FG declares Wednesday public holiday to mark Eid-ul-Mawlid celebration

Follow Us Now!

As part of efforts to commemorate this year’s Eid-ul-Mawlid celebration, the Federal Government has declared Wednesday, September 27, 2023, as a public holiday.

Eid-ul-Mawlid is a religious festivity by the Muslim faithfuls in commemoration of the birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

The FG made the announcement, Monday, in a statement on Monday by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Oluwatoyin Akinlade.

She noted that the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, urged Nigerians to be tolerant.

The statement partly read, “The Minister congratulates all Muslim faithful both home and in the diaspora for witnessing this year’s occasion.

“His admonition to Nigerians is to imbibe the spirit of love, patience, tolerance and
perseverance which are deep spiritual virtues that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) exemplified

“Tunji-Ojo also urged Nigerians, especially our youths, to embrace the virtues of hard work and peaceful disposition toward fellow humans, irrespective of faith, ideology, social class, and ethnicity, and join hands with President Bola Tinubu’s administration in its effort to build a progressive and enviable Nation that all citizens will be proud of.”

In another development, The former Ebonyi State governor and Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has declared that no existing federal road can last up to seven years.

According to Umahi, his declaration was based on findings gathered during his recent road inspection tour crisscrossing the entire nation.

The former Governor stated that some roads are riddled with potholes and have deteriorated into “boreholes” as he expressed dissatisfaction over the poor jobs done by the contractors over the years.

Umahi, while addressing contractors from the six geo-political zones at the ministry headquarters on Tuesday, in Abuja, said contractors cheat Nigerians with the materials they use to construct roads in the country, adding that the contractors have been in the habit of increasing the cost of their projects to swindle the country through contract variation and the use of asphalt materials, which are subject to the international price of crude oil.

The former Governor said, “There is no project being constructed right now in Nigeria that is going to last for seven years. The question is are we going to be maintaining or reconstructing our roads every 10 years? That is what we have been doing. I travelled from Abuja to Benin City through Lokoja, all the stretches of the road are on contract, and ongoing, this is through the policy of the last administration but how much of the roads are motorable? I travelled through the roads myself and I shed tears for the kind of pains our people are going through.”

“I spent 14 hours on the road having started my journey at 10 am and got to Benin City at 2 pm the next day and I was very happy I experienced the pains. President Tinubu said I must travel through all the projects so that I could brief him on my experience and tell him the truth.

“Unless Mr. President does something about our procurement, his lofty intention to help this country may not be achieved. documents will be sent to the Bureau of Public Procurement for a no-objection certificate and it will stay for six months. How will the contractors do the additional job you directed them to do without backup authorisation.”

“This is my line of instructions and I will do whatever the president instructs me to do he is the only one and God that can cancel my instructions so don’t waste your time reporting me to anyone apart from these two. No matter the amount of blackmail and lies, it will not prevail, the minister reassured,” he added While criticising workers in the ministry for not supervising road projects and castigated the entire construction industry in Nigeria, stating that the poor condition of the roads is partly due to a lack of professionalism and outdated construction methods.

The minister further directed all contractors to redesign their projects to concrete technology rather than asphalt and vowed not to pay any contractor who does not adhere to the directive.