Minister of Works David Umahi has challenged former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi to a debate on road infrastructure, saying it is in bad taste to take a picture of a bad portion of road for campaign purposes.
Obi should know the realities of governance as a former governor, Umahi said, during the Wednesday’s commissioning of the Akwanga–Jos–Bauchi–Gombe–Borno superhighway in Nasarawa State.
When my brother, the former governor of Anambra State, who should know governance makes some statements, it makes me very sad. I saw on social media where he got to a bad spot on the road and took a picture. It is bad for his dignity and personality.
“And I’m always up for discussion. I’m always willing to disaggregate the cost, the unique cost of concrete, and to debate with him. And so I feel so sad because governance is everybody’s responsibility,” he added.
He further stated that the federal government would cover Yobe and from Yobe, Gombe to Maiduguri whose entire length is 700 kilometres.
“Don’t forget that the first legacy project of Mr President is 750, cutting across Lagos to Ondo to Edo to Delta to Bayelsa to Rivers to Akwa Ibom and Cross River. And then the third legacy project is taking off from Cross River where the first legacy project stopped. And that is from Cross River to my state, Ebonyi, where we are starting the first section. The second section has just been approved and it is going from Ebonyi down to Benue, down to the Benue boundary between Benue and Ebonyi. “That’s another 168 kilometres awarded,” he said.
In his remarks, President Bola Tinubu said the road is a legacy project that was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and constructed in phases.
“In Section 1, Phase 1 of the Akwanga–Maiduguri Superhighway, it is a 125-kilometre stretch from Akwanga–Kaduna–Jos, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Plateau States as part of the larger 700-kilometre Akwanga–Maiduguri Superhighway, cutting across five states in the North-East as follows:
“Akwanga-Kaduna-Jos, 125 kilometres. Jos-Bauchi, 135 kilometres. Bauchi-Gombe, 162 kilometres. Gombe-Biu, 125 kilometres. Biu to Maiduguri, 188 kilometres, all totalling 700 kilometres. “They are distances between communities and cities along one of the most important inland corridors in the country,” he said.