We’re working hard to transform Nigeria – VP Sambo

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Vice President Namadi Sambo has said that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was working hard to transform Nigeria by tackling all areas militating against its growth and development.

The Vice President stated this Tuesday in Kaduna at a meeting with some PDP groups at the grassroots. The groups comprised of the PDP Executives in the 250 wards in the State, ward coordinators of the Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign organization, their Yero /Bajoga Campaign organization counterparts, the Yoruba for Goodluck/Sambo as well as other grassroots supporters of the party.

Mr. Sambo said the present administration has done a lot in the areas of power generation, transmission and distribution by completing ten new thermal power plants that would add about 4,700mw to the national grid.
He said the government has also initiated several new power projects across the country while it has successfully unbundled the Power Holding Company of Nigeria. He added that currently a transmission line was being mounted from the completed 30mw Gurara Hydro Power plant to transmit 20mw to Kudendan industrial area of Kaduna state, while the remaining 10mw would be transmitted to communities around the Gurara zone. He further assured of the timely completion of the 215mw power plant in Kudendan which has reached advanced stage of completion.

In the areas of road construction, the Vice President said the present administration inherited only 30,000km of road network with only 5,000 km in good shape and has within three and a half years added 20,000km of road network in addition to rehabilitating the existing ones.

In the rail sector, Mr. Sambo said the Jonathan administration has resuscitated the abandoned rail sector bringing back to life 3,500km of the nano-gauge rail lines in the country and trains now commute from Lagos to Kano, Port-Harcourt-Enugu-Makurdi-Gombe-Jos and very soon the rehabilitated rail line linking Zaria to Kauran-Namoda would be commissioned. He added that the standard gauge rail line that links Kaduna to Abuja would also be commissioned soon.

On the dredging of the River, the vice-president acknowledged that the Onitsha river port has been completed while those of Lokoja and Baro would soon be commissioned.

The vice president affirmed the investment in billions of naira to states and local governments for the improvement of basic education through the procurement of textbooks and teaching materials as well as training and development of teachers.

At the tertiary level, he stated that the current administration under President Goodluck Jonathan has established 12 new universities and an additional two new specialized ones; Police College in Wudil and the Maritime Academy in Oron upgraded to degree awarding institutions, a record that surpassed any other previous records in the country.

“With the rebasing of the economy, Nigeria is now the biggest economy in Africa,” he added.

The Vice President however reminded the party supporters that elections are won at the ward level therefore they should strategize to ensure victory for the party in all the positions it contested for while urging them to conduct themselves with decorum which they were known for.

“PDP is a peaceful party and will continue with peace,” he added.

Earlier in his remarks, Governor Ramalan Yero of Kaduna acknowledged that the Jonathan administration has achieved a lot in the state and the nation in terms of developmental projects in the areas of power, roads, rail, agriculture and other social amenities and therefore deserved nothing short of victory at the poll. He called on the party’s executives to return to their various wards and work towards ensuring victory for the party.

The state chairman of the party, Abubakar Haruna, expressed the party’s readiness to deliver the state.

The meeting was attended by several party stalwarts in the state amongst whom were Musa Bello, former Minister of Aviation and State Coordinator Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation Felix Hassan Hyet, and Kaduna state Deputy Governor Nuhu Bajoga.

In a related development, the Vice-President has also met with representatives of religious groups in the state where he called on their prayers for the conduct of a peaceful election while urging them to return to their various communities and preach on peace and peaceful coexistence.

Representatives from the Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI), the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) where among those present at the meeting.