to the Central Bank’s lending rate plus an extra 5%.

In her words, the government needs to stop using contractors as its personal, interest free credit line.