Loading ...The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday, urged the people of the South-West to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 elections to guarantee a return of power to the region in 2023.
The minister stated this at a special town hall meeting on infrastructure organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture and the National Orientation Agency.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, led three other ministers including Fashola, Ministers of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, to the town hall meeting.
Fashola said besides the massive investments by the Buhari administration on infrastructure across the country and in the South-West particularly, the region would benefit politically by voting for Buhari.
The minister, who spoke in Yoruba language, said, “Do you know that power is rotating to the South-West after the completion of Buhari’s tenure if you vote for him in 2019?
“A vote for Buhari in 2019, means a return of power to the South-West in 2023. I am sure you will vote wisely.”
Fashola said that the Federal Government had invested so much on the rehabilitation of major roads, saying that Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was better now than under the past government.
He said, “Is the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway the same as it was yesterday? Those who use the Benin-Ore, Ajebandele-Sagamu highways will know the difference. These are critical roads that provide the spine of the intercourse between us. Without them, it will be difficult for us to relate to ourselves. Before now, our people used to sleep on these roads. Think of the great professors that we have lost on that road. Today, you can travel on these roads without sleeping on them and we have not completed works on them.
“On the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, you will remember in 2017 that I had a public engagement on the massive cut to the budget. You know where the problem came from. Those who made the cut have come back to rebrand themselves. They want you to come back to them. Will you go? In three years of this administration, we have completed the first 93 kilometres of Ilorin-Jebba Road. We are moving forward with age. They will tell you Nigeria is not working but let me ask you; under which government did pipeline explosion, human bombing and throwing of grenade start?”
The Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, said that the government of the All Progressives Congress had performed well at the state and federal levels, saying that in the past three years, Buhari had laid a solid foundation for Nigeria to thrive and develop.
Ajimobi said, “I am very bold to say it that no government in Nigeria has done more than the APC government in the last three and a half years. Our administration restored peace and security to Oyo State. We have transformed the education sector of the state and we have invested much in infrastructure.
“Oyo State is the gateway to the commercial nerve centre, Lagos and the north. Oyo can boast of the largest concentration of Agriculture Research Institutes. Let me also inform you that the state has the best land for agriculture in Nigeria. We are the largest producer of cassava in West Africa.”
The Minister of Water Resources, Adamu, said the FG would next month declare a state of emergency on water and sanitation for the benefit of the nation.
He said, “I wish to inform you that for the first time in Africa, President Buhari is going to declare a state of emergency on water and sanitation, precisely on November 8, 2018. The government will also return the monthly environmental sanitation to address issues of open defecation and other sanitation issues.
“It is a shame that today, there is no single city in this country that can boast of pipe-borne water supply and 100 per cent coverage to all the citizens. This is why the President has decided to take up the responsibility of supporting water infrastructure in Nigeria.”
The Minister of Information and Culture, Mohammed, said, “This administration, realising that no nation develops without massive investment in infrastructure, has made such investment a priority and it is paying off. Whether in the area of job creation or stimulation of economic growth, investment in infrastructure is a fast route to development.”
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Source: Punch
