Nigerian youth under the auspices of Nigeria Youth Organisation, NYO, declared at the weekend that nobody can stampede the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, to resign.
The declaration was contained in a statement signed by the Director General/National Coordinator, NYO, Dr Bala Abdulazeez, and National Secretary, NYO, Comrade Duke Alamboye, respectively.
The group made the declaration in response to an alleged call for the Minister’s resignation or he should be sacked within 48 hours by the Solomon Adodo-led National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN.
The statement reads in part, “Our attention has been drawn to a press conference held by a faction of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) led by Comrade Solomon Adodo calling on our amiable presidential aspirant, His Excellency Rotimi Amaechi to resign his position as the minister of transportation or get sacked.
“We are not surprised at the body language of Solomon Adodo moreso that political activities leading to the 2023 general elections have heightened up in the last few weeks.
“Our youths are active and have always seized every available opportunity to be heard. Perhaps our youths have discovered the towering credentials of His Excellency Rotimi Amaechi and decided to put him to task in his presidential bid.
“Even at this it will be pertinent for us to clarify the germane issue raised by Solomon Adodo-led NYCN in order not to mislead Nigerians on the clean records and personality of His Excellency, Rotimi Amaechi.
“No one can deny the fact that His Excellency Rotimi Amaechi declared his intention to run for the office of President during a thanksgiving service in Port Harcourt on April 9, 2022. It however came a few days after the unfortunate attack of the train heading for Abuja from Kaduna by bandits.
“We want to state categorically here that His Excellency strongly believes in Nigeria youths as partners in progress in his great vision of becoming the President and making Nigeria great. He will be glad if they can positively contribute to the success of his presidential ambition.”
The group expressed support for Amaechi presidency while highlighting salient achievements of the Minister for about eight years he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari to head the transport sector, and described him as detriabalised politician who strongly believes in fairness and equity.
“In his fairness, he has ensured that the rail tracks are spread from south up to far north extending to Niger Republic thereby increasing trans-Sahara trade and boosting Africa economic growth. This he did to ensure that no section of the country suffer from accessing easy transportation by rail. Except for the unfortunate incident, Nigerians for a very long time were enjoying and are still enjoying easy Railway transportation system.
“It is also on record that the minister has established depots for heavy duty goods to be offloaded in the Northern parts of Nigeria. Today some heavy duty cargoes from the sea ports in the southern states of Lagos and Port Harcourt are easily conveyed and off loaded in the Northern part of Nigeria at the railway depots. This of course has increased economic activities and revenue drive and strengthened the nation’s economy.
“In a bid to sustain and consolidate the fledging transportation system in Nigeria the minister through his ministry moved for the establishment of University of Transportation at Daura. The University has been established and will start academic activities by September this year.
“His Excellency Rotimi Amaechi did this because he is a great politician with foresight. He believes that in many years to come the University will remain to provide the needed manpower for the transport sector even after he might have left office”, the statement added.
