Prior to his abduction at his residence in Baban Tunga village in Tafa Local Government Area of Niger State by some gunmen in the early hours of Sunday, August 8, 2021, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Idris, speaks with ADELOWO OLADIPO on key issues bordering on the achievements of the state government in its education, security and infrastructural sector.
Sir, six years into your government’s administration in Niger State, what can you say has been its achievements in terms of infrastructural development and in the other sectors of its economy?
Well, just as you said, we are six years in government; we appreciate God’s works for going that far. As a responsible government, we came in with our strategic plans. One is to ensure that we leave Niger State better than how we met it. The first major challenge we had when we came in was how to align what has happened in the past with what we are going to do. We came in at a time when there were a lot of abandoned projects. There were a lot of projects that had a lot of issues that were trying to be encumbrances to the complete execution of such projects and as such we have had to give a thought to it. In terms of infrastructure, especially when you look at the various sectors, so far so good, we have been able to achieve a lot. When you look at the road infrastructure, we came in at a time when state and federal governments owned roads that have been in existence for over three decades in Niger State were suffering neglect. And we took a look at that and started our interventions on most of them.
When you talk about abandoned roads in our state, the first major road that always comes to mind is the Minna- Bida, and the Minna- Suleja roads, because they are the best routes that we have in Niger State. Minna-Bida road is owned by the state government, while the Minna- Suleja road belongs to the Federal Government. When we came in, a lot of issues were grounding the Minna- Suleja road to the extent that it was only its first segment that was done. When we came in, we had many issues because of the heavy traffic on the road every now and then. So, the first thing we did was to manage that road and that is why on two occasions, our government had to contract out the road, not for a reconstruction, but just for rehabilitation to ensure that its pot holes are managed, so that the road can become passable.
Can we know what the government is doing about some of the major towns in the state such as Minna, Bida, Kontagora and Suleja?
Well, when you look at the major towns, we also took them in phases. However, I may not be able to tell you the cost implications of all the construction works that we had embarked upon, because we did not carry them out just once, but several times. We also looked at the situation of our state capital, Minna, where we also met huge challenges pertaining to roads. The immediate past administration did what they could do, but we are not after window dressing. We want the people at the nooks and crannies of the city to feel relieved. And that is why if you go round Minna here, you will be surprised at the way we have sectionalized it. In the Tunga area, we have decided to construct the broadcasting road, because of posterity.
The road links two major roads: the Chanchaga-Mobil road through the Bosso road and the Western Bye Pass. In the last decade, the Western Bye-pass used to be a road that witnessed fast traffic. But recently, it has become one of the busiest roads in the city. We need all the linking roads between these two major roads. That is why when we realized that the Mobil road, which had been completed, would not suffice; we decided to expand the Broadcasting road. For anybody that follows that road will know that at least, it has served the purpose for which it was meant for. Sincerely speaking, the number of roads constructed by us within the last six years is more than those constructed by the previous administration. We have been able to achieve the feat comfortably. That is how far we have been able to go.
What about the situation of the roads in Kontagora and two other major cities such as Bida and Suleja?
Well, if you go to Kontagora at least, we have constructed so many roads within the town in the last six years; some are ongoing, some have been completed and if you go to Bida, we have constructed so many roads there too. For Suleja, it is supposed to be the last phase for this administration and we have started gradually. There are contracts that have been approved for construction of the roads, but because of some issues, especially with those in Suleja, we have to stop them. However, we have continued them since last week, when the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructural Development visited there. So, that is it so far.
Aside from that, we have looked at other areas that need development and we are moving forward to see individuals that we can partner with. Niger State is an agrarian state and our peoples’ occupation is majorly agriculture. Now, we will have people coming from the federal government to us with one basic agenda to ensure that there is real improvement in the area of agriculture, especially for our people in the hinterlands. As they are able to produce their crops, we gave them good roads that lead to their farms and the markets, where they are supposed to take their farms produce for sale. We thereby exploited the partnership that has been in existence between the state and the federal government through the Rural Access Mobility Projects (RAMP). And because of that today, Niger State is rated as one of the first five or six states in Nigeria at the forefront when it comes to being up and doing in the area of the RAMP Projects. That is why when you go in the whole three senatorial districts of this state, we have been able to construct roads and in some places, there is the existence of culverts and bridges. As a government, we have been able to do that in the past six years. And we have achieved a lot in that direction
Aside from the road infrastructure, what can you say your administration has done very well since you came onboard in the last six years in the other sectors of the economy?
Well, since its inception, this administration has faced the issues of health holistically. Over time, other governments used to look at it in parts, but we looked at it holistically because when you are talking about the provision of quality healthcare, we are talking about the different infrastructure and then the human factor. Now, if you go about rehabilitating hospitals without the appropriate quality personnel to manage them, the refurbished hospitals will still not survive when it comes to healthcare delivery, because when you have a very big hospital without qualified doctors and nurses, you are not still doing anything.
That is why we are saying that our government from 2015 decided to look at things holistically. First, we looked at the hospitals and what needs our immediate attention in each of them. For some, it may be the optical department. In some, it could be the antenatal department that needed attention. So, we approached it that way and we were able to intervene in most of our Hospitals in that direction.
In the education sector, what have you done?
In the area of education, we agreed that we inherited an education sector that is decayed but in spite of that, we did not just look at the physical structure alone, rather we also appraised the manpower. A good education system is a system that would give you quality teachers that can turn out very wonderful pupils/ students even under trees, that is the difference. A good teacher can bring out very wonderful and brilliant students even under a tree. But let me tell you, the best school with the best facilities would hardly give you any good students, if there are no good teachers. We are not blind to that and that is why the first thing we thought of is the teaching staff and the students.
So when we came onboard, we came with an idea of what we should do in order to bridge the gap and that was when we came up with the idea of the Teachers Development Institute. Now, the idea is okay. In the 25 Local Government Areas of the state, we said we should go for young children/ students in order to catch them young from the Primary Schools and select the best pupils because teaching profession should not be for the adult alone, no.
What about the security sector?
It has been very challenging. In the area of security as a responsible government, we felt that we should not be making noise, because we want to save the lives and properties of our people. However, I want to assure Nigerlites that we would be very strategic about the way we relate with our federal government’s security agencies. Weekly, our Governor does have meetings with the heads of security of this country. We have strategised in such a way that we have our plans A, B, C, D, continuously so that our visitors should look at the ways we have been approaching issues. Even as a lay man, you will understand that that is the way we have been doing. By the time we achieve our target for plan A, we will go back to plan B.
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