The Niger state government has developed a draft new Urban Policy now ready to be sent to the state House of Assembly for necessary legislative action for legal backing, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Alhaji Ahmed Matane has said.
Matane stated this yesterday at the stakeholders’ dialogue forum held in Minna to deliberate on the draft state Urban policy.
According to him, “the objective of the policy dialogue was to give the stakeholders the opportunity to validate the contents of the draft policy before it goes to the state House of Assembly”.
He explained that the administration had spent the two years working hard to develop the Niger State Urban Policy based on the National Urban Policy of 2012, adding that the forum was aimed at collecting data that forms the basis of the policy.
He said that the new state urban policy would facilitate a profound paradigm shift that builds good understanding, mutual respect and sustainable partnership between state, local governments and residents of villages, towns and cities.
He said, “it would also enable towns and cities to rearrange their priorities in financial management and governance to enable the provision of infrastructure facilities and services on a self-sustaining basis to residents”.
In his remarks, the Coordinator of the Niger State Urban Support Programme (SUP), Professor Mustapha Zubairu explained that Niger state is the first state to formulate the state urban policy in Nigeria and in Africa.
He explained that the state would get a grant from South Korea government for the project and a technical support from UN-Habitat.
He said, “the policy formulation is at final stage. The final version would be presented to the state Executive Council for consideration and approval and before going to the state House of Assembly to be enacted into law.
