President Bola Tinubu on Saturday made a firm commitment that his administration will complete the Eastern Rail line connecting Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.
The President, who gave the assurance during an interactive session with South East leaders during his official visit to Enugu State
also pledged that his administration would support the development of the Anambra Basin as a significant energy reserve.
The basin is estimated to hold up to one billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic feet of gas.
During the meeting, the President was attentive to the requests made by former Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo and Enugu State indigene Chris Ugoh and responded with a commitment to address their concerns.
While applauding the Tinubu administration for completing the Port Harcourt to Aba section of the Eastern rail line, Nebo appealed to the President to prioritise the completion of the remaining portions of the rail link.
He emphasised the rail link’s potential to boost Nigeria’s non-oil exports and economic growth.
Ugoh noted that the Anambra Basin has the potential to support power generation and industrial feedstocks.
He appealed to the Federal Government to develop this resource to benefit the southeast and other regions of the country, including the Middle Belt and the North.
Onyemauche Nnamani, the National Commissioner representing the South East in the Police Service Commission, urged the Federal Government to implement modern security strategies in the region, akin to the statewide CCTV system and patrol cars with surveillance cameras in Enugu State.
Nnamani called on the federal government to de-emphasise the mounting of checkpoints and roadblocks in the region, saying, “It is inefficient and exposes our security personnel to attacks by non-state actors.”
Responding to the request for the rail line, President Tinubu reassured the audience, saying, “It is a work in progress. I inherited some of these critical problems and am committed to solving them.”
“On the support of the gas infrastructure. Sure, gas is an alternative to petrol. There is no wasting of time than to invest more in it. We will do it together, and I am lucky I have good governors. ”
Acknowledging the presence of various dignitaries, including governors, traditional rulers, captains of industry and serving and former presiding officers of the National Assembly from the South East, President Tinubu praised former Senate President Ken Nnamani for saving Nigeria’s democracy from those who wanted to derail it with the Third Term project.
Earlier at the meeting, President Tinubu praised Governor Peter Mbah for his development model and philosophy after inaugurating several projects executed by the state government.
He pledged that the federal government would continue to support Enugu and other states in their development efforts.
Among the projects inaugurated by the President are the GTC Smart Green School, New Haven/Bisalla Road, the International Conference Center, the Command-and-Control Center, and 150 patrol vehicles equipped with surveillance cameras.
The President also performed the virtual inauguration of other notable projects from the Enugu State Government House.
At the inauguration of the Command-and-Control Center, the President said investment in security will bring rapid development.
“This is a profound demonstration of what we can do together. It reassures me that more revenue going to the sub-nationals and local government is not a waste. It is for development.
“We have committed leaders like Peter Mbah taking Enugu on the path of 21st-century development, taking Enugu to greater heights, and building our tomorrow today.
“I cannot forget the sight of those children I just met at the Smart Green School.
“I have seen the gadgets and vehicles with 21st-century technology. Yes, you are indeed working for today, tomorrow and the future.
“My good friend Peter, we can go places together to build Nigeria and build the future.
“It is audacious to have this home filled with technology, and they are ready for use. To promote investment, I know you are a private sector person, and we must encourage more private sector people to come into politics.
“When you are sure of security and development and give value for money, investors will be your friend,” he said.
President Tinubu further lauded the governor, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, for demonstrating an irrevocable commitment to human development.
“I don’t care which party you come from; you are my friend. Alex Otti of Abia State is also doing very well. It is not about the differences in languages and place of birth.
“No one of us has control of the mother tongue. God created us, and you can find yourself in Enugu, Onitsha or Lagos. We are all members of one huge family called Nigeria, but we live in different rooms in the same house.
“We must build this house to satisfy our immediate and future needs,” he said.
At the interactive session, Governor Mbah described President Tinubu as a true federalist.
He commended the Tinubu administration for establishing the South East Development Commission and liberalising the electricity sector through the Electricity Act (Amendment).
He congratulated the President on being named ThisDay Man of the Year and acknowledged his efforts to revitalise Nigeria’s growth and economic resilience.
“Your Excellency, your credential as a true federalist stands out brightly, and the legacies thereof will long earn you resounding accolades.
“In signing the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, you liberalised electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. That singular act will consistently rank as an enduring legacy.
“It is noteworthy that Enugu State was the first sub-national to which the NERC ceded regulatory oversight of the local electricity market. That reflects how swiftly we are pursuing our goals,” he said.
According to the governor, the South East Development Commission will address infrastructure and ecological challenges in the region while complementing the many development strides unfolding across the state.
