John Alechenu
Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has urged Nigerians, especially South-Easterners, to acknowledge infrastructure strides under President Bola Tinubu.
This was contained in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Francis Nwaze, in Abuja on Tuesday.
Umahi spoke on Saturday at the 10th Anniversary of De Pinnacle Club International at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja.
The Minister, honoured with an Award of Excellence in Public Service and Infrastructural Transformation, said politics should not blind people to tangible progress.
“We shouldn’t live in denial. We have to appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; even God Almighty appreciates gratitude. It doesn’t stop us from asking for more,” he said.
He said the South-East provides visible examples of projects that moved from years of deterioration to active construction or substantial completion.
He listed the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Eke-Obinagu Flyover, New Artisan Bridge, Enugu-Abakaliki Road, Calabar-Ebonyi-Benue-Nasarawa-Abuja superhighway and access roads to the Second Niger Bridge.
Umahi said although the Second Niger Bridge was completed before Tinubu assumed office, it could not deliver full economic value due to poor access roads.
“We had the Second Niger Bridge fully completed before President Tinubu came into office, but the means of fully utilising the bridge, which is the access roads, was bad. So we are now building the access roads,” he said.
He said the Anambra section is about 40 per cent complete and the Asaba axis 35 per cent.
He also cited the Lagos-Shagamu Road as a critical link for millions travelling from Lagos through Ogun and Edo to Asaba and beyond.
Umahi said the Tinubu administration has shown unprecedented inclusion of the South-East, noting appointments of an Igbo as Chief of Air Staff and, for the first time, Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Works from the zone.
On vandalism of the First Niger Bridge, Umahi said he was alerted via social media that scrap scavengers were removing bolts and expansion metals.
He said intervention has commenced and the bridge will be fitted with CCTV and control points like the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos to check vandalism and accidents.
The anniversary, themed “A Decade of Excellence, Legacy and Impact,” was attended by Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Ojukwu, businessman Obi Cubana, Chief Kenneth Ifekudu and Amb. Elijah Onyeagba, among others.
The club said the award recognised Umahi’s adoption of concrete road technology, stronger accountability and accelerated execution of federal highway projects under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Umahi dedicated the honour to President Tinubu and to engineers and contractors working nationwide.
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