By Lawal A. Dogara,Kaduna
President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday appealed to Nigerians to eschew violence and encourage harmonious relationship so as to prevent the skirmishes that befell some parts of the country after the 2011 elections.
The president who spoke in Kaduna during the official commissioning of the ultra -modern office complex in the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, also commended Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna state for continuing with the projects left by his predecessors,insisting that only a good leader would take to completion projects that were inherited.
He said Governor Yero had distinguished himself by seeing that all projects awarded by the past administration were completed before the new ones were embarked upon.
Jonathan said that the problem of abandoned projects that abound as a result of lack of continuity in project execution.
According to him,Kaduna State had shown that development could only come with continuity,a phenomenon he would be taking back to Abuja.
President Goodluck Jonathan also commended the state government for the transparency in handling the new government house project.
He said Yero had shown he was not only at the helm of affairs in the state but as an accountant,he was able to give detailed account of his expenditure on projects.
The President further commended the good people of Kaduna state for sustaining the peaceful atmosphere currently being enjoyed in the state saying that, the state in the past witnessed some security challenges which led to loss of lives and property, but today, the state is enjoying relative peace.
“I have been monitoring development in Kaduna state especially in area of peace coexistence and I amvery happy with how people now live in harmony which goes to prove that the days of bickering are over in the state. I am pleading with the people to sustain the tempo because without peace there is no development,” he said.
Earlier,Governor Ramalam Yero said the project being commissioned today was started during the administration of the Vice President, and in line with his continuity programme decided to complete the complex and that is why it is ready today for commissioning.
Governor Yero said his administration has taken the problem of security as a priority and has been working round the clock to ensure that peace returns to the state so that people will go about their normal business with fear.
The new Kaduna State Government House complex was awarded in 2008 by the then administration of Mohammed Namadi Sambo to Julius Berger at the sum of N8billion .
