The Federal Government has refuted the statement credited to the
Governors of the states in the South-east, that the region has been
shortchanged in the implementation of infrastructural projects, saying
there are 69 ongoing projects in the region alone.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, issued
the rebuttal in Ilorin on Thursday, at a lecture by Mr. Festus Keyamo,
spokesman for the President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organization.
”While this claim may have made headlines, it is totally untrue. His
Excellencies were either misquoted or they were quoted of context.
Either way, this allegation flies in the face of available evidence,”
he said, promising to publish THE full list of the projects and the
state-by-state breakdown.
Alhaji Mohammed said no part of the country, including the South-east,
has been left out of the massive infrastructural projects of this
Administration, adding that from the proceeds of the 100 billion Naira
Sukuk Bond alone, the South-east got 16.6 billion Naira worth of
projects, just alike any other zone.
He listed the four projects covered by the Sukuk Bond proceeds in the
South-east as 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) and the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway Section III
(Enugu-Lokpanta) in Enugu State
The Minister said he had gone on a media inspection of the roads, as
well as the Aba-Port Harcourt section of the Enugu-Port Harcourt
Expressway and the 2nd Niger Bridge, where the contractor has
completed the first three phases of the project.
”In conclusion, 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,” he said.
