The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has highlighted some major achievements recorded by the Ministry since the tenure of APC began in 2015.

Speaking on Thursday during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, he explained that a lot of things have been done by the Ministry of Transportation which are obvious to Nigerians, ranging from Aviation, Maritime and Railways and land transportation.

He stressed further that the Abuja runway project which was executed earlier before promised time was a star project in the Aviation sector, adding that in Maritime, the star project is the reform which has been entrenched in the sector.

He said: “Maritime, before now, was a seaport of corruption where people prefer to be the Director General to being a Minister. Most of the past DGs are always in court. They break the law in diverting fund which does not even belong to the Federal Government. It's the Shippers money.”

Amaechi stated that “no president has punished anyone until we came on board.”

Speaking further, he said: “We have completed Kaduna/Abuja railway line which is not at its high speed for now because of the Fulani herders who engage the spot for grazing. The design speed which is 120 but it is currently on 90 because of herdsmen who graze there. Once it is completed, we will put it at its normal 120 design speed.”

Meanwhile, the Minister lamented that funding has been a major challenge stunting the pace at which the ongoing projects across the nation would have moved, saying that “if there were to be enough fund, government can complete these projects in four years.”

He added: “We want to grow the economy at a faster speed but funding has been a problem.”

Speaking further on the challenges which the current administration met on ground, he said: “We cannot say we are perfect; we are not. We have made mistakes. We met many problems when we came on board but we are gradually addressing those problems. Expectations are high but Nigerians are not really looking at what it takes to meet those expectations. It is not easy”.

Amaechi explained that “before now, we were borrowing money to pay salaries, meaning we were generating money. But now, the story has changed. I can also say that the dwindling oil price affected us. But the expectations Nigerians have from us is enormous.

“There was even a time President Muhammadu Buhari asked me to reduce the expectations because it was too much. There is no doubt that the Ministry is pushing hard for things to happen.”

We create about 200,000 jobs for the youths in every month. The local workforce is about 90 per cent because there are many Nigerian Engineers working at different locations where the works are ongoing”, he added.

According to him. “We are really pushing hard. We hope to finish the road of Lagos to Ibadan by December as we are working to get a loan of 6.8 billion dollars for the completion. The cost is really heavy on us but if we later know we cannot manage the situation, we would do a cost alternative.”

He also submitted: “We are working on straight rail from Lagos to Kano and along the line, people can branch Abuja. We are negotiating because it’s not an easy thing to get loan as we are borrowing directly to projects.”

Amaechi also spoke on the damages and chaos which the herdsmen cause in some of the locations where railway projects are ongoing across the country, he said: “That is why we are creating fence around our new railways because of herders who are overstepping their boundaries. They do anyhow and we don’t want them to destroy all we are labouring for.”

He added that the Federal Government wants to commission two railway projects this year but it is challenging, saying: “Nigerians should pray for us.”

When asked about the preparation of the current administration towards staying in power till 2023, the Minister appealed to Nigerians to vote massively for the ruling party, saying that if the party did not remain in power, corruption will come back in full force.

He equally tasked the youths to consciously make efforts to interrogate government, elites and those in power how public funds are being spent and managed in the interest of Nigerians.

Amaechi stated further that members of the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are regretting not making peace within themselves “because of some of us who left the party”. He said: “They know what they are facing now as some of them are now complaining about the alert they no longer get when they used to be in power”.

He said: “Nigerian youths must garner support and not fail in voting for APC. The truth is, if youths fail to vote for APC, by that, they are taking back the country ten steps backward.”