Kaduna state government has connected 20 rural communities with electricity in the last year, while the state has built 11 feeder roads in rural communities within the same period to arrest poverty and bring farm produce closer to the people, the Director General to Governor Mukhtar Yero on Media and Publicity has said.
Malam Ahmed Maiyaki told stakeholders yesterday at a three-day sensitisation workshop for journalists on Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) in Kaduna, that it was imperative for journalists to venture more into development journalism to keep the people abreast of happenings, especially in the rural areas.
He said: “The Yero administration in 2013 was also able to connect 20 rural communities with electricity through the rural electrification project. The benefiting communities spread across the 23 local government areas of the state include Kujama/Tokace (Chikun LGA), Manini (Chikun LGA), Bele (Soba LGA), Kuli (Kubau LGA), Ankara (Sanga LGA) and Nkojo (Kagarko LGA).”
The Commissioner for Works and Transport, Hon. Bashir Aliyu Idris, said “RAMP is designed to open up the rural areas and enhance access for the rural dwellers who produce 90 per cent of the foods consumed by the state’s growing population.”
“The project has completed the upgrading, rehabilitation of 400km of rural roads that were impassable before construction. The project has also constructed 135 river crossings, drafted a new road transport policy and completed the classification of road network. A new GIS-based state road network map has been developed,” Idris, who was represented by the ministry’s acting Director Civil Engineer, Ibrahim Badamasi, said.
National Coordinator RAMP, Ubandoma Ularamu, said Kaduna state was one of the two states alongside Cross River state that were involved in RAMP I, while six other states were involved in RAMP II.
