Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu state on Thursday, visited President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja in the course of which he discussed issues pertinent to the people and development of the state.
Speaking with newsmen after the closed-door meeting, Mbah, who described the meeting as heartwarming, said partnership and collaboration with the federal government was critical to actualising his administration’s agenda for Enugu State, especially in the areas of economy, infrastructure, security, and activation of dormant assets.
He also said the meeting equally discussed the need to release the leader of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, saying it is a demand by the South East, which is very much in tandem with President Tinubu’s promise in his inaugural address to engender national healing and reconcilation.
According to him: “I came and frankly I brought to the President, the warm greetings and best wishes from the government and the people of Enugu state.
“But, above all, you may also know already that we made massive campaign promises to the people of Enugu. And we also have expressed humongous vision. We’ve taken a bold view of what the new government could achieve in the next four years, in terms of growing our economy from the current levels to $30 billion. And one of our core governance philosophies is to collaborate and to have partnership; and we have identified the federal government as our core partner.
“A lot of people do not know, but we have huge mineral resources in Enugu State. And these resources are sitting under our ground, not being productive. So, we believe with the partnership we’re trying to build with the federal government, we’re able to transform these assets into productive assets.
“Of course, you know that the growth level we have proposed is one that is going to be driven by the private sector and private sector wants the ease of doing business; and one of the core indicators of the ease of doing business is security and infrastructure. So, we also had that conversation with Mr. President.
“And finally, we also talked about the release of Nnamdi Kanu. You know, that the South East has made a collective demand to have Nnamdi Kanu released. And we basically identified with that and request Mr. President, who in his inaugural address promised the people that he’s going to engender national healing and he’s going to serve with compassion. So we’ve basically informed him that this would serve as a pointer to his administration’s extension of hands of fellowship to Ndigbo”, he said.
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
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