Tinubu to Governors: Stop building flyovers where they are not needed

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has urged state governors to prioritise the construction of roads and critical infrastructure over building flyovers in areas with little traffic, stressing that improved federal allocations should be channelled into projects that directly improve the quality of life of Nigerians.

The President gave the advice on Thursday while receiving a delegation of traditional rulers from Oyo State led by the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The monarch and members of the delegation visited the President to congratulate him on the successful rescue of schoolchildren and teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area after spending 56 days in captivity.

Addressing the delegation, Tinubu said state governments now receive between four and five times their previous allocations from the Federation Account, giving them greater financial capacity to execute meaningful development projects.

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“The cost of operation is high. But the money that I’m pushing to the states, if you had it during your own time, or during my time, it would have been different.

“They are taking four to five times their money. Nobody is borrowing money to pay salaries now. Pensioners are receiving their pay.

“They should do more instead of building flyovers where there is no numeric traffic; build roads and artery networks to really enhance the quality of life and the accessibility of the security agencies to penetrate those areas,” the President said.

Speaking on the rescue of the abducted pupils and teachers, Tinubu disclosed that the terrorists had demanded the release of detained members of their group, in addition to ransom, but the Federal Government rejected the conditions.

He reaffirmed his administration’s policy of not negotiating with terrorists or paying ransom for the release of kidnapped victims.

“We refused to negotiate for ransom. These criminals wanted us to release from detention members of their criminal gangs that were already arrested, outside of the money they were looking for.

“And we said no deal. We are not going to negotiate with criminals,” he stated.

The President commended the Armed Forces for the successful rescue operation, describing their performance as commendable.

He explained that the experience gained from tackling insecurity informed the Federal Government’s decision to expand the Nigerian Army from eight to 12 divisions to improve response time and strengthen the country’s capacity to combat terrorism and banditry.

“As we emphasise the question of security, each event teaches us new methods and challenges us to re-examine our security architecture.

“We’ve given a geographical and numerical answer to the challenges. From eight divisions, we are now moving to 12 divisions to shorten the response time and provide the strength needed to defeat terrorism and banditry,” Tinubu said.

The President also disclosed that the Federal Government was making progress towards establishing state police, assuring Nigerians that adequate safeguards would be put in place to prevent abuse of the system.

According to him, traditional rulers will also play significant roles in the proposed state policing structure.

“There will be state police, and that state police will have guardrails against abuses. We will protect it from abuses, and you traditional rulers too will have a role to play,” he added.