Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, has hailed President Bola Tinubu’s bold and tough initiatives aimed at transforming Nigeria.

He equally extolled Mr Tinubu’s commitment to fostering citizens’ engagement, disclosing that immediately after swearing in, he signed the Executive Order 001 to effectively engage the people and quarterly render accounts to them.

The governor made the commendation when the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, paid a courtesy visit to Mr Mbah at the Enugu Government House on Thursday.

Mr Idris was accompanied by the directors-general, managing directors under the ministry and others on the visit.

Mr Mbah noted that prior to Mr Tinubu’s administration, the state struggled to pay salaries after receiving federal allocations before it ever contemplated embarking on capital projects.

He said, “But today, that is not the case; we are not only talking about payment of salaries but also talking about executing humongous projects. Thanks to this bold initiative and very tough decisions taken by the president; but again, development comes sometimes with this temporary discomfort, but the truth is that the outcome has a lot of benefits.’’

He added that, aside from the removal of fuel subsidies, the removal of the arbitrage in the exchange rates by Mr Tinubu had brought the exchange rate regime together.

Mr Mbah said that his administration was building about 7,000 brand new classrooms and equipping them, explaining that the Smart Green Schools each featured all the 21st-century skills.

The governor said the school had robotic and artificial intelligence centres as well as computer-generated image studios where the state teaches young people with virtual and augmented reality.

He added that the state was building 260 type two primary healthcare centres across the 260 wards with staff quarters with a 25 KVA solar system to ensure that rural dwellers have 24/7 access to healthcare.

He said, “This is something that we also have in common with the federal government: making sure that we are committed to governance at the grassroots.’’

He commended Mr Tinubu for approving the concessioning of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, which he said would fully operationalise the international wing of the airport and make it an aviation hub.

He stated, “So we want to express our deepest gratitude for this great work Mr President is doing here. We see a lot of similarity in what we are doing here. We will continue to support the president to succeed because these projects, programmes and policies are uplifting Nigerians.”

Earlier, the minister said they were in Enugu to engage with the people of the state and inspect some of the federal government projects in Enugu.

Those in attendance include the Special Adviser to Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Ali Mohammed Ali.

Others included in the entourage were directors-general of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu; Voice of Nigeria (VON), Jibrin Ndace; the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Salihu Abdulhamid; and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Muhammad Bulama. 

(NAN)