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Fund East-West Road From SWF, Wike Tells FG
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has advised the Federal Government to include the East–West Road among the critical infrastructure projects being funded from the coffers of the nation’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).
The governor also noted that the Federal Government’s directive stopping state governments from funding the construction or rehabilitation of failed federal roads was inimical to the effective development, management and maintenance of road infrastructure across the country.
He made this assertion in his opening address at the 26th meeting of the National Council on Works in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Wike, said the theme of the meeting: “Infrastructure Development, Job Creation and National Economic Growth”, fits to the generally held view that road infrastructure plays a critical role in enabling economic development, poverty reduction and inclusive progress.
The governor pointed out that the East–West Road, which was too important to the economic prosperity of the South-South region and the nation, has been under construction for over 15 years; yet, a completion date is still not in sight.
He urged Federal Government to urgently consider funding the East-West Road from the Sovereign Wealth Fund to guarantee its completion by 2022 as being touted by the minister of the Niger Delta.
“It makes progressive sense as a development strategy therefore for state governments to reconstruct such federal roads with reputable contractors on behalf of the Federal Government and get refunded after due verification of the price and quality of work done.
“The federal and state governments need to consult and collaborate regularly to accelerate the delivery of road infrastructure to advance and realize the hopes and aspirations of our people for development and decent living.”
Wike explained that the state government is presently constructing six flyovers a Federal Government road to ease the perennial traffic congestions on the problematic intersections of Port Harcourt–Aba Expressway.
“Let me, therefore, appeal to the Federal Government to continue to collaborate with the state governments on road development by allowing states to fix federal roads with the assurance of a refund.”
The governor stated that his administration has consistently dedicated over 65 per cent of the state budget annually for the construction of new roads or the reconstruction and or maintenance and rehabilitation of existing roads across the state, including federal roads.
“The result is the unprecedented delivery of close to 900 kilometres of roads, bridges and flyovers spread across the length and breadth of the state, including some of the far-flung communities that have now been linked by roads for the first time.”
The Minster of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said the Covid-19 pandemic brought to the fore the importance of human mobility to the health of any economy with the urban poor appearing to be the worst hit as a result of the lockdown.
Fashola explained that against the former practice of flexible pavement connection module that was cost intensive, his ministry was ready to unveil the rigid design manual which was cost effective and would guide construction activities in the country.
The Chairman of Senate Committee of Works, Senator Adamu Aliero, who advocated the setting up of infrastructural bank as an alternative source of funding of federal road projects, said it has become practically difficult for the Federal Government to fund the 711 roads captured in the federal budget.
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.
