President Bola Tinubu has said that Abia State remains essential to the economic development plan of the federal government, hence its investment in the state.
Mr Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, said this while addressing Abia residents during the inauguration of seven roads in Aba, on Friday.
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He thanked the Abia people for coming out in large numbers to welcome him, saying that the gesture showed their love for him, the governor and the ongoing infrastructure development in the state.
He said that the inaugurated roads, including Gabriel Nwosu Road, Ajiwe Road, Pepple’s Road, Ndoki Road, Umuatako and Ohanku roads, as well as Port Harcourt Road, have restored Aba’s lost glory.
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The president also said that Abia’s importance in Nigeria’s economic development plan is the reason the government is completing the Umuahia–Aba Expressway, costing N66 billion.
He also said that 14 kilometres of the 49-kilometre Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road had been completed, while the remaining 35 kilometres had been handed over to Mr Otti “on his request to complete”.
He said that the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway would intersect with the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road in Akwa Ibom State, which would ensure access to Lagos in five hours from Abia.
The president further said that the government had completed 50 kilometres of the highway, consisting of one full carriageway and a half, which is part of the Ikot Ekpene-Aba Road, costing N65 billion.
He said that work would soon start on the second carriageway.
He said that the 43-km Aba-Port Harcourt dual carriageway has had one part completed, which would also ensure residents reach Port Harcourt in 30 minutes.
Mr Tinubu also spoke on his reforms, saying that they were beginning to yield gains with foreign reserve hitting $42 billion and inflation coming down to below 20 per cent.
The minister assured the people that the president would come in person before the end of the year, saying that he could not make the trip for the road inauguration due to the exigencies of duty.
‘Post-election politics need not be obstruction to governance’
Earlier, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State thanked the federal government for assisting in the restoration of Aba as an industrial and commercial city.
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Mr Otti said that after the reconstruction of Port Harcourt Road in Aba, the city had regained commercial patronage from neighbouring states.
He also said that the restoration of Aba pointed to the gains of collaboration among different tiers of government, pointing out that “post-election politics need not be an obstruction to governance.”
He appreciated Mr Umahi as the works minister, who took interest in improving the federal highways across the country, according to the president’s development vision.
Mr Otti also thanked the president for his interest in matters of socioeconomic development of Abia and the war against insecurity.
He acknowledged that economic indices were improving and resulting in the release of funds for investment and thanked the president for his reforms.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the president had, earlier in Umuahia, inaugurated the renovated and retrofitted Okpara Auditorium, and commended Mr Otti for “turning the edifice into a sight of beauty.”
