Works Minister says Infrastructure Development in South East Product, Synergies with Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda

• Lauds South East Decision to Shelve Nationwide Protest

 

The Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency, Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi CON has commended  the synchronizing synergy  between  the governments of the States of South East and Federal Government under the  Renewed Hope administration of His Excellency President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which has resulted  in the wave of infrastructure development witnessed in parts of South East under the current governance regime.

According to a statement issued by Hon. Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji, Special Adviser (Media) to the Honourable Minister of Works, he made this expression during  his inspection  visit  to  the ongoing reconstruction of the collapsed bridge at New Artisan  Market, near NNPC Mega Filling Station, Enugu  State on Sunday, 4th  August  2024.

The Honourable Minister, who was in the company   of the Governor of Enugu State, His Excellency Barr.  Peter Ndubuisi  Mba commended the Governors of South East highly  for their unwavering support  and synergy  with  Mr. President’s Renewed Hope agenda for national development, especially  their efforts  in the development of road infrastructure  for the economic advancement of the region.

He said, ” I want to commend you for the numerous jobs you are doing in Enugu State. The economy of your State is going to boom  by the strategic and  noiseless infrastructure that you are putting in place. By the time you complete this infrastructure, it’s going to be a lot of noise.”

He further said, “I commend you very highly and the other Governors of South East, including my own Governor, the Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo State, the Governor of Abia State and the Governor of Anambra State.”

The projects he visited include the construction of 23-span twin flyover bridge at Eke-Obinagu Junction, Emene handled by Reinforced Global Ltd, the reconstruction  of the collapsed bridge  along Enugu-PH Expressway at New Artisan Market, near NNPC Mega filling station handled  by CCECC Ltd, and the dualization  of  107 km section of Enugu- Onitsha Expressway handled  by RCC Ltd.

He thanked the Governor of Enugu State for the initiative to handle the dualization of 24km of  Enugu axis of the Enugu – Abakaliki-Ogoja Trans – Sahara Highway and noted that the intervention had closed the gap in the road infrastructure intervention efforts of Federal Government in the State.

He expressed the readiness of Federal Government to collaborate with Enugu State Government in the construction of a flyover bridge at Abakpa junction in Enugu Capital City to minimize traffic challenges and enhance the business  fortunes of  the State.

He directed immediate soil tests and design of the bridge for consideration by the Federal Ministry of Works. It is expected  that the State government will fund the execution  of the project and afterwards  get a refund  from Federal Government  through  the MTN Tax Credit  Scheme

The Honourable Minister commended the contractors handling projects he visited for the quality of job being done but directed RCC Ltd to remobilize immediately to the site and free the roads to reduce  the hardship  suffered  by the road users because  of the uncompleted  section of the road.

He commended the efforts of the President  of Nigeria in fixing  road infrastructure  in South East.

He said,” The President has given very serious and adequate attention to the road  infrastructure in South East.”

He urged the people to keep faith with the federal government’s programmes for economic  recovery, as reiterated in his recent nationwide broadcast.

The Honourable Minister said, “only a businessman background will understand the importance of that address. The address is laden with a lot of hope, laden with a lot of economic activities and a lot of relief packages for our people.”

He further said, “I thank the people of Sout East. I thank the Igbo communities all over the country for not protesting. We are not going to protest. We want proper integration in the affairs of this country, and President Bola Tinubu has started  it by giving an Igbo man the Minister of Works, first in history. We had been excluded in governance and in development in the past.”

In his response,  the host Governor noted the synergy between the State government and Federal Government  as a governance imperative for the development and progress  of the State.

He said,” Let me start first with expressing on behalf of the government and the people of Enugu State our profound gratitude and our deep appreciation to the President and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of this country, and also to the Minister who has shown tireless commitment since we had this incident last year. The minister must have visited here over ten times. From the onset, he has expeditiously came to the site and assessed what was happening immediately we called on Mr. President to assist because this is indeed a major gateway. And we all know the value of having a seamless transportation system. The road is one of those seamless transportation systems.”

On the critical  value of the road, he said, “So this major gateway would have not only affected just the people of Enugu but indeed the entire people of South East and also those from South South. If you are driving from Port Harcourt to parts of Northern Nigeria, you would have to travel through this route. So the minister and indeed Mr. President, understanding the importance of this road immediately deployed.”

He further called on the people  of South East  to remain  undaunted  in their  resolve not to protest  against  Mr. President’s economic  recovery  policies.

“Again, we want to continue to call on our people to go about their business and know that if we do destroy our assets, we’re going to also still use the wealth of our common patrimony to fix those assets. So we must remain focused on our work and continue to do our work. Finally, we can not end this without commending what the minister is doing, not just to the Southeast, but to the entire country,” Gov. Mba added.