After 40 years of abandonment, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given the go-ahead for the execution of the Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway to ease the transportation crisis between the Southwest region and the Northwest part of the country.
The people of the Northwest region of the country have expressed happiness and commended the president for injecting life into the project.
Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris expressed the position of the people on Friday at the formal groundbreaking ceremony of the project.
The groundbreaking ceremony of the super highway was held at Gulumbe town in Birnin Kebbi Local Government Area of Kebbi.
The governor, who spoke as a representative of President Tinubu at the event, also said not only the people of the Northwest but the entire people of Nigeria are happy about the project.
“Mr President, we thank you for being alive to your responsibilities as a leader of our great nation. This is a Northwest corridor to Lagos, Calabar Coastal Highway.
“You have promised to be president for all; we are grateful that you keep to your words. You have started a very big and important project that has never happened in the history of this nation. I am glad to state that Mr President has not failed Nigerians.
“Therefore, we want to seize this opportunity to thank Mr President, members of the Federal Executive Council and members of the National Assembly for ensuring that this project materialised,” he said.
While congratulating Kebbi for taking a lion’s share of the project, the governor assured that money for the project has been set aside to ensure that “it does not suffer any financial setback in the course of execution.”
The 1,068-kilometre Sokoto-Badagry road was a project initiated by President Shehu Shagari’s administration in the 1980s and the present administration took it up after more than 40 years.
In his speech, the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, described the project as an unsolicited gigantic project that was initially designed to start from Lagos by the then Shagari administration.
He, however, said, given the magnanimity of President Bola Tinubu, he decided to change it to commence work from Sokoto, saying, “We have to appreciate Mr President for that wonderful initiative.”
The minister said the first phase of the project, which consisted of 68 dams for irrigation purposes, would be completed within two years.
“These sole legacy projects are not only road projects but they are investments that have very high yields on return on investment. Sokoto-Badagry has 68 dams to trigger a mega agricultural revolution within the corridor of this project.
“These dams are for irrigation; we are going to have a lot of wind energy; we are also going to improve a lot of agriculture in this corridor; we will acquire land within the corridor,” he said.
Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, recalled that President Tinubu while campaigning, did not pledge to execute the project but promised to be president for all, “and today we have testified to that.”
He described the project as an investment not only for the present generation but an investment for the future.
On his part, Senator Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central) who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, appreciated President Tinubu for the project, which government after government promised to execute but to no avail.
Aliero, who is an ex-governor of Kebbi State, extolled the sterling leadership qualities of Gov Nasir Idris, describing him as a person who transformed the state within a short period of time.
He said: “I am a PDP member and the governor is an APC member; however, to call a spade a spade, Gov. Idris had brought positive development to the state.”
In his remarks, the Emir of Gwandu and Chairman of the Council of Chiefs in the state, Maj Gen Muhammadu Iliyasu-Bashar (retd), appreciated the Federal Government for reviving the project.
The Emir, who was represented by the Emir of Argungu and the Vice Chairman of the Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Muhammadu Samaila-Mera, observed that the president would certainly leave behind an indelible legacy.
