The Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi clarified on Saturday that he never said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo should not use the Lagos-Calabar coastal road when completed.
Umahi made the clarification during an inspection tour of the road project in Lagos.
He reacted to some comments in the sense that he said that Obasanjo should not use the way to describe the road project as a wasteful.
“The point is that the former president is not just my former president, he is also my father and is my father -in -law; So, I have my respect for him.
“I never said that the former president should not use the way.
“He is not the only one of the few who criticize the Road project.
“I said: 'If you say that the road is not good, you have the option to use it or not use it.'
“That is what I said. I did not say that the former president should not use the road, ”Umahi told reporters during the inspection tour.
The minister said the 700 km route project was never a waste, but a vital investment with enormous socio -economic benefits.
“If he says that the project is a waste, it is an ambiguous statement. Is it a waste in the sense that it should not have been?
“Is it a waste in the sense that we are going to gain carbon credit from the concrete and sunlight?
“Is it a waste in the sense that throughout this corridor, we will have the energy of the wind mills that connect to all the communities we are going through?
“Is it a ruthless that it is from Lagos to be quiet? Well, we have the Sokoto-Badagry road project, which is 1,068 km, ”he asked.
The minister added that the federal government was executing a Road project of 462 km Akwanga-José-Bauchi-Gombe, among other projects.
“Why then select this to say that it is a waste?”
He said that traveling from Lagos to pump along the road would take only five hours, reducing the travel time.
“It is an evacuation corridor; Then, the amount spent the federal government in the transhipment will save. ”
Umahi said that in the next six months, section one of the road project will be completed.
“Is it a waste in the sense that this path will pass a series of existing paths?
“Is it a waste in the sense that Bua's refinery is happening by?
“Is it a waste that is going to be an evacuation corridor for the Dangote refinery?
“I can't see the feeling of saying that it is a waste,” he added.
Umahi also said that the project had nothing to do with corruption.
He said Obasanjo praised the transparency and achievements of his administration when he was the governor of Ebonyi.
“He is my father. If a father suddenly says that his son is corrupt, he depends on the child to say that he is not corrupt. ”
(Yaya)
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