By Tony Adibe
A former Director General, Voice of Nigeria (VON) and foundation member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has lauded President Bola Tinubu for enlisting Southeast in the renewed electricity roadmap of infrastructural development.
Mr. Okechukwu was commenting on 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 the launch of the initiative to ensure dedicated power supply to industrial clusters across the country, with Southeast as second in the series.
The first in the series was held in October 2023 at Agbara, an industrial area in Ogun State, while the project is meant to be launched in the six geo-political zones in Nigeria, NewsBits reports.
However, in a statement issued to newsmen on Tuesday, Okechukwu commended President Tinubu for his desire to renew the status of Southeast as one of the industrial powerhouse 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 was in dire need of economic and infrastructural renewal.
Okechukwu said 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 resurgent 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 said.
He further lauded President Tinubu for vindicating “some of us from APC in the Southeast,” who had maintained that he will not abandon the Southeast. According to him, “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.”
Okechukwu stated: “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 has finally come true as his baby, the 181mw Geometric Power plant in Aba was officially inaugurated by Vice President Shettima.”
