The Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, has said that about 60 Federal Government projects are sited in Edo State under the Economic Sustainability Plan.
On Tuesday, the minister disclosed this while commissioning and reviewing several finished projects in Edo’s Edo-North Senatorial District.
The minister completed and launched several projects, including a 1.5km Mogbe-Edegbe road, a 4.5km Agenebode-Unedeger road, a 2.5km Ekiwosor-Ivikhue road, Imukena Road, the installation of a 500 KVA transformer in Agenebode, an open stalls market, and solar street lighting.
The minister also visited the building of the 31-kilometer Uzanu-Ajaokuta Road in Kogi, as well as the 21.5-kilometer Uzanu-Okpekpe Road, the 6-kilometer Ogeneda-Ugochi Road, and the 10-kilometer Egbegeri-Ate and Somorika Roads.
Others are Uzanu mini market, Uzanu divisional police station, Uzanu mini stadium, Uzanu internal Roads and the construction of an 80-bed seater with two theatres and doctors’ quarters of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Uzanu Annex of the state
The minister said the inauguration of the projects in the rural area is due to the 60 per cent post-harvest loss by farmers and to reduce multidimensional poverty in rural areas.
According to him, the policies of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), are geared towards reducing drastically the multidimensionally poor Nigerians spanning over 130 million.
He said, “From the last count, including what we have in 2023, I think we have about 60 projects in Edo and I am glad that you have seen some yourself.
“We have seen some write up on social media where they said the president has done nothing in Edo by those who have done nothing but sign MOUs.
“But, seeing as they say is believing, We have not been making a lot of noise because we are empty vessels.
“The president has done very well for Edo State. You saw a bridge today at Uzanu and we have a modern bridge we facilitated in the economic sustainability plan,” Agba said.
Agba explained that the massive construction of roads in the rural communities under the National Roads Reduction Policy was to link rural areas together to transport their farm produce to neighbouring communities for economic benefits.
The minister, however, allayed the fear of abandoning any of the ongoing projects as they have been captured in the 2023 budget which the incoming administration of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu would continue under his renewed hope agenda.
Some community leaders, Mr. Peter Okpnokhe, Simon Ogie, and Julius Enakhena commended President Buhari and the minister for attracting such laudable projects to the senatorial district.
They, however, appealed for the speedy completion of the other projects in the senatorial districts.