TheCable

Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, says he will “turn Nigeria around” if he is elected president.

Amaechi said this on Friday when he met with delegates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Asaba, the Delta capital, to ask them to support his presidential bid.

While listing out his achievements as the minister of transportation, Amaechi said his experience as governor of Rivers as well as in the federal cabinet make him fit to be president. 

“There are two essential elements that take people to power — governance and infrastructure. If you combine these two, you create an economy. I am ready for you to run a referendum on my past activities — governor for eight years, speaker for eight years, and minister for seven years,” he said.

“Let anybody who says Amaechi should not be president ask ‘what is his capacity?’ as minister for transport.

“I was on this track, Warri-Itakpe rail line. When we came, there were bushes and trees on the track. And knowing that south-south is part of Nigeria, I got the president to approve money. It wasn’t a loan; it was funded from the budget. Today, you can travel from Itakpe to Warri, Warri to Itakpe and then to Abuja.

“The point I’m making is, it was there 32 years before we came. If we did not do it, it would have continued to be like the forest that we met. I’m working extremely hard to make sure Lagos-Calabar rail line starts. We’ve awarded the contract; we are looking for the loan. If I don’t become the president of Nigeria, nobody will do that project, because it is $11 billion and that is for now one of the biggest projects in the world.

“As minister, I don’t think the Nigerian people will say I’m an absent minister. I’m a minister that is present almost all the time, because I know what it is to deliver to the people. I have that capacity to deliver. Vote for me because I have the capacity to turn Nigeria around, and when I get there, please hold me accountable.”

Amaechi also said although he does not have the solution to every problem in Nigeria, “things will certainly come to change”.

“The electability of a candidate is necessary for APC to win. Please give me your votes at the primaries,” he added.