Umahi Urges Southeast to Back Tinubu for Second Term

(David Umahi, Minister of Works. Photo by Federal Minister of Works)

A government minister named Dave Umahi is asking people in the southeast part of Nigeria to support President Bola Tinubu's plan to run for a second term.

Umahi is the Minister of Works and he said the government has been building roads and doing other projects in the southeast.

Umahi said the southeast should look at all the things the Tinubu government has done for the region.

He said the southeast should compare what other governments gave them before with what this government is doing now.

He said the government has not just given appointments to southeast people but has also built important infrastructure.

He told southeast leaders to be brave and tell their people the truth about why they should support Tinubu.

He said it is a smart decision for the Igbo people to support the president.

Umahi asked for people to debate with him about whether the southeast is being treated fairly.

He said if people want to argue with him, they should give good reasons and not just complain without facts.

He asked what he has done since he was governor of Ebonyi State and now as Minister of Works with the help of President Tinubu.

He also asked the southeast to support Tinubu now so that other regions will support the southeast when it becomes the southeast's turn to produce a president.

The minister said students from across Nigeria came to check the government's road projects themselves without taking money from the ministry.

He praised them for being responsible and wanting to see the truth about what the government is building.

The government has been working on four big road projects. It expanded them from about 700 kilometres to about 1,150 kilometres.

One big project is the Sokoto to Badagry road which is 1,068 kilometres long.

Another is the Akwanga to Jos road which is 135 kilometres.

Other roads being built are the Gombe-Bauchi road which is 156 kilometres, the Bauchi-Jos road which is 149 kilometres, and a new road from Ogoja to Calabar which is about 400 kilometres.

There is also the Biu-Maiduguri road.

The Bauchi-Gombe road has been finished.

The government is also fixing roads in Bauchi and Jigawa states that had been broken for a long time.

The federal government is paying for 30 percent of these road projects.

Foreign countries are giving loans to pay for the other 70 percent.

When the roads are finished, the government will put tolls on them, which means people will have to pay money to use the roads.

The money from the tolls will be used to pay back the foreign loans.

Umahi defended the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway against people who are criticizing it.

He said a lot of this highway will go through the Niger Delta region.

The highway will pass through seven states including Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River.

He said the highway is important for the Niger Delta region and for Nigeria's economy.