The Special Adviser to the President on Public Communications, Sunday Dare, has commended the Imo state governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, for fixing the collapsed and long-abandoned Orlu-Mgbee-Akokwa-Uga damaged by gully erosion.
Dare spoke in Owerri while leading journalists round projects embarked upon by both the federal and state governments under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said the governor did what his predecessors in office could not achieve.
“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 this concrete bridge,” he said.
According to Dare, “The entire Imo-Abia section was cut off from Anambra. Now, what we saw is 80 per cent completion of a 31 kilometres stretch road.”
On what the people stand to gain from the infrastructure, he said the projects would have massive economic implications for the South-east region.
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.”
The Imo state government, he said, was funding part of it, while the federal government funded part of it, adding that, “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: “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.”
He also added, saying, “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.”
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.”