President Goodluck Jonathan Friday said he had fulfilled the promises he
made to Nigerians during his 2011 campaign.He said this while
inaugurating a five-seater air-conditioned passenger inter-city rail
transport system that will link Makurdi, Benue State with Port-Harcourt,
Rivers State.Jonathan, who was represented by Vice-President Namadi
Sambo, said the country had witnessed transformation, especially in the
transport sector during his administration.He said, “President Jonathan
has ensured the fulfilment of the promises he made to Nigerians by
transforming the country, especially the transport sector as a critical
infrastructure.“Today’s event is a commitment of our unflinching
services.This transformation is in three phases: System
transition, system modernisation and system stabilisation”.Governor
Gabriel Suswam of Benue State applauded the President for reviving the
“moribund” railway system which he said had been abandoned for the past
thirty years.He said, “Transformation does not need noise. We need young
people to run government, but not old people who are too weak; the old
people should guide us to continue the Transformation Agenda.”The
Chairman, Nigerian Railway Cooperation and former National Chairman,
Peoples Democratic Party, Bamanga Tukur, said the commitment of the
Federal Government in the railway sector had boosted the economy.The
Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, also charged the people to take
advantage of the opportunity provided by the present administration in
the railway sector.However, some Makurdi residents have described the
inauguration as “window dressing.”One of them, simply identified as
Terkuma, asked, “How can a dead railway system that has been moribund in
the last thirty years come to life in just three days?”He described the
event as a campaign strategy to woo the Benue electorate.
PUNCH
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