Special Adviser to the President on Public Communications, Sunday Dare, has commended the decision of the Imo state governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, to fix the collapsed and long-abandoned Orlu-Mgbee-Akokwa-Uga damaged by gully erosion.
Specifically, he said, to the delight of the people of the state, the governor did what his predecessors in office, could not achieve.
He spoke Thursday evening in Owerri while leading visiting journalists round projects embarked upon by both the federal and state governments under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“This road has a history. Three governors prior to Uzodimma made every effort to fix this road, especially the stretch where we are now. The massive reclamation, the diversion of the river and the concrete bridge that is built.
“The entire Imo side was completely cut off, the Imo-Abia section cut off from Anambra. Now, what we saw is 80 percent completion of a 31 kilometres stretch road,” Dare said.
On what the people stand to gain from the infrastructure, he said this, without any iota doubt, “will have massive economic implications from the positive point of view for this South East region. We can see what has been done with the reclamation. We can see the quality of the road. We can also see the concrete media, the street lights from Orlu to this place.
Dare said: “This wouldn’t have been possible without the increased FAAC allocation that comes monthly from the Federal Government to the state government, providing extra funds for such projects as this.
“We have seen in a couple of other states in the North and the South East how APC governors have been utilising these extra FAAC funds for infrastructural development. We saw in Orlu 2,000 bed Infectious Disease Centre at almost 85 percent completion. We saw the oxygen plants. We saw the revitalisation of the health centre that has been down for several years.
“I think this is the kind of project that is impactful to the people when you talk about the micro of the Renewed Hope Agenda; services like this, infrastructure, human capital development, and we have seen how state projects, federal projects are working together.”
On the projects inspected by the team, he said: “The Imo state government is funding part of it, while the Federal Government is funding part of it. When we talk about vision and I say vision without clarity, without results, it turns to visionless completely. But here we see vision, we see clarity in the manifestation of the projects we are seeing. We see the funds that have been freed up from subsidy removal.”
On the positive impact of fuel subsidy removal, the ex-sports minister said: “I have said it before. We were borrowing to pay for that subsidy. Now, we are no longer borrowing $7.5 billion every year. Those funds are being freed up. That is why we see the FAAC allocation going up by almost 60 percent.
“You are also seeing that states are no longer borrowing. People forget that 21 states were coming cap-in-hand to Abuja for salaries every month. States are paying now. They have also increased minimum wage to N70,000, N80,000. Some states like Imo pay N100,000.
“So, we can boldly point to the impact in a positive sense of the removal of subsidy by President Tinubu. You look at Senegal today, they didn’t remove the subsidy. Senegal is on its knees completely because the subsidy was not removed. Nigeria has become a reference point when it comes to reforms, sectoral reforms in the oil sector, in the agriculture sector, because of the Renewable Agenda.”
Also speaking, the Imo state Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, highlighted the partnership between the state and the federal government, which according to him, had impacted the people positively.
He said: “Several administrations governed Imo State before now, but none was able to accomplish what Governor Hope Uzodimma has achieved.
“One notable example is the Alvan Ikoku College of Education, one of the oldest colleges of education in the country and one of the six institutions upgraded to Federal Universities of Education.
“Previous administrations attempted to secure the upgrade but were unsuccessful. We are delighted that it was achieved under Governor Uzodimma, and even happier that the Federal Government’s intervention has created employment opportunities.
“As we speak, the institution has advertised vacancies, and many of the beneficiaries will be indigenes of Imo State. The conversion has brought numerous benefits to the state, and we are grateful to the Federal Government for approving the upgrade.”