The South-East caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has appealed to the National Assembly to be reasonable over the Lagos-Calabar Railway Project.
Spokesman of the caucus, Mr Osita Okechukwu, made the appeal during a news briefing on Tuesday in Abuja.
Okechukwu said that the rail project, as proposed in the 2016 Appropriation Bill by the Executive was to allay the sufferings of Nigerians as per transportation, and should therefore not be politicised.
According to him, the appeal is anchored on the truism of millions of employment opportunities and economic prosperity which the project will engender if implemented.
He said: “we also understand that the Lagos-Calabar railway project is in the China shopping list of President Muhammadu Buhari for Nigeria’s infrastructural renewal.
“This being the case, what kind of message are those opposed to the project in the National Assembly sending to the Chinese government if they continue to bicker over mundane procedure? Is it sabotage?
“Consequently, we appeal that the issue of procedure, that is, whether it was not presented or lately presented or presented early by Hon. Rotimi Amechi, the Minister of Transportation, should be forthwith discarded in our collective national interest.
“For us, the prevailing position is that the project has been publicly presented to the nation and by extension to the whole world.
“All indication is that there is a national consensus in support of the project.’’
Okechukwu said to avoid gridlock, the Lagos-Calabar project and other employment generating and infrastructural projects should be accommodated in the 2016 Budget.
“They should be accommodated in the 2016 budget since they can be financed via Treasury Single Account, loans and recovered looted funds,’’ he said. (NAN)
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