Works Minister, Umahi
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has dismissed reports that he is scheduled to travel to London for an international media briefing to highlight the achievements of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Umahi made the clarification on Friday during the ongoing 2025 Ministerial Sectoral Briefing at the National Press Centre, Radio House, Abuja.
He said he has not visited the United Kingdom in the last two years and was never invited to any such event.
He described the reports as unfounded social media propaganda, noting that no minister, including himself, had received any invitation for an overseas press engagement.
“I have not been to London in the past two years, and I never discussed going to London with anybody. I have too much work to do here, talk about going to London,” Umahi said.
“So we should not just take on social media and take it to be true.”
“Nobody discussed going to London with me. And let me say that for a minister to travel out of the country, the rule is that you must get written approval from the President.”
He added, “So this is social media jargon and should not be taken seriously. Nobody discussed with me.”
“I’m not aware. I am not aware that any of the other ministers are aware. And so, please disregard it and let us not join issues with social media.”
Earlier reports had claimed that Umahi and other top officials were scheduled to speak at a UK-based media briefing organised by the Project Internal Coordinator of the President Bola Tinubu Midterm Legacy Projects Review Committee, Bode Adeyemi.
Names listed alongside Umahi included the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and heads of key agencies like the NUPRC, FIRS, and Federal Mortgage Bank.
The reports triggered public backlash, with critics questioning the decision to host such a presentation abroad amid worsening economic conditions in Nigeria.
Responding to the criticisms, Umahi emphasized that he follows due process regarding foreign trips, both as a minister and during his time as governor of Ebonyi State.
“Even when I was governor, before I travelled out of the country, I had always taken permission from the House of Assembly. So I am a man who works by the rule of the law,” he said.
Shifting focus to his ministry’s priorities, Umahi revealed plans to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on foreign contractors for infrastructure projects.
He noted that the move aligns with the Tinubu administration’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” and aims to build local capacity in engineering and construction.
“Let me also announce that Mr. President directed that we must grow the local contractors. We must grow our local engineers,” he said.
“We have a programme which we call the new tool programme, whereby in every state, we are getting five civil engineers who are not at work, and we are posting them to these four legacy projects and other legacy projects of the country, so that they can learn.”
He further stressed the importance of shifting away from asphalt to concrete pavement technology, which he described as more transparent and quality-driven.
“We can’t continue to use foreign contractors to grow our economy. You go to China, you find out who is working.”
“We have to grow our people. And we have introduced concrete pavement, which is very easy to learn. But the trick in it, and that’s why contractors are fighting me, is that you can do all the mess and cheating with asphalt, but you cannot do that with the concrete because the moment the quality of the concrete is not there, it will fail in your face.
“But a job badly done with asphalt will still last for one year before the failure appears. And that’s when people talk, the ministry is not doing anything.”
Umahi reiterated his commitment to quality and sustainability in all federal road and infrastructure projects, asserting that the government is focused on long-term benefits for Nigerians.
