Umahi: Tinubu has turned Nigeria to construction sites, ended S’East marginalization

From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki

Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi has said that President Bola Tinubu has turned the country to construction sites.

He also said the President has ended marginalization of South East geopolitical zone in the scheme of things.

The Minister stated this on Saturday evening in Ebonyi State during inspection of Calabar-Ebonyi-Benue-Nasarawa-Abuja suoer-highway project.

“When I said the President has the intention to end marginalization of South East, has intension for inclusive governance, taking the South East to the center and I said my being appointed Minister of Works is intentional by Mr. President achieving his desires for the country, I am very happy for what he is doing for this country.

“Aba/Ikote Ekpene one carriage way is completed and the second carriage way is being worked upon. There are massive infrastructures going on in South East and other parts of the country, not only in South East but everywhere in the country. The President has turned every state to construction sites”, he said

He commended the contractor, Infiouest International, for the pace and quality of work on the Calabar-Ebonyi-Benue-Nasarawa-Abuja highway project.

He urged the people of South East to demonstrate their loyalty and appreciation to the President in 2027 by handing their votes to him during the general election.

Umahi opined that he will continue to expose the projects of Tinubu in South East and the entire country to change the minds the uninformed

“My task is to expose the realities of our situation in South East under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Look at the beautiful roads we are passing through. Do you think about the security about the security improvement on this corridor? Do you think about the economic viability on this corridor ? Do you think about the commerce?

“When Sokoto becomes very close to Ebonyi, when Calabar becomes very close to Kebbi, when the marginalization of South East has become a thing of the past, should we not be bold enough to tell the story?

“And that is for the press who supposed to be my partners in helping to educate our people, most of them in social media. Most of them have never visited South East, most of them are still hanging on stories being told to them. Shall we continue in sun that grace will about? The bible says God forbid!

“And so, it time for our people to wake up to the realities of our time. The sufferings of the people will come at a time when God will send a Messiah to help the people and the whole challenges and sufferings are not erased at once but we have to acknowledge the sincere efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“This project, from Ndibe beach to timber shade passing through Onueke , passing through the Ezza nation; Ezza South and North to Ebonyi Local Government and coming to here is 125.5km.

“In some sections, we are dualizing it. 8.9km which we are realigning to bypass the town of Afikpo, is ongoing now and we intentionally want to dualize it. It is not yet part of section because section one is entirely one carriage way, section two is also one carriage way.

“So, we are also designing the second carriage way to conform to the rest of the legacy projects of the President.And then, you come to Abaomoge. We want to beautify that town, we want it to take its place in the pride of Ebonyi State.

“And so, we are dualizing about 2kms there. At the center of the beautiful bridge there, you go front 1km and you go back 1km and that has almost been completed.

“The highest beneficiary of this project is the people of Ezza nation and I want to appreciate them for being appreciative because appreciation and gratitude, they are missing so much in our society. This people have shown gratitude, they have shown deep appreciation and I know they will demonstrate that with their votes irrespective of mushroom parties that they say they are contesting or they are pretending.

“So, they will definitely do this because we are developing a very gigantic flyover for them in Onueke and over there at Ukwuachi, another flyover will be developed for them and that is the love for them. Look at the Offia-Nwali flyover too. So, who will say that Ezza nation is not loved?

“And there are other things that will come to them. But they have to demonstrate this commitment in terms of loyalty and appreciation to Mr. President by handing over their 95% votes to him in the 2027 general election”, he said.

Umahi, a former governor of Ebonyi State said the project passed through due process of competitive biding which Infouest won

“I am very happy with Infouest, I am very happy with Mohammed. I visited here about four weeks back. The amount of work they have done, is so much and I am very happy.

“But let be in note that this project went through competitive bidding by restrictive biding and it is not being done by Hitech. Hitech refused to bid for the project but other companies bided for the project and Infouest won it”.

He assured that the federal government will pay compensation to those whose property will be destroyed from the Ukwuachi axis of the project.

He called for the review of the N6bn brought to the ministry as compensation cost to enable the ministry to pay the compensation to the property owners within 72 hours.

“We have paid compensation to those in Abaomoge, we have . You know there was this policy of the federal government in the past administration that we will do the roads while governors pay compensation.

“Graciously, Ebonyi governor paid compensation at Onueke for that flyover and I think him very seriously for that. Not all the governors accepted to make that sacrifice.

“Now, when this resistance from the governors came, so, the President asked me to go ahead and pay. But we have to appreciate those who paid like the governor of Delta State, governor of Edo State who paid partially and the governor of Ebonyi State. There are also other governors that paid.

“But in order to fast track a project like in Lagos State, we paid N18bn. So, why will it come to area and we will not do the same thing? So, I can assure that we will play. I think there is this other place we paid N168m. So, we will pay compensation for the contribution of Ukwuachi flyover and the road that will link it to Benue State.

“They have done the enumeration which came to about N6bn. If we pay N6bn, we will not have money to build the road. So, I said they should review it and as soon as they review it, within 72 hours, I will approve for them to be paid”, Umahi said.