PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release N80 billion for the reconstruction of Sapele/Benin and the Amukpe-Agbor roads.
Deputy Senate President and Delta State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, disclosed this during a meeting with members of the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) in Sapele on Monday, November 28.
He recalled that as soon as he became Deputy Senate President, he requested from Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to know the status of the road all the way from Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) to Agbor, because he knew the contract had been awarded previously; hence requested for a review, so he could put it in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) budget.
He explained that because Okowa felt he would not get the political credit, the issue died.
But with the reconstitution of the NDDC Board, the President ordered that N500 billion of the Commission frozen be released for development projects and the sum of N80 billion was approved when he pleaded with the President to consider the Sapele-Benin and the Amukpe-Agbor roads.
Omo-Agege said it would be insanity to repeat the same thing over again and expect different results and would amount to by continuing to hold onto Okowa through his anointed proxy, both of whom he alleged have collectively failed to develop the state.
He vowed to create an enabling environment for companies that left the state as a result of insecurity and other factors to return, if elected governor, as he would not wait for the federal government before constructing strategic roads in the state and would ensure the implementation of the local content law, so as to provide job opportunities for youths.
On his party’s presidential Muslim-Muslim ticket, the senator said: “We want power for development and progress. That’s what we use power for. Tinubu has a wife who is a pastor and if he could not islamise his wife, how would he be able to islamise other Nigerians?
“I believe that after eight years of Buhari, it is only fair and equitable for power to move to the South. I put all my strength into it. Governors of the APC supported it. All governors of Southern Nigeria supported it, met and signed a communiqué in Asaba. Okowa read the communiqué.
“But no sooner had that been done, during the PDP national congress, Okowa asked delegates of Delta to vote for a northerner. Yet, he is the one crying about a Muslim-Muslim ticket. The same Okowa that said take the presidency back to the North, just give me vice president?
“The focus should be who can bring development to our people. Okowa, who is a Christian, has he changed anything, are Deltans not crying?”
Earlier, Chairman of the Delta State chapter of CCN, Rev. Jonathan Iwhiwhu, noted the contribution of the Church to development and called for assistance, in terms of construction of a secretariat and official bus.
He had drawn Omo-Agege’s attention to the deplorable condition of Sapele-Benin, Amukpe-Agbor and Agbor-Uromi roads, pleading that policies that negatively impact on the economic ventures of the church, such as schools, should be moderated when he becomes governor.
The CCN comprised of Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, African Churches and the Church of the Lord (Aladura) across the 25 local government areas of the state.
