Magnus Eze, Enugu
Six ministers from the South East in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet would next month inspect ongoing reconstruction work at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
This is as the Federal Government said that it had not abandoned the N-power scheme, its flagship Social Investment Programme (SIP).
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who disclosed this when he visited the airport during a his working tour of Enugu, Anambra and Delta states, weekend, expressed government’s satisfaction with the speed and quality of work done so far.
He disclosed that their visit to the facility would ensure that the contractor delivered by the last week of March.
“South East ministers in the federal executive council will visit again in the next two or three weeks to access the rate and quality of work. So, for now, if they continue with the rate of work and the quality of work; we have no problem. The funds are there.
Mr. President has graciously approved the total package of 10 billion naira, more than what we even used to rebuild Abuja airport; may be because we are going to do a lot of remodelling here,” he stated.
Chairman, South East Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State; Chief David Umahi, his Enugu State counterpart, Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as well as Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, had at different times inspected renovation work at the airport.
The minister who also spoke on the state of roads in the region particularly his ride from the Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri to Enugu, expressed satisfaction with the improvement on major sections of the road.
However, he agreed that the Lokpaukwu, Abia state to Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu state axis was not in good shape, but happily announced that the Federal Executive Council had recently awarded that section of the road.
He said: “But the good news is that that section of the road has been awarded to a very competent contractor and the contractor will start work any moment from now. I am told from the FEC awards that the contractor has two sections, one coming from 9th Mile into Enugu and another going out of Enugu. So, the road from Owerri to Enugu here took me 1 hour 45 minutes and I think it’s a very major achievement; initially it used to take three hours.”
Ngige explained that Government was merely repackaging the SIP, adding that the relocation of the programme from the Presidency to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs has also created transition period. At the Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO) and Tetralog Nigeria Limited; where N-Power beneficiaries are undergoing training in mechatronics; the minister said that they were working in tandem with the objectives of the scheme.