The Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, has pleaded with youths planning a nationwide protest against bad governance to shelve the idea and instead support the President Bola Tinubu-led renewed hope administration as it strives to make life better for all citizens.
Umahi made the plea in Kano during the flag off of the road completion and handover ceremony of section 3 of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Federal Highway being handled by BUA Group of Companies over the weekend.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Special Adviser (Media) to the minister, Hon. Orji Uchenna Orji, in Abuja.
Umahi urged the youths to the youths to show patriotism and shelve the planned protest for the sake of our nation.
Orji said, “The Honourable Minister assured that Mr. President is doing everything to reset the economy, and a lot of positive indices are already in place.
“He said that the President is on a rescue mission as he came at a time the nation’s economy was on a time bomb, but has taken bold measures to comprehensively and holistically tackle the root causes of the economic problems and bring forth Nigeria to the path of prosperity in a matter of moments.
Orji quoted Umahi as saying, “He (Tinubu) has put in place a lot of palliatives, including fertilizer, rice, CNG vehicles, and so on and so forth and, of course, students loans.
“So there will be no need for anybody to join any protest. Protests will not do any good to us.All the issues are being addressed.
“It was because of these accumulated challenges that God raised Mr. President to reset the country and reset the economy.
“Yes, there are some hardships being experienced as a result of hard decisions. But those decisions needed to be taken so that our country could make progress.
“Without divine intervention by bringing Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it would have been very difficult to still exist as a country. We almost had a failed country.”
“He appealed to all to know that violent protests have done no good to any nation, but tenancity and perseverance uplift a people.
Umahi further said, “So let us understand that this is our country. We don’t have any other country, we have to show patriotism. Support Mr. President and in a very short time, all the full indices and benefits of all these hard decisions will begin to manifest more than what we are experiencing now.”
He lauded the President for the unprecedented intervention given to road infrastructure which is beginning to manifest nationwide.
He assured Nigerians that what was being done on the road infrastructure would not only impact tremendously on the livelihood of Nigerians but also on the socio- economic potential of the country.
Speaking on the issue offacilities that would fast-track the potentials of the road infrastructure being fixed, Umahi said, ” We are putting solar lights, we are putting some trees, we are also injecting drainage and medians and smaller cabes at the edges and then of course painting of the concrete medians.
“So, it is our pleasure to hand over this section accordingly. On behalf of Mr. President who directed us to do this, it’s my pleasure to hand over this section to the Managing Director of BUA Plc, 17.4km for them to complete starting from today within the next six months, maximum”
Responding, the representatives of BUA Group of Companies Plc, Mr. Mohammed thanked the President of Nigeria for prioritizing road infrastructure development, describing his vision as crucial for the advancement of Nigeria’s economy.
He said, “Let me first and foremost thank His Excellency, Mr. President, for his efforts to make sure that infrastructure improvement in Nigeria is well upgraded across the board.
“ So we are really appreciative of his efforts, his commitment, and his desire to see that Nigeria is a better place in the world.”
To the Minister, he said,” Let me first and foremost welcome the Hon Minister of Works, Distinguished Senator and staff of Federal Ministry of Works to the ancient city of Kano, for some of us that are from this part of the nation know the importance of this road that we are talking about.
“So when the Hon. Minister called upon us to come and intervene in this important project we did not hesitate. In fact, even before the award was given to us, we had mobilized. You can see the number of equipment that is here, ready to start the work.
“And anybody who knows the Hon. Minister knows that he is somebody who works day and night, Saturday and Sunday.
“When we were scoping the project, he insisted that this project must be completed, at least our portion, within four months’ time.”
Peoplesmind
