By Salisu Sani-Idris
Vice President Kashim Shettima has said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is spreading infrastructure and economic opportunities to reduce congestion, create jobs and promote balanced national development nationwide.
Shettima made this statement on Thursday while inaugurating the 33.5-kilometre Elele-Umudioga-Egbeda-Ubimini-Akpabu-Ikiri-Omoku Dual Carriageway in Rivers on behalf of President Tinubu.
The 33.5-kilometre road traverses Ikwerre, Emohua and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Areas of Rivers. It connects communities along an important agricultural, commercial and oil and gas corridor leading towards Omoku, widely regarded as the state’s Gas City.
The Vice President said state-driven projects were consistent with the Renewed Hope Agenda’s efforts to expand security, welfare and economic opportunities beyond the centre.
“A nation becomes congested when opportunity is congested. People move because roads, markets, jobs and services have not moved far enough towards them,” Shettima said.
He noted that roads were among the most democratic instruments of development, connecting farmers to markets, workers to jobs, students to schools and patients to healthcare.
“Roads are among the most democratic instruments of development. They serve the farmer carrying produce to market, the trader seeking customers, the worker travelling to employment, the student going to school and the patient seeking care. When a road works, society moves,” Shettima maintained.
He said the completed road would enable farmers to move produce faster, reduce losses, lower logistics costs for businesses and open communities along the corridor to greater economic activity.
“Public infrastructure must be judged by the lives it improves. A road earns its value when a farmer earns more, a child reaches school earlier and isolation no longer punishes enterprise,” he said.
Shettima commended Gov. Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers for completing the project, describing it as consistent with the Renewed Hope Agenda and Federal Government support for state-led investments.
He emphasised the importance of continuity in governance, saying, “one administration lays a foundation, another strengthens it, and the people remain the final beneficiaries.”
The Vice President urged communities along the corridor to protect the infrastructure against vandalism, reckless use and other activities capable of shortening its lifespan.
“Our next responsibility is to protect this asset from vandalism, reckless use and every practice that shortens the life of public infrastructure,” he said.
Earlier, Fubara said the 33.5-kilometre road, including a river-crossing bridge, would improve security and ease the suffering of residents across the three benefiting local government areas.
The governor said the road had previously been a corridor for kidnappings, oil bunkering and other forms of criminality, but expressed optimism that insecurity would end with its completion.
“In this project, we have lights from the beginning to the end. So even in the night insecurity is totally eliminated. So this won’t have been possible without the support of the Federal Government and the good people of Rivers. So I want to thank you for this special support that you have given to us for us today to come here to say to the glory of God that promised made is a promise kept,” Fubara said.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Shettima for their unwavering support for the government and people of Rivers.
“I am a bit emotional today because for a very long time I felt maybe we are not part of this country. But today I feel very happy that our country is also standing by us, ably represented here by no other person but distinguished Sen. Kashim Shettima. You can see why I feel emotional,” Fubara said.
The Commissioner for Works, Rivers, Prof. Temple Nwofor, said the inauguration represented another significant step in the state’s determination to provide durable infrastructure.
Nwofor said the project would improve connectivity, enhance mobility and promote economic activities within benefiting communities, while opening opportunities to address societal challenges.
Also, Chairman of Emohua Local Government Area, Dr Chidi Lloyd, said the project would open communities, ease transportation and boost economic activities across benefiting areas of the state.
Lloyd described the project as more than asphalt, saying it represented a road to reconciliation and prosperity that connected people’s hearts.
“This day is significant, not because we are commissioning the Elele-Omoku Road but because of what it represents. We sincerely appreciate the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We also thank the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory for his fatherly intervention and for standing with Rivers people in this journey,” Lloyd said.
NAN
