President Bola Tinubu has said no Nigerian should bear the cost of national progress alone, as he inaugurated a new access road bypassing the second runway of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
Represented by the President of the Senat, Godswill Akpabio, Tinubu commissioned the road linking Clinton Drive to Tunganmadaki settlement in the FCT.
He noted that original inhabitants surrendered their ancestral lands for the airport runway but were left without motorable roads.
“They sacrificed for the collective good. Yet they had no roads for their own feet and vehicles. They were cut off,” he said.
“Let me state clearly: No citizen should be made a victim of national development. When FCT Minister Nyesom Wike brought this to me, my directive was clear: ‘Whatever the communities ask for to make their lives whole, give it to them.’ We do not just take, we build, we replace and we elevate. Today we have fulfilled that promise.”
Tinubu said the reforms his administration started three years ago were tough but necessary.
“We made hard choices because they were necessary. Hard choices today mean a stronger Nigeria tomorrow,” he stated, urging Nigerians to support the Renewed Hope Agenda despite the rising cost of living.
“I know the cost of living is biting. But this government means well for all. We are not building for headlines. We are building for generations to come.”
FCT Minister Nyesom Wike commended Tunganmadaki community for demanding jobs and roads instead of cash compensation during the runway project.
“This community had lost hope in government. But with this administration, hope has returned,” Wike said.
The new bypass is expected to ease access for communities displaced by the airport expansion.
