President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday inaugurated the Ore Interchange Flyover on the Shagamu–Ore–Benin Expressway in Ondo state with an assurance that the federal government would sustain massive investments in the provision of infrastructure across the country.
The president, who also commissioned the Ondo-Linyi industrial hub during a working visit to Ondo state, said the Interchange would boost economic activities in the state, ease traffic congestion and reduce accidents often experienced on the major road.
He assured the government and people of Ondo state under Oluwarotimi Akeredolu that the federal government would meet its obligations to the state on the construction of this Interchange Flyover in due course.
”During the civil war and during my campaigns since 2002, I have become familiar with the terrain of Ore which is a connecting city between the Southwest and the Eastern parts of our country.
”As a result of this, the city has a cosmopolitan population that is in the neighbourhood of 300,000. This is a city that can be described as a mini-Nigeria as almost all ethnic groups of our country are happily represented here.
”Let me commend Governor Akeredolu and his team for their great efforts and professionalism in putting this project in place.
”This project is executed in line with the spirit and drive of the Federal Government which puts great emphasis on infrastructural development across our country, especially in the area of transportation,” he said.
The president praised a consortium of Nigerian Engineers for the design and supervision of the impressive-flyover of international standards.
”We are proud of you and we want to assure our people that we would continue to utilise the expertise and experience of local consultants who are competing favourably with their counterparts globally.
”Let me also advise that a maintenance system should be in place to safeguard road users throughout the lifetime of this very impressive fly-over,” he said.
Commending the impactful performance of the current Ondo state administration, the president affirmed that the Akeredeolu administration had cleared six months out of the seven months arrears of salaries/pensions owed by the previous administration.
He also lauded the state government for being up-to-date in payment of salaries and pensions.
”It is gratifying to note that Ondo State is one of the first few states in Nigeria that have started implementing the New Minimum Wage. You have been able to achieve these feats in spite of limited available resources.
”I am not surprised at this because available records show that Ondo State has recorded the highest percentage leap in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) among the States, due to the effort of the APC government here,” he said.
