The Federal Government has refuted the statement credited to the governors in the South-East that the region has been shortchanged in the implementation of infrastructural projects, saying there are 69 ongoing projects in the region alone.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, issued the rebuttal in Ilorin on Thursday, at a lecture by Mr Festus Keyamo, the spokesman for the President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation.
“While this claim may have made headlines, it is totally untrue. His Excellencies were either misquoted or they were quoted out of context. Either way, this allegation flies in the face of available evidence,’’ he said.
Mohammed also promised to publish the full list of the projects and the state-by-state breakdown.
He said no part of the country, including the South-East, had been left out of the massive infrastructural projects of the current administration, adding that from the proceeds of the N100bn Sukuk Bond alone, the South-East got the N16.6bn worth of projects, just like any other zone.
The minister said he had gone on a media inspection of the roads being constructed in the South East, as well as the Aba-Port Harcourt section of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and the 2nd Niger Bridge, where the contractor had completed the first three phases of the project.
“In conclusion, the South-East has never had it so good in the area of infrastructure. Had the previous administrations done even half of what we are doing now in that region, no one will be complaining today. It is alright to ask for more, but it is unfair to say nothing has been done,’’ he said.