Mbah reiterated his vision to grow Enugu’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion within 4 years, aiming to position the state among Nigeria’s top three states in terms of GDP.
He said this grand dream can be achieved when security is guaranteed, quality education thrives, and citizens can access affordable healthcare.
The governor outlined the bold steps taken to enhance public safety in the state, including ending the illegal sit-at-home order imposed across the Southeast by a criminal gang and non-state actors.
”We no longer observe sit-at-home in Enugu. Our people go to work every day of the week, and we no longer take orders from non-state actors,” he said.
The governor told the President that some of the Smart Green Schools inaugurated during the state visit were part of the modern schools introduced by his administration across 260 wards to equip students with 21st-century skills.
The governor explained that his administration has focused on primary healthcare, upgrading all 260 primary healthcare centres to maintain consistent quality, even in remote areas.
“All these infrastructural developments are mainly possible because of your bold initiatives.
“The courageous pronouncements you made to free up funds for development: the removal of fuel subsidy, the unification of the foreign exchange, and several social interventions that your government continues to provide for the people of this country.
“We are now essentially, with those funds freed, able to fully complete these projects. And it’s not just physical infrastructure; social and digital infrastructure are going on,” Governor Mbah said.
Leaders of the five South East geo-political zone had earlier on Saturday appealed to President Tinubu, to order the dismantling of checkpoints and road blocks in the area, saying the road blocks make goods expensive.
The leaders also called on the President to use his good offices to ensure that the moribund Anambra Basin with abundant oil and gas reserves is revived in the interest of the nation’s economy.
The demands were made at the town hall meeting during President Tinubu’s one-day official visit to Enugu State where many projects executed by Governor Peter Mbah’s administration were inaugurated.
Presenting the zonal leaders’ position, Onyemuche Nnamani noted that checkpoints and road blocks have a lot of drawbacks which have negatively affected the economy of the people in the zone and even constitute security risk.
He contended that with the modern command and control centre established by the Enugu State government and other strategies put in place, there was no need for the traditional checkpoints and road blocks.
According to him, the security measures put in place by Governor Mbah were critical for the encouragement of investment and economic growth.
He further said it was also critical that the right security strategies are put in place to avoid giving visitors and brothers in diaspora the wrong impression that things are worse than they seem.
His words: “These were some of the driving factors which motivated Enugu state to institute its ultra modern statewide CCTV, modern camera mounted on patrol cars, some of which we have commissioned today, including our modern command and control center, it was quite easy to convince our governor to invest billions of Naira on security.
“Your Excellency with the launch of these facilities, we are confident that there’s less need for the traditional practice of mounting roadblocks at check points. Checkpoints, in my view, have many drawbacks, checkpoints and road blocks, they make the movement of goods and persons very expensive, very inefficient increase the low cost of logistics, leading to high inflation.
“They tie down valuable security manpower, they needlessly expose the brave men and women of our security agencies to attacks by criminals of all guises, of various guises, as well as to other users of the highways.
“In view of this Your Excellency, we appeal to you to support Enugu state and security agencies, to de emphasize the traditional practice of roadblocks, stop and search and all that. Our people are really complaining about those things.
“It will be a great honor. When we say de-emphasize, what it means is that we are providing alternatives. You have seen the patrol vans, you have seen the cameras mounted all over the state. So we have alternatives to all this. So we just want to de-emphasize this issue of stop and search and roadblocks.”
On his part, Chris Ngu, called for the development of the moribund Anambra Basin Authority in order to unlock the oil and gas reserves lying waste in the area.
According to him, “The need to develop Anambra Basin as as an oil bearing reserve that will impact on the entire Southeast different from the well known Niger Delta. We are saying that this reserve called Anambra Basin holds not less than one billion barrels of oil and about thirty billion cubic feet of gas.
“And like all of us know the future is gas and we know the emphasis the present government is placing on gas for so many reasons, power generation .. for industries in the plastic, petrochemicals. There are plenty that we can achieve by doing that.
“We have a plenty presentation, but I understand there have been no time to go through that. So we’re appealing to Your Excellency, please to help call attention to this dormant energy reserve in the so called Anambra Basin.
“For explanation purposes, Anambra Basin borders on the south and the Niger Delta, and the Benue trough. Among the whole Basins as a frontier exploration for oil and gas, Anambra Basin stands number one in terms of performance, in terms of reserves and. In terms of attraction.
“So we’re appealing to you, sir, to please use your good offices to energize this thing for the benefit of entire Southeast and even the Middle Belt. We know Benue state is just here. And after being Benue, the entire North Central energy is just lying waste there.”