Why we prioritise infrastructure development

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration has embarked on prioritising the construction of projects to ameliorate hardship across the country.

The president said this on Tuesday at the State House when he hosted a delegation from Kaduna State led by the Emir of Zazzau, Ahmed Bamalli, and Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Hadiza Balarabe.

He said that the intervention on the Lagos-Ibadan route with completion of road and rail lines had improved the traffic significantly.

“My objective was very clear, despite the dwindling resources, I wanted to deal with infrastructure across the country.

“We should look at advancement in terms of infrastructure. No country can advance without infrastructure. There used to be railways, especially people from Southern Kaduna will remember this.

“Which country can really advance without road, rail and power? That’s why I wanted to sort out infrastructure.

“I know that Nigerians are competitive by nature and they will face their businesses when there is road, rail and power,’’ he said.

Mr Buhari said the challenge of commuting in the South-west had been improved with the rehabilitation of the transport infrastructure.

“The people from South-west can tell better because between Lagos and Ibadan by now, if we hadn’t done what we did, people would have been trekking.

“This is because the road was not there, the rail was not there and there was so much insecurity.

“But we thank the international community. We thank China and Chinese investors who came along to support the Lagos-Ibadan transport projects,’’ he said.

Mr Buhari assured that the construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure which include the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano express road, being handled by Julius Berger would be sustained.

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The president commended Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, for the transformation of the state, with growing infrastructure and socio-economic projects.

“Please extend my gratitude to the governor for doing so well. I have been living in Kaduna for many years before I came here.

“But, now I will need a modern compass to go around because of the transformation,’’ he said.

In her remarks, the Mrs Balarabe thanked the president for his working visit to the state, where he inaugurated projects in Kaduna, Kafanchan and Zaria.

She said the Urban Renewal Programme in the state would be sustained and spread across the state for more impact on the lives of the people.

The Emir of Zazzau also thanked the president for the visit, saying its in January and support to the Government, a the saying that its memory would be long cherished by all Kaduna State citizens.

(NAN)