Ahead of the 2019 general election, the youth wing of the Igbo sociopolitical organisation, Ohaneze Youth Council, has bemoaned the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfill his 2015 campaign promises to the South East zone, especially as it concerns the reactivation of the Enugu coal mine.
The National President of the Council, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzo, in a press briefing held in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on Monday, emphasized that President Buhari, while seeking the votes of the zone in 2015, pledged to reactivate the once popular mine.
He however, regretted that nothing has been done on the industry by the President up till now.
Isiguzo, who also condemned the slow pace of work by the contractors handling the ongoing rehabilitation of some federal roads in the region, regretted that many lives have been lost on account of the deplorable state of the roads.
He maintained that based on the current political developments in the country, the South East region had not taken any stand on whether to vote for Buhari of the All Progressives Congress or Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar of the Peoples’ Democratic Party in the 2019 presidential election.
Isiguzo explained: “In 2015 when president Muhammadu Buhari was seeking our votes, he did promise us that he would reactivate the Enugu coal mine, but until date the place is still moribund.
“And on who to vote in as our president come 2019, I want to state here categorically that we are yet to take a stand
“I must tell you that the people of South East region are happy with President Buhari’s ingenuity, particularly in the area of road rehabilitation like the Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Okigwe and Port Harcourt highways.
“So we are using this opportunity to ask the contractors to hasten up because Christmas season is just around the corner.
“Another reason is that many lives have been lost on road accident along those roads.”
Recall that the Enugu coal mine, which employed over 1,000 workers, went moribund in the seventies.
Its abandonment was attributed in some quarters to the effect of the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities in some parts of Nigeria.
Over the years, successive governments never showed any interest in revamping the mines, which were capable of providing viable alternative to oil.