MINISTER of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that the present administration has expended about N16.6 billion on rehabilitation and reconstruction of four roads in the South-East geopolitical zone of the country.
Reacting to views by some South-East governors that the federal government had failed the region in the provision of infrastructure, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said on Thursday in Ilorin at the launch of canvassers across the state for the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari/Yemi Osinbajo in 2019, that the statement is untrue.
“While this claim may have made headlines, it is totally untrue. The governors were either misquoted or they were quoted of context. Either way, this allegation flies in the face of available evidence.
“I make bold to say that no part of the country, including the South-east, has been left out of the massive infrastructural projects of this administration. In fact, a total of 69 federal government projects are currently ongoing in the South-east”, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said.
The minister added that Federal Government would soon publish a full list of the projects and the state-by-state breakdown.
“Suffice it to say that the South-East, just like other geopolitical zones, got N16.6 billion worth of projects from the proceeds of the N100 billion Sukuk Bond shared equally among the six zones.
“Federal Government is currently rehabilitating four roads in the zone. The four roads being rehabilitated and reconstructed by the proceeds of the Sukuk Bond are: Enugu-Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway Section II (Umuahia Tower-Aba township rail/road bridge crossing in Abia State; Enugu-Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway Section I (Lokpanta – Umahia Tower) in Abia State; outstanding section of the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway (Amansea – Enugu state Border); Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway Section III (Enugu-Lokpanta) in Enugu State.
“In addition to these roads, we also inspected the N40 billion Aba-Port Harcourt section of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, a strategic road linking Aba and another industrial heartland of the East with Port Harcourt, the nation’s oil hub.
“Let me say that these projects were awarded by the last Administration which, however, failed to provide funding. As a matter of fact, a section of the Enugu-Port Harcourt road, which cuts across many states, was turned to a refuse dump before this Administration came to the rescue.
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“Then there is the construction of the second Niger Bridge, which we also inspected. The ground-breaking of the construction of the second Niger Bridge was performed on 10th March 2014 but could not take off until 2017.
“The bridge, which is 1.59-kilometre in length, forms part of the 11.90-kilometre project. The contractor, Julius Berger, has completed the first 3 phases of the project, which have to do with the sub-structures. They are currently on the 4th phase, which is at 70 per cent completion stage. Some 310 of the 615 piles designed for the bridge have been sunk while massive sand-filling of the approach road has been carried out to the height of 5 metres. The target height is 7metres. The project is being solely financed by the Federal Government.
“The South-east has never had it so good in the area of infrastructure. Had the previous Administrations done even half of what we are doing now in that region, no one will be complaining today. It is alright to ask for more, but it is unfair to say nothing has been done.”
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