President Buhari receives in audience Deputy Senate President and South East Governors in State House on 21st Nov 2018Governors from the five States in Southeast, today, Wednesday, converged on the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for the award of N206 Billion contract for the second Niger Bridge to Julius Berger.
Speaking to news men shortly after an audience with the President, the Ebony State governor, Dave Umahi said: “we came to thank Mr. President on behalf of south east for the award of the second Niger bridge to Julius Berger at the sum of N206 billion.
“We understand that N7 billion has been paid as mobilization, so we came to ask Mr. President if there is the possibility of paying up to 50 percent of the sum and secure the other 50 percent as bond so that we can sleep with our two eyes closed and be assured that the job will not be abandoned.”
Governor Umahi, who swore that there visit has not political undertone, said that the governors seized the opportunity to appeal to the President that the construction period be reduced from 42 months to 24 months, adding that they made it clear to Julius Berger that it is achievable.
The governor listed other requests he and his colleagues put before President Buhari, including economic free trade zone in Enyimba in Abia State “and he promised to come and commission it. The license has been given. We also thanked him for that economic free trade zone.
“And then on Enugu international airport, we asked him to deploy the cargo section of the airport, complete the building and extend the runway and also rebuild the runway because it is very bumpy and the tarmac light is not functioning.
“We also thanked him for the roads and we reminded him that the slow pace of work was attributed to the rains, and that now that the rains are gone, the contractors are complaining of no funding. So we requested that he should do something about the funding.
“Of course, we talked about the geometric power plant in Aba, to assist in resolving whatever the issues are so that power will be deployed to the industrial clusters in Aba and environs.
“We reminded him that the Enugu state government has done quite a lot on the issue of relocating major infrastructure that have been obstructing smooth operations of lives. We requested that he should take over the compensations of the affected lands.
“And of course, the issue of gas distribution should be linked to the five eastern states to the industrial clusters, so as to boost economic activities.
“The railway of course; we complained that the western corridor is going on and the eastern corridor has not been awarded. And the eastern corridor goes through Port Harcourt, Aba, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Maiduguri. We requested that the contract should be awarded so that we can benefit from that project.”
Governor Umahi said that there was no political discussion with the President, adding: “these are purely economic issues.”
