President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday declared that infrastructural development would encourage economic advancement across the nation.
He also stressed that his government would continue to collaborate with sub-nationals on infrastructural development to encourage economic growth and prosperity.
The President spoke at the State House, Abuja while receiving a delegation of eminent persons from Bayelsa State, led by Governor Duoye Diri which include
King Alfred Diette-Spiff, the first military governor of the old Rivers State; royal fathers, members of the National Assembly, the Bayelsa Assembly Speaker, a former Special Adviser on the Presidential Amnesty Programme, and Bayelsa-born government functionaries.
The delegation came to thank the President for appointing Dame Esther Didi Walson-Jack as the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
President Tinubu disclosed that despite the current economic challenges, what mattered most was the well-being of the citizens, regardless of who provides the infrastructure, between the Federal and the state governments.
“We are going through economic twists and turns. I always argue that when you classify roads as federal roads. The road belongs to all of us. The road is in Bayelsa, which will be used by the citizens of this country, but mainly by the Bayelsans.
“But we just have to collaborate and put hands together to build the infrastructure necessary to encourage economic development and prosperity of various sections of this country.”
He also spoke on the ongoing construction of the Sokoto—Lagos and the Lagos—Calabar superhighways, highlighting the administration’s commitment and the vast benefits of these laudable projects.
According to him: “The economic importance of the roads to the future of this country will outlive us; the over eight hundred kilometres of seafront that could become tourist development and attractions; and the economic opportunities, not just the fact that it shortens the distances. But we have to invest and invest aggressively for our economic prosperity”.
Commenting on the rehabilitation of other roads in Bayelsa and especially the delay in completing the East-West Road, which the delegation also requested his intervention, the President acknowledged the challenges that have arisen due to the road design and assured them that his administration would look into ways to complete the road as soon as possible.
He also informed the delegation that Dame Esther Didi Walson-Jack’s appointment as Head of the Federation’s civil service was purely based on merit.
His words: “The Head of Service is a highly competent and honourable individual who earned it. Out of many screened, she came tops, and I have to be fair and sincere as a leader of this country.
“I am happy that you are well represented in the civil service structure and establishment, and she has been doing well since she took over”
Earlier, Diri, who spoke on behalf of the delegation, equally thanked the President for appointing other sons and daughters of the state to prominent positions and assured him that they would bring value to his administration and Nigeria.
Walson-Jack, a lawyer, was a former Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa before transferring her service to the Federal Government in 2009. She became the head of federal civil service in August.
The governor also requested the President’s intervention in many infrastructural and economic projects in the state.
Among the projects mentioned were the Nembe to Brass, the East-West and the Lagos-Calabar superhighway.
Speaking with newsmen after the meeting with the President, Diri raised the alarm that some bizarre sicknesses, including cancer, ravaging the people of his state could be traced to environmental pollution from the activities of the oil companies operating in the state.
The governor, who called for the clean up of the pollution by the oil companies, said he presented the Bayelsa Oil And Environment Commission’s report to the President.
According to him, the Commission was instituted by his predecessor, Senator Henry Seriake-Dickson and its main thrust was to demand for the clean-up of the pollution of the oil bearing areas and to press for compensation for the victims in the state.
Said he: “I felt that report is one report that the Federal Government will support the state of Bayelsa to ensure the recommendations of that report are all implemented to the letter and as a state we believe that the recommendations in that report must be implemented because the report has brought to the fore about what the Bayelsa has been crying over the years that oil exploration and exploitation has visited on that state, its environment and its economic activities.
“As I speak with you today, issues about cancer are now almost like a normal thing in Bayelsa state, and this report has traced it to the activities of the oil companies, oil exploration, and all other types of very bizarre types of sicknesses that were not either to none to the people of Bayelsa state.”
Deji Elumoye
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