***Urges governments to abandon white-elephant projects

Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Peter Obi, has endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s recent caution against the construction of unnecessary flyovers, urging governments at all levels to prioritise rehabilitating existing infrastructure over embarking on costly new projects.

In a statement on Saturday, Obi said he had consistently advocated the completion and rehabilitation of existing public infrastructure before initiating fresh projects, arguing that scarce public resources should be directed toward projects with the greatest impact on citizens.

He noted that President Tinubu’s position echoed a principle he had long championed, stressing that governments must focus on projects that address the immediate needs of the people rather than pursue prestige developments.

“The President is, in essence, saying what I have always maintained: government must prioritise projects that directly address the immediate needs of the people,” Obi said.

The former Anambra State governor, however, urged the Federal Government to apply the same principle to its own infrastructure agenda, warning against what he described as unrealistic and white-elephant projects while critical national assets continue to deteriorate.

According to him, many federal highways linking commercial hubs and food-producing communities have become death traps, making their rehabilitation more urgent than the execution of expensive projects with limited immediate benefits.

Obi said the country’s constrained fiscal situation demands prudent allocation of resources, insisting that completing abandoned and ongoing projects would deliver greater value than launching new initiatives that may never be finished.

Reflecting on his tenure as governor of Anambra State, he said his administration deliberately completed viable projects inherited from previous governments before commencing new ones.

He maintained that governance is a continuum and that the true measure of leadership lies not in initiating projects but in ensuring they are completed and serve the public.

“Leadership is about making the right choices: fixing what is broken, completing what has already been started, and investing limited public resources where they will have the greatest impact on the greatest number of people,” Obi stated.