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Reconstructed Minna General Hospital
By Mohammed Abubakar
Since 1999 to date in Niger state , the leaders are often heavily criticised at exit point, generally political actors shift loyalty to fit into the incoming government .
Late Abdulkadir Kure and the Immediate past Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu suffered this fate , government officials who are major beneficiaries decided to play double game to get a place in the succeeding administration.
For Abubakar Sani Bello , his simplicity and modest approach has saved him the hear break, even when things like that are going , he chooses to remain calm.
When you can not accuse the governor of under achieving many believe that his achievements are under highlighted making his political adversaries to make unwarranted scathing remarks .
In doing this , a brief look into his works showed that , though unsung his legacies will be better appreciated when he leaves office.
In the area of Security and disaster management, the state government has
in the past years, provided over 400 operational vehicles, vans, motorcycles, bicycles and Tri-cycles to the conventional security agencies in addition to 70 operational trucks and 2,300 motorcycles distributed as mobility support to the Vigilante Group in the State.
These are aside funding many operations carried out by the security agencies and payments of stipends to the Vigilante groups as well as sponsorship for the children of slain vigilante member as morale booster to the personnel who are fighting banditry and other criminal activities in the state.
The state government has also injected billions of naira to provide camps, relief materials and health care services to the Internally Displaced Persons across the state as a result of the insecurity.
The Victims of flooding were also not left out by the Governor Abubakar Sani Bello’s administration.
The government reconstructed and equipped ten fire stations across ten local government areas, and recruited more fire personnel for effective and efficient service delivery.
This is in addition to bringing to per the salaryof the State Fire Service to that of Federal Fire Service salary scale in an era when some states could hardly pay salary
The government of Abubakar Sani Bello also facilitated the establishment of Zonal Fire Service in Minna , the State Capital to mitigate incidents of fire outbreaks.
It will be noteworthy that before now millions of goods and properties were lost in major markets and even private houses across the state to fire outbreaks.
Dualized Broadcasting Road
On health, the state government in the period under review has tackled infrastructure deficit through construction, rejuvenation of ailing structures and upgrading of primary health care facilities across the 274 wards in the State.
Secondary and Tertiary health care facilities were also given attention particularly with thereconstruction and expansion work at the general hospitals as well as getting Full accreditation for school of Nursing Bida for the first time since its establishment over four decades ago.
Worthy of note, is the contribution of the wife of the Governor’, Dr Amina Abubakar Bello who is a career medical practitioner. She has through her pet project, added value to the health sector particularly in collaborating with 12 selected primary health care facilities across the state to reduce infant and maternal mortality.
She deservingly attracted the admiration of many with the establishment of cancer screening and treatment centres, Visco Vaginal Fistula patients as well as other women and children related issues. This is even as she personally offer free services at Jummai Babangida Aliyu women and children hospital that was completed by the government
On renovation and expansion of General hospitals , the Governor’ had made remarkable impact in Kontagora, Minna and suleja obviously the most comprehensive in recent time.
Niger state Governor also paid attention to Education which is said to be the bed rock of every society was undoubtedly given priority with a novel policy introduced to comprehensively renovate and construct some selected schools (classrooms, hostels, staff quarters, furnitures and laboratory equipments) across the three senatorial zones of the state.
This is against the usual practice where only a classroom is cosmetically constructed in a school and other facilities left rotten, many school across the senatorial zones in the state have benefitted.
The government of Abubakar Sani Bello also established the Niger State Teachers Professional Development Institute (NSTPDI) at Dandaudu first and subsequently in other parts of the senatorial zones to give teaching profession a robust and solid foundation in the state.
The state has constructed and renovated over 2,500 additional classrooms, toilet facilities,as well as drilled boreholes across primary and Junior Secondary Schools in collaboration with the Federal Government.
On Agriculture, the administration has sustained the CBN Anchor Borrowers Scheme to contribute to the national policy on food security and to provide opportunities in the Agricultural value-chain.
Procurement of 500 tractors and subsidization of fertilizer annually for rural Farmers across the state to boost mechanized farming.
Renovation of 17 stores across the state, establishment of new irrigation scheme in Tamanai, Borgu local government area and reactivation of four existing ones, establishment of 30 hectres of oil palm plantation and revitalization and upgrade of Farm institute in Tegina, school of Agriculture Mokwa as well as its study centre in Kuta. The administration has equally held in high esteem partnership with development partners resulting to many intervention projects such as DFID, FADAMA III, IFAD Value Chain Development Programme and Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Programme etc.
The state government has been able to carve a niche for itself in the livestock sub-sector through establishment of 33 thousand seven hundred and thirty one hectres multimillion naira Bobi grazing reserve which has been gazetted.
The grazing reserve which is a model in the country is to boost meat and dairy production, generate revenue and address Farmer/Herder clashes. The reserve has been opened to various investors to produce milk locally.
Infrastructure as a catalyst for rapid development, has been in the front burner of this administration as it has dualized several kilometers of roads across the state, reconstructed and rehabilitated many township roads and also completed many inherited road projects from the past administration and construction of drainage system and waterways.
Out of the need to open up rural areas and provide access roads to ease mobility of farm produce, the present administration has sustained a partnership Programme with International development partners under the Rural Access Mobility Programme (RAMP) which has so far constructed a reasonable number of rural roads and river crossings. The state government also surface dressed the roads constructed by RAMP at the cost of 6 billion naira.
Even some Federal roads in the state particularly the City Gate-Chanchaga-Suleja road got the attention of the state government in an effort to ammiliorate the sufferings of its citizens plying the road. While some of the roads Infrastructural development is ongoing, a lot have been completed already.
Water it is said is life. It is on this premise that the present administration has been able to supply water significantly to the populace in the last six years. This was possible through the procurement of water equipment (low lift and high lift pumps), carried out total overhauling of waterworks across the state, drilled over 100 solar-powered and 200 hand pump boreholes while over 300 were rehabilitated, procured and rehabilitate water treatment machines.
These efforts earned the state government support from USAID through the E-WASH programme. The programme meant to improve service delivery and make the sector more commercially oriented as well as financially viable, made the state government to change the sector’s name from Water Board to Niger State Water and Sewage Co orperation.
Transportation is another key sector that the present administration did not contemplate in revamping.The Abubakar Sani Bello led administration procured sixty four buses for the state owned transport authority as part of efforts to promote easy movement of goods and services across the country
Abubakar is a Minna-based journalist and social critic
