Though the twin plague of global pandemic and local security threat had brought development to a grinding halt in many countries, Nigeria inclusive, some subnational government in the country, especially Niger state government, is still delivering on development.
The five years of Governor Sani Bello’s All Progressives Congress, APC, led administration in Niger state is now a model and reference point when compared with previous administrations in the state.
It is on the premise of the foregoing that the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Niger State Governor, Mrs. Mary Noel Berje, recently took the pain to set the record straight while fielding questions from newsmen in Minna.
She averred that the government of Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has set precedence and demonstrated exemplary leadership traits by delivering service and good governance according to the people’s need.
Explaining the strategies and mechanism adopted by incumbent administration in the state to keep the pace of development in the face of obvious global and national challenges, Mrs. Berje posited that the administration, now in its fifth year, has carved a niche for itself for instituting sanity and financial discipline by remaining focused in its anti-corruption crusade, blocking wastages and creating more avenues for enhanced revenue generation in the state.
She said the government has remained consistent in developing those prioritised areas considered as pedestal in the economic transformation of the state as contained in it’s blueprint for the strategic planning and development of the state.
The chief press secretary bragged that the Sani Bello administration has achieved what no other government has achieved in the state, especially in the areas of education, health, agriculture and infrastructure.
“The Governor Sani Bello-led administration has constructed and renovated more than 2,500 schools across the state and completely overhauled 22 under the whole Schools Development Approach. It established the Teacher Professional Development Institute and also recruited 2,600 Teachers. The administration is also consolidating its effort in agriculture by ensuring that the potentials in this area of comparative economic advantage are fully developed and maximized for overall prosperity of the state. Government is developing the massive 31,000 hectares, multimillion naira Bobi Grazing Reserve to boost meat and dairy production. This milestone is expected to provide employment, generate revenue for the state and prevent incessant clashes between farmers and herders,” she said.
On government effort in the health sector, especially investment and coordinated approach in combating the Chinese plague, popularly known as COVID-19, in the state, Mrs. Berje theorised that the Bello government has not paid lip service to the health sector because the governor is conscious and apparently aware that without a healthy people, governance is arguably meaningless.
“We have made lots of progress also in the health sector constructing over 50 Primary Healthcare Centers across the state and reconstructing the General Hospitals in Minna, Kontagora, Bida, Suleja, Kutigi and Nasko,” she explained.
She also posited that the emergence and spread of the scourge of coronavirus may have slowed down government’s progress in some sectors but that the pandemic actually brought out the administration’s dexterity and governability.
The CPS recalled that even before the global Covid-19 pandemic arrived the state, the state government had established isolation centers, procured ventilators and now testing equipment and provided proactive leadership in the fight against the virus and other epidemiological diseases.
She said, “Government of Abubakar Sani Bello has upgraded the IBB Specialist Hospital, equipped the neonatal wing of the Minna General Hospital, employed over 250 medical personnel and health workers and increased their salaries by 40 per cent”.
Mrs. Berje disclosed that remarkable success was made with the resuscitation of the, hitherto, moribund Fire Service across the state and restoration of enhanced water supply to Minna, Kontagora, Bida Suleja, New Bussa and Lapai.
She said the Sani Bello administration has, in collaboration with security agencies, sustained the war against armed banditry, kidnappings and cattle rustling and is doing everything within its powers to secure the lives and properties of the citizens.
“The governor has also prioritised the welfare of workers and pensioners by remaining consistently regular in the payment of their salaries, pension and gratuities. He implemented the 2019 new National Minimum Wage and salary structure for health workers and federal paramilitary salary structure for the state Fire Service, among others. There are other very remarkable milestones, particularly in the provision of infrastructure. We have witnessed massive and unprecedented construction of over 500 kilometers of rural roads as well as several roads in Minna, Kontagora, Bida, Agaie, Suleja, Tegina, Zungeru etc,” she enumerated.
The chief press secretary concluded that these potent milestones and successes recorded by the Bello administration are not by any means the end, stressing that development of the state is an ongoing process.
Nelson is an Abuja-based journalist
