Organisers say the award recognises Umahi’s leadership in advancing Nigeria’s road infrastructure, with the ministry currently managing 2,065 projects nationwide.
By Joy Onu
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has won the Silverbird Group’s Extraordinary Personality of the Year Award, describing the recognition as “another feather to keep flying” in Nigeria’s ongoing infrastructure transformation.
According to a statement issued by Francis Nwaze, FIPMD, Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Works, the award was presented on Sunday, March 1, 2026, at Eko Hotels & Suites during a ceremony organised by Silverbird Group. The event attracted top government officials, lawmakers, technocrats and stakeholders from across the country.
Representing the minister at the ceremony, the Minister of State for Works, Bello Muhammad Goronyo, described the honour as recognition of “visible performance and hard choices taken in the national interest.”
“We cannot but register our sincere gratitude and appreciation for this award for identifying our own, the Honourable Minister of Works, for the works he has been doing in this country,” Goronyo said.
He noted that since assuming office, Umahi’s leadership has been defined by experience-driven decision-making and the deployment of innovative construction technologies aimed at addressing long-standing infrastructure challenges.
According to him, four legacy projects are central to the administration’s infrastructure drive: the 750-kilometre Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, the 1,068-kilometre Sokoto–Badagry Super Highway, the Trans-Sahara corridor linking Calabar through Ebonyi and Benue to Abuja, and the 420-kilometre Akwanga–Jos–Bauchi–Gombe–Borno corridor.
Goronyo said the projects, alongside accelerated road and bridge construction across the six geopolitical zones, are redefining expectations of what can be achieved within a single administration.
He attributed the momentum to the infrastructure-first posture of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stating that the minister had directed that the award be dedicated to the President and the collective team behind the projects.
“The minister has mandated me to dedicate the award to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the support, for prioritising infrastructure, and also to dedicate the award to our team at the Ministry of Works, the management and the contractors,” he said.
Goronyo added that within the ministry, the recognition serves as renewed motivation rather than a moment of rest.
“For us in the Ministry of Works, it is another feather for us to continue to fly and work hard so that Nigeria will reach the desires and aspirations of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he stated.
The organisers said the Ministry of Works is currently managing 2,065 ongoing projects nationwide. They noted that Umahi’s mandate remains clear, rehabilitate existing roads, construct new ones and ensure durability in line with global standards. According to them, the scale and ambition of the legacy projects underscore what they described as a defining period in Nigeria’s infrastructure development.
