The Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi, has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s legacy projects across Nigeria would ease transportation and boost economic opportunities for Nigerians.
Umahi disclosed this in Abakaliki while leading a team of officials from the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development on an inspection tour of some federal projects in the state.
The projects inspected included the Abakaliki–Afikpo Trans-Saharan Highway under construction and the Ndibe Beach Bridge in Afikpo Local Government Area of the state connecting Ebonyi and Cross River States.
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The minister said the dualisation of the Abakaliki–Afikpo–Ndibe Beach Trans-Saharan Highway was one of the legacy projects of President Tinubu’s administration.
“These legacy projects will ease transportation and boost economic opportunities across the country and beyond borders,” he stated.
He noted that the road, which connects Ebonyi and Cross River States through Ndibe Beach in Afikpo to Benue and Kogi States, would open up economic opportunities for the people of Nigeria and neighbouring communities in Cameroon.
Speaking against the backdrop of the recent incident involving an unnamed private jet that landed on a concrete road pavement under construction by the Federal Ministry of Works at Ogwashi-Ukwu in Delta State, Umahi jokingly called on the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, to pay landing, parking, and take-off costs for the emergency landing on the federal road.
He disclosed that, “I do not blame the pilot for mistaking the concrete road for a runway. I was watching Arise TV this morning and saw discussions about the plane that landed on the road we are constructing at Ogwashi-Ukwu in Delta State.
“I don’t blame them nor the pilot for mistaking our concrete roads for runways, but I want to tell my brother, the Honourable Minister of Aviation, to pay us landing, parking, and take-off costs for using our road as a runway.
“It’s not our fault, nor that of President Bola Tinubu, that we are building roads that are far stronger than some runways. But we want to tell them that they should not land on our roads again, because if they do, they will pay landing and take-off costs.”
Speaking during the visit, the leader of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development team, Mrs. Mainouna Sidibe, expressed satisfaction with the level of road development across the country under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
She promised the bank’s support for developmental initiatives that will boost economic opportunities for ECOWAS member states.
