In view of the completion of the second Niger bridge, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, has revealed that the present administration has so far spent $2bn from the Sovereign Wealth fund (SWF) for the project.
Yemi Osinbajo said this at the flag-off of the governorship campaign of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Onitsha, Anambra state.
He also claimed that most of the projects which were abandoned by the previous administration, have been revived under President Buhari’s regime.
According to the Vice President, the Eastern part of Nigeria, has gained tremendously from the present administration, citing the food feeding initiative as one of the projects which started in Anambra state.
Restating the commitment of the Federal Government in developing infrastructure in the South East, Osinbajo said: “We are not making promises for nothing. The second Niger Bridge, we have been talking about it for a long time. But for the first time, President Muhammadu Buhari went by himself to negotiate the facility to do that second Niger Bridge.
“And that is why the second Niger Bridge is in our current budget and we have provided for it. In fact, I am being reminded that just two days ago, the Sovereign Wealth Fund paid $2bn for that same project. So we will definitely see our second Niger Bridge. We will not make promises we cannot keep.”
The VP went on to claim that the previous administrations abandoned the Lagos-Calabar railway project, stressing that it has been revived under the APC-led Federal Government.
“When we were talking of railway, Lagos-Calabar railway, under the old administration, I will not mention them by name.
“They said Lagos-Calabar will go from Lagos to Calabar, there was no connection to the South-East. It was when President Muhammadu Buhari came that we redesigned the Lagos-Calabar in order to pass through Onitsha in the first place.
“By that new design, we also have the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway that has a connection to Umuahia-Owerri and Enugu-Awka. So all of those, we will not make promises we cannot keep. Every promise we make, we will keep,” he added.
Speaking further, Mr Osinbajo also stresses that Anambra was the first state to benefit from the school feeding initiative that has employed over a thousand cooks and fed over a hundred thousand.
He added, “This state was the first state to receive our home-grown school feeding. This Anambra was the very first state that we gave money for that programme. And we have already in 807 schools, here in Anambra state where these young children (primary schools) are already fed.