By Austin Ogwuda 

ANAMBRA State  governor, Mr. Peter  Obi,  tasted the excruciating experience motorists go through  whenever there is traffic flow disruption on the Niger Bridge when his convoy was held up there.

Narrating his ordeal, Obi, who was one of the discussants at the 1st Distinguished Lecture of the Sylvester Monye Foundation held in Asaba on Friday, told his audience that it was a saddening and pathetic  experience passing through the bridge that morning.

According to him, “I am sorry that I arrived late to this occasion, the bridge was blocked to traffic and I was there for thirty minutes”.

He therefore noted that he was not enthused by all the talk about Vision 20: 2020, rather he said he would prefer a situation whereby by 2012 the second Niger Bridge should have  been  fixed followed by other infrastructural development in stages instead of being rhetoric by the Vision.

Obi  said the impact of  reforms can only make meaning  when  commercial banks start to lend  small capital needed by the  real farmers and not farmers who go about in suits in Abuja.

Meanwhile, Peter Obi has called for the proper funding of small and medium enterprises to stimulate over-all growth of the national economy. He made this call while speaking at the lecture delivered by the Governor of the Central Bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido.

Obi regretted that businesses were collapsing across the country and urged the Central Bank to work out with the various banks an effective micro-credit scheme that would empower those genuinely involved in wealth creation.