Ex-Abia federal lawmaker commends Tinubu for not abandoning projects inherited from Buhari

…Hails Mr President for reconstructing Abia-Imo link road destroyed during civil war

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

A member of the Governing Board of North East Development Commission (NEDC), Chief Sam Onuigbo, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the “admirable momentum” his administration has maintained in executing capital projects inherited from the Ex-President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.
Onuigbo spoke with respect to the progress being made to realize two roads projects: the Umuahia/Ikwuano/Ikot Ekpene federal highway, linking Abia and Akwa Ibom states; as well as the Ubakala-Umunwanwa-Udo Adobi-Achingalli road, linking Abia and Imo states, which he, alongside other lawmakers, facilitated while representing Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency in Abia State between 2015 and 2023.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain noted that President Tinubu has demonstrated his commitment to giving Nigerians good governance, by not abandoning but continuing with the execution of projects he inherited from the Buhari regime.
The two-term House of Representative member said that reports reaching him with regard to the ongoing reconstruction of the two roads were positive and indicate that ongoing work at the project sites were massive.

Onuigbo who spoke during an interactive session with newsmen in Umuahia on Sunday, disclosed that the Ubakala-Umunwanwa-Udo Adobi-Achingalli road linking Abia and Imo states, including a component bridge which the federal government was currently reconstructing, was destroyed during the civil war and has remained in a state of disrepair since the war ended in 1970.
With the destroyed bridge left unattended, it has been an herculean task to access Imo State from the south-eastern end of Umuahia South Local Government in Abia State. He said he was happy that things were changing for better as progress of work on the road was satisfactory while a section of the bridge has been completed.

“Electioneering has come and gone and this (Tinubu) administration should be commended for maintaining admirable momentum to complete the road projects awarded by the last administration,” the Climate Change champion said, adding that the strategic interstate road, when completed, would make the journey from Umuahia to Imo Airport take less than an hour.

The former National Assembly (NASS) member expressed happiness that the link road with Imo was not abandoned by the Tinubu administration, just as it has also sustained work on Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene road linking Abia and Akwa Ibom States.
He said: “The Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Federal Road that I facilitated is ongoing at a very good pace. Then, the road project from Achingali through Umunwawa to Ubakala is also ongoing.
“They are even constructing a bridge across Imo River and these were things that were destroyed during the Civil War.
“That is why I am saying politics, electioneering are over and this President Bola Tinubu-led government deserves commendation because these are projects awarded under President Muhammad Buhari.”
“The federal government deserve recognition and commendation for maintaining an admirable momentum in ensuring that these projects are executed.”
On the Skill Acquisition Centre at Ubakala in Umuahia South local government area and the federal secretariat projects that he championed as a federal lawmaker, Onuigbo noted that the skills centre has reached 85 percent completion while perimetre fencing of the proposed federal secretariat complex for Abia has commenced.
With Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, securing the land for federal Secretariat project by paying compensation for economic trees on the land, the Secretariat which has eluded Abia for decades, is now on course.
According to Onuigbo, the project was stalled because the immediate past Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu-led administration refused to pay for the economic trees but stressed that Otti, unlike his predecessor, has “shown willingness” to cooperate with the federal government to realise the project.

Onuigbo, who is the South East representative the Southeast on the Governing Board of the North East Development Commission(NEDC), said that the agency was working hard to achieve its mandate.

He said that the North East, which constitutes one-third of Nigeria’s land mass, was devastated by insurgency, adding that NEDC has produced a master plan which has been adopted for the rebuilding of the zone comprising Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe States.

Onuigbo who is the Chairman of NEDC Committee for Security, Climate Change and Special Interventions, explained that the benefits of the Commission’s interventionist activities would not be enjoyed by only the indigenes of the six states that make up the North East zone but all Nigerians resident in the area.

“Devastation of North East was not selective. Other Nigerians living in the area were also affected,” he said, adding that whatever the NEDC was doing to rebuild the zone was for the benefit of all Nigerians.

He also reiterated that the federal government should be commended for it’s efforts to rebuild the zone.

“In fact, I commend the federal government for the efforts they have made in trying to tackle insurgency, checking it from creating the type of instability it created before. The mood in the past has changed and development is taking place now,” he said.