The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has appealed to the youth to shelve the planned protest and support President Bola Tinubu’s infrastructure development.

Mr Umahi made the appeal in Abuja on Saturday at the Unveiling of the Federal Government’s initiative “Operation Free Our Roads” aimed at delivering accessible roads nationwide.

The minister, while unveiling the initiative, said it was aimed at ensuring that roads under construction were motorable and completed in due time.

Mr Umahi appealed to citizens to shelve the planned protest and give the President more time to work, adding that the President was trying in terms of delivering infrastructure and if supported would transform the country.

“Let me use this opportunity to appeal to our youth to give Mr President Bola Tinubu more time. It would have been a failed state if God did not divinely bring the President at a very critical time like this. A lot of people did not know what challenges we had before he came on board. Now, we have a lot of positive economic indices by engaging courageously in a number of issues that would plunge this nation into a failed state.”

Mr Umahi urged Nigerians to be patriotic and assist the government by doing everything possible to reset the country to make it a place where no man would be oppressed.

According to him, the protest may be hijacked, so it is not necessary, rather, the President needed to be encouraged.

“Yes, there may be hardship but the dawn is the darkest part of the night, we see a lot of hope and positive indices. So, let us give him more time and support him and increase our productivity, our country will be great again, “he said

Mr Umahi said the “Operation free our roads’’ initiative was part of the government’s effort to put citizens first by ameliorating their plights on the roads especially in the rainy season.

He said, “The contractors will use stone base to put and fill the potholes in failed portions or where we have potholes, they will all be filled, both carriageways. Then, they will continue to maintain one carriageway for vehicles to follow while they consistently walk on one carriageway. We are going to put our eyes, it is about all controllers and directors to commit to and make the contractors on all the roads ensure that there is no section of the federal highway that is not passable.”

Mr Umahi also urged the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency to contribute and take the operation seriously.

“This operation to free our roads is not just for the Ministry of Works, it is also for FERMA. We are going to put our eyes on all the directors and engineers of FERMA. We must take this thing very seriously. So, we will use contingency to ensure that all our roads are freed. Where there is no contingency, they must notify the permanent secretary and the director of highways immediately. We do not want our people to suffer during this rainy season,’’ the works minister said.

 (NAN)