A foundation member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Osita Okechukwu has lauded President Bola Tinubu for enlisting South-East in his renewed electricity roadmap of infrastructural development.
Okechukwu was reacting to the Southeast Business Roundtable for Light up Nigeria project held in Enugu on Monday by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) for its partners.
The event, chaired by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, was to launch an initiative to ensure dedicated power supply to industrial clusters across the country, with Southeast as second in the series.
However, in a statement issued to newsmen on Tuesday, Okechukwu, who is also the former Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) commended President Tinubu for his desire to renew the status of Southeast as one of the industrial powerhouses of the country.
He added that “the president’s commitment to revamp Nigeria’s backbone critical infrastructure – electricity – by his laudable program Light Up Nigeria, could not have come at a better time when the Southeast is in dire need of economic and infrastructural renewal.”
Okechukwu was of the considered view that the Light Up Nigeria project would be the signpost of goodies ahead for the people of the Southeast and Nigeria in general because affordable and constant electricity would make for a stable economy.
“Constant cum affordable power supply is the fastest route to economic resorgimento, empowerment of Nigerians, generation of employment and lifting of millions out of poverty; as no meaningful development can take place without constant and affordable electricity transmission,” Okechukwu stated.
He commended President Tinubu “for vindicating some of us from APC in the Southeast, who had maintained that he will not abandon the Southeast.
“From the onset one admonished the PDP that the Southeast needs infrastructural development more than lavish political appointments; now change has come from unexpected quarters.
“This is the kind of legacy President Buhari engraved with the 2nd Niger Bridge. Hence am happy that President Tinubu has vindicated some of us that he will not abandon the Southeast.
“It is kudos to President Tinubu to enlist Southeast in his renewed roadmap. I am confident that the whole country will benefit immensely from any infrastructural development located in the Southeast for Ndigbo are true patriots who habit and invest in all the nooks and crannies of our dear country more than any other ethnic nationality.
“Therefore, one appeals to Mr President to erase the age long culture of impunity stereotype and engrave at least one lasting legacy either by unbundling the Enugu Coal deposit for Coal Fired Power Plant. Or by investing huge in gas pipeline in the region and in addition upgrade of Eastern Corridor rail line to standard gauge like the Western Corridor.”
Okechukwu also congratulated Professor Barth Nnaji for his resilience and doggedness in the face of unintended obstacles, thanking God that his dream had finally come true as his baby, the 181mw Geometric Power plant in Aba was officially inaugurated by Vice President Shettima.
