“President Buhari Has Fulfilled His Promises To Ndigbo” – Says VON DG, Okechukwu

“President Buhari Has Fulfilled His Promises To Ndigbo” – Says VON DG, Okechukwu

The Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) and Head of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Project Monitoring Team for South-East, Mr. Osita Okechukwu has declared that President Muhammadu Buhari has kept faith with the major promises he made to the people of the South-East geo-political zone of Nigeria.

Okechukwu spoke when he led a team of APC officials in the zone on project monitoring of Second Niger Bridge Onitsha, Anambra State.

The VON DG said with such commitment on the part of Buhari, Ndigbo should give him maximum support in 2019 to enable him complete all the on-going projects in the area.

He was emphatic that the President Buhari’s “Roads, Rails, Agriculture and Power (RRAP)” programmes, as well as Foreign Direct Investment and other critical infrastructural projects flowing with the RRAP are on course.

Okechukwu said that a practical evidence of such promise being kept was the on-going construction work at the Second Bridge across the River Niger at Onitsha, as well as the reconstruction of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway.

According to him, “Second Niger Bridge is a promise fulfilled because he has a social contract with the Nigerian people. When we came to Onitsha in January 2015 for the campaign, he made a promise that he is going to take off the second Niger Bridge and we are happy that he has taken off.

“We have what we called RRAP programme, which is rail, roads, agriculture and power. The federal government is doing 5000 kilometre roads across the country and 5000 kilometre standard gauge rail line also.

“Mr. President believes in sufficiency in food production because he said that Nigerians must eat what they produce. That is his slogan. And then power because without electricity the private sector cannot thrive and manufacturers won’t thrive.

“That is why he is doing the Manbella Hydro-electric power plant. It’s going to generate over 3000 megawatts of electricity. And he is about to embark on Enugu coal that will generate 1000 megawatts of electricity plus other renewable energy sources like solar, wind sources that he will make up the 5000 he wants to add to the existing 7000 megawatts that Nigeria has.

“So you now have 5000 kilometres of federal roads, 5000 kilometres standard gauge rail line, self sufficiency in agriculture and additional 5000 megawatts of power.”

Earlier, the Federal Controller of Works, Anambra State, Engr. Innocent Alumona, who conducted the team around both Onitsha and Asaba ends of the Second Niger Bridge disclosed that President Buhari cancelled the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement entered with the previous administration and awarded the contract for preliminary works at the cost of more than N14 billion to Julius Begger Nigeria PLC.

Alumona said that preliminary works was at fourth and final stage noting, “As I’m talking to you now the Early Work 4, has been executed to 46 percent and by July this year we would have been through with the content of Early Work 4.

“And between now and July, I promise there won’t be any interruption between Early Works 4 and the main contract for the second Niger Bridge.”