Forget Presidency For Now, Maku Tells Northerners!

• Says, Jonathan more helpful to the region than their kinsmen

Minister Labaran Maku has said that the North should put aside the illusion that the Presidency is its birthright. The minister said that current political awareness has indicated that any part of the country could produce the president.

Maku, who is from the North, (Nasarawa State) particularly came down heavily on Northern politicians who are agitating that the region produces next persident.

Speaking yesterday at Citizens’ Town Hall Meeting as part of the national good governance tour in Kaduna State, he reminded the people that the North had many years ago produced the nation’s leaders, but  blew the opportunity of developing the country through coups and counter-coups.

He expressed worry that some Northerners have engaged in blatant fiction to paint President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo as non-performing leaders, “North is not fair to Jonathan who is developing the Northern part of the country which its leaders refused to develop over the years.”

He said he was surprised that Northerners are out to stop Jonathan from his second term, asking rather rethorically, “Tell me which president of Northern extraction will spend one term in office, and say to Nigerians that he is leaving office? None.”

Maku, who also supervises Defence Ministry, said that the North was yet to have development under any of the leaders from the region than Jonathan has so far done for the zone, pointing out that the Ajaokuta Steel Company abandoned by Northern leaders was recently revived by President Jonathan.

He said that there is evidence that President of Northern extraction could no longer be trusted in terms of developing the region and the country at large based on religious and ethnic sentiments.

“We must leave politics of ethnicity and religion because it will divide us, the development of the North is uppermost in Jonathan administration.

“It is not true that only a president from the North can develop this part of the country. This part of the country has ruled the nation more than any part of the country and the other people have been following us. They are not fools to have followed us for this long. It is just because they believe in the unity of Nigeria.

“We are in a new political era and we must realise that power will no longer remain in one place. We must stop thinking that it is only somebody from our own area that must rule the country.

“Since 1960s, the Tafawa Balewas and co. conceived the dredging of the River Niger. The idea was to link the North directly to the sea, so that products can be transported directly to Northern Nigeria right from the Atlantic Ocean, through Warri, Onitsha down to Niger State.

“That project remained in the pipeline for more than 50 years until the Jonathan administration decided that the River Niger must be dredged. And as I speak to you, the dredging of River Niger up to Baro has  been completed.

“Already, the badges are using the river to transport goods from the Atlantic down to Baro. Big construction companies up North are using the river to take goods now. People taking yams to Warri no longer go by road, they travel through the River Niger from Lokoja down to Warri, very cheap.

“This is a huge federal project aimed at transforming the North through transportation; linking up the North directly to the sea, so that we can take advantage of it to transport goods and services. Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration has made this a reality. So, when people talk about development of the North, it is not about theory, it is practical.

“When Jonathan came to power, the Lagos-Kano railway system had broken down completely, nobody was moving from Northern Nigeria to South-West by rail. And it was broken down by those of us from the North who were managing the railway system. Governments came from everywhere in the North since that time, but they didn’t fix it, but under the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration the rail line between Kano and Lagos was fixed and people now use it in transportation of goods and services between the Lagos port and Northern Nigeria.

“Today, the President did not build the rail line between Abuja and Bayelsa, but he is building a standard rail line between Kaduna and Abuja. And that is a very standard rail line that is almost completed. The President gave that work to the Chinese, today, the project is 70 per cent completed and work is going on there steadily which will eventually have many stations between here and Abuja. Between now and 2015, that project will be completed and people can move from and to Abuja under one hour.

“So, when we talk about development of the North, it must be development that we can see, touch and feel. So, the idea that the President is not developing the North is a blatant lie and merely political”, he said. The Sun Nigeria report.