By Aideloje Ojo
Minna
A member of the House of Representatives representing Rijau and Magama of Niger state, Shehu Saleh Rijau, has explained that over N900 million captured in 2016 and 2017 budgets for the construction of Kontagora – Rijau road in Niger state had not been accessed.
The lawmaker disclosed this yesterday while inspecting some of his constituency projects in the area, lamenting the worsening condition of the road which had now been abandoned.
He said N500 million was contained in the 2016 budget while this year budget captured N400 million, adding that both funds were not accessed.
He, however, assured the he would influence the release of the funds “so that work can commence on the project.”
Rijau said he had expended about N2 billion on the constituency projects, including ecological projects, assuring that some of the projects would be completed in 2018.
He listed the projects to include drainages, bridges, culvert, roads stadium and construction of skills acquisition centres.
He said the projects were located in Magama and Rijau Federal Constituency adding that those at Magama included Ibeto, Auna and Salka erosion control to check the menace of erosion disaster bedeviling the areas over the years at the cost of N520 million.
Rijau said in Rijau, N80 million women centre has been completed while N630 million drainages and roads were ongoing.
He said a stadium worth N78 million was on-going, adding that 15% of the amount had been paid to the contractors handling the project.
Rijau disclosed that in the last two years he has secured employment for about 40 youths in the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and awarded scholarships to 10 beneficiaries to India to study medical services.
