President Goodluck Jonathan Friday said he had fulfilled the promises he made to Nigerians during his 2011 campaign.
He said this while inaugurating a five-seater air-conditioned passenger inter-city rail transport system that will link Makurdi, Benue State with Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
Jonathan, who was represented by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, said the country had witnessed transformation, especially in the transport sector during his administration.
He said, “President Jonathan has ensured the fulfilment of the promises he made to Nigerians by transforming the country, especially the transport sector as a critical infrastructure.
“Today’s event is a commitment of our unflinching services. This transformation is in three phases: System transition, system modernisation and system stabilisation”.
Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State applauded the President for reviving the “moribund” railway system which he said had been abandoned for the past thirty years.
He said, “Transformation does not need noise. We need young people to run government, but not old people who are too weak; the old people should guide us to continue the Transformation Agenda.”
The Chairman, Nigerian Railway Cooperation and former National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, Bamanga Tukur, said the commitment of the Federal Government in the railway sector had boosted the economy.
The Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, also charged the people to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the present administration in the railway sector.
However, some Makurdi residents have described the inauguration as “window dressing.”
One of them, simply identified as Terkuma, asked, “How can a dead railway system that has been moribund in the last thirty years come to life in just three days?”
He described the event as a campaign strategy to woo the Benue electorate.
