N4.3bn flyover project in Katsina a waste

Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina state flagged off the construction of a N4.3 billion interchange flyover in Katsina metropolis on Wednesday.

When I saw the report of the aforementioned project embarked upon by the Katsina state government under the leadership of our amiable Governor Masari, I was shocked and gave up about the needs of our rural communitie, which include access road which we have been lacking for almost five decades.

Supprisingly and unfortunately, all the clarion calls to Governor Masari to look into our predicament for about seven good years, in order to construct our major road which begins from Marabar Kankara to our town Burdugau G’, about 13 kilometers, to ease transportation for our community have fallen on deaf ears as if we are not bona fide indigenes of the state.

I can say the above project sited in Katsina metropolis is meaningless and total marginalisation tactics by the present administration of Masari to the teeming rural populace across the 34 local government areas of Katsina state.

My questions to Katsina state government under the leadership of Governor Masari are: are we not human beings that deserve attention from all authorities concerned in Katsina state? Do we not deserve to live in comfort like any other urban dwellers across the state? Are we not from Katsina state and deserve or have legitimate rights to enjoy the dividend of democracy? Why the total blackout and marginalization from the state government under his watch?

I traveled to some states in the Northwest like Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara but I was highly impressed with how their leaders put rural communities as a topmost priority especially by concentration of rural areas through provision of developmental projects that touch the lives of rural communities but why are we always used and dumped by the government of our state in thus every femocratic dispensation?

The project for the construction of flyover in Katsina metropolis, to my own perception and opinion, can only be useful to Katsina inhabitants (capital city of the state), not rural communities across the 34 local government areas of the state.

It also shows that the present administration in our dear state under the able leadership of Governor Aminu Bello Masari will not and can never do anything as regards to provision of social amenities to the grassroots areas within its remaining one year in office in the state. Myy advice to rural communities is to continue to pray for Allah to bring those who will not abandon them when it comes to matters of projects that could have direct impact on them.

Every good citizen of Katsina state knows that we are being marginalised in totality when it comes to issue of social amenities from the state government to the grassroots level, particularly in the areas of education, healthcare delivery, portable water supply, security and human development.

Due to total neglect we have been suffering at the grassroots from the hands of Katsina state government previously and presently. I want to also reemphasise the need by the electorate to make sure that, next general election, only people that have capacity to govern them are elected, that is to say, those who will also salvage them from the major challenges bedevilling their socioeconomic potential not those who will sideline them in all aspects of human development.

I am also calling on Governor Aminu Bello Masari to, as a matter of urgency, revoke the contract he awarded for the construction of flyover in Katsina metropolis and inject the said N4.3b to rural areas for them to also enjoy the dividend of democracy under his leadership within his remaining 350 days in office.

Sanusi Muhammad,
Burdugau G’Malumfashi local government area, Katsina state