My administration improved Ebonyi ���Umahi

The immediate past governor of Ebonyi,� Mr David Umahi, said the state was emancipated from the shackles of under-development, rejection and dejection under his administration.

Umahi made the assertion on the occasion of his account of Stewardship and Pre-Inauguration/Gala-Night on Sunday night in Abakaliki.

According to the governor, the state is now a �reference point in innovative development.

�Thank God we finished strong and God has blessed our Divine Mandate with a successor who has the capacity and passion to deepen the development prospects of the state.

�Today, God has answered our prayers with a successor that has an outstanding pedigree, who has served the state with dedication and commitment.

�We can say that �we have run a race, we have fought the good fight, we have finished the race, we have kept the faith� (2�Timothy�4:7),� he added.

On his performance as governor, Umaru said his administration made success in different fields of endeavour including education, infrastructure, rural electrification projects, human empowerment and agriculture.

�So far, we have reduced the rate of out-of-school children from 12 per cent to two per cent.

�We constructed brand new school buildings numbering over 4,000 and renovated over 3,000 school buildings all scattered in 13 local government areas of the state.�

The governor further expressed joy for keeping his promise on road infrastructure.

�Our state has been a construction site from the first day to our last day in office.

�When I came on board, we made sure that every local government area has at least 40 kilometres of road done in rigid pavement.

�We created more satellite towns in each of the Senatorial Zones and more roads to bring the satellite towns to a befitting status.

�A total of 1, 500-kilometre roads had been constructed in the state under my administration and those roads have helped in inter-community connectivity,� he said.

Dr Kelechi Igwe, his deputy, who gave the toast, described Umahi as a visionary governor and prayed to God to see him through life endeavours. (NAN)