Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said Nigeria would have been a failed if God did not bring President Bola Tinubu at this “crucial time”.
He said this while appealing to the youths to shelve the planed protest and support infrastructure development.
Umahi, who unveiled the Federal Government’s initiative, “Operation Free Our Roads”, in Abuja at the weekend, said the president would transform the country if given more time.
The minister, while unveiling the initiative, said it was aimed at ensuring that all roads under construction were motorable and completed in due time.
“Let me use this opportunity to appeal to our youths to give Mr President Bola Tinubu more time. It would have been a failed state if God did not divinely bring the President at a very critical time like this. A lot of people did not know what challenges we had before he came on board,” he said.
Umahi urged Nigerians to be patriotic and assist the government by doing everything possible to reset the country to make it a place where no man would be oppressed.
According to him, the looming protest may be hijacked by hoodlums.
“Yes, there may be hardship, but the dawn is the darkest part of the night; we see a lot of hope and positive indices. So, let us give him more time and support him and increase our productivity, our country will be great again,” he said
Umahi said the “operation free our roads’’ initiative was part of government’s effort to put citizens first by fixing the the roads, especially in the rainy season.
“The contractors will use stone base to put and fill all the potholes in failed portions or where we have potholes, they will all be filled, both carriageways.
“Then, they will continue to maintain one carriageway for vehicles to follow while they consistently walk on one carriageway.
“We are going to put our eyes here. All controllers and all directors must be vigilant.”
Umahi also urged the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to contribute and take the operation seriously.
“This operation free our roads is not just for Ministry of Works, it is also for FERMA. We are going to put our eyes on all the directors and engineers of FERMA, we must take this thing very seriously.
“So, we will use contingency to ensure that all out roads are freed. Where there is no contingency, they must notify the permanent secretary and the director of highways immediately. We do not want our people to suffer during this rainy season,’’ he said (NAN)