The immediate past deputy president of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has commended President Bola Tinubu over the Coastal Road Project, saying “it is a novel”.
Omo-Agege, who spoke to journalists in Warri, Delta State, on some national issues, said the president is from the South West, but decided that the road is very crucial for economic well-being and expansion of the Nigerian economy.
“He has embarked on it, not intimidated in any way by the cost. Some others, right now, are questioning whether N4 billion should be used per kilometre but what they failed to understand is that this road construction is novel, we are not using asphalt, we are using cement.
“It is moulded for low or zero maintenance as it will be there in perpetuity unlike asphalt that washes off after some years. So, the President is doing a great job and Nigerians are going to applaud him soonest,” he said.
On the president’s determination to reposition the country, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Delta State in the 2023 election said the administration was tackling challenges confronting the nation, premising his optimism on the track record of the president as governor of Lagos State, coupled with the pedigree of his present economic team.
He said the gradual bouncing back of the naira against the United States dollar and other international currencies was an indication of brighter days ahead for the country.
“President Bola Tinubu has told us that he knows what to do. When he said that before he became president, people thought he was bluffing. But some of us were confident because of his track record as former governor of Lagos State.
“By May 29, he would have been in power for one year. The bulk of the challenges are being addressed. For instance, look at the issue of the foreign exchange and the bastardization of the naira. From day one, even before the President was elected, he knew that Cardoso was going to be Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and that Edun would be the finance minister.
“For those who followed the activities of naira, everybody thought that it had spiralled out of control and that there was no way it could be controlled.
“In fact, there was a serious threat when the thing was almost selling at N2,000 to a dollar. But today, it has been reduced to basically a thousand naira to a dollar.
“If they continue at this rate, before you know it, we might even do better than it was before they came on board which is about N750 to a dollar.
“From day one of his assumption of office, we were very comfortable and certain of the economic team. While we did not know those who occupy other offices, everybody knew from Cardoso, when Tinubu was governor of Lagos State, that he was one guy that could tell Governor Tinubu at that time that ‘this is A’ and the governor would not argue with him because he had so much confidence in him, also in Edun. Do we call it the Lagos formula? And it is working. I believe that in no time, everything will fall into place.
“Of course, we still have challenges with power, but I am sure that will also be addressed. Look at the major infrastructure that he has embarked upon here, especially in the South-South,” Omo-Agege said.