Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, visits collapsed Mokwa-Jebba bridge
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, today visited the collapsed Mokwa-Jebba Bridge for on-the-spot assessment in Niger State. The bridge collapsed on June 20th following heavy downpour.
Osinbajo visited the bridge to access the level of repairs being carried out by the Ministry of Works. He was accompanied by Niger State Gov, Alh. Abubakar Sani Bello and Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said on Friday Nigeria would support the work of the ECOWAS Network of
Electoral Commissions (ECONEC) in the sub-region.
Osinbajo said a very important way to ensure stability in societies is to allow people to elect their
leaders.
He spoke when ECONEC members paid him a courtesy visit at
the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The acting President said: “I think one of the very great advantages of our sub-regional group is that it has created opportunities for us to see the various ways that we can interact and synergize to benefit our countries.
“This is very unique and I think Prof. Yakubu put it right
when he said we are better off in ensuring that we
deploy the ECONEC rather than ECOMOG because of the way political battles
are fought in this part of the world. Very frequently
we see that they are fought in such passionate way that if care is not taken, we might actually end up in conflict.
“So, I think this is an incredibly great initiative. This is the right thing to do and I’m so glad to hear of the successes of all of the electoral commissions and the fact that needs assessment is being done as part of the practical steps to see how it is that the ECONEC can work with individual countries to improve electoral processes and improve electoral outcomes also. I think that this is wonderful.”
“It is one of those initiatives that we should be proud of and must support, and I can assure you that the government of Nigeria will fully support your efforts. In the past, as you pointed out Prof, we have supported several of our brothers in the sub-region and we intend to continue to do so because we believe in the fundamental principles of free elections.
“And we believe that the only way to ensure stability in societies is to ensure that
people have a right to elect their leadership not just a right on paper but a right in practice.
And the only way by which that right can be manifested in practice is by free and fair elections.”
He also congratulated the Chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, who was elected as president of ECONEC.