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The bulldozers in Niger State, by Mairo Muhammad Mudi
He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg.
– Chinese Proverb
The online platform of Daily Trust Newspaper of February 14, 2022 carried a pleasant story where it quoted the Director of Highways, Construction and Rehabilitation, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing saying: “the Suleja-Minna dualization projected to be completed in January 2024 would be completed much earlier due to availability of funds.” This is April 2024 and the work is still no where near completion, with the feasibility for its getting completed soon uncertain. But then, they crawled until the roads became irreversibly and overwhelmingly damaged beyond any eleventh hour salvaging efforts of the concerned authorities, both State and Federal, effectively putting a seal on any hope of respite coming the way of the road users before the exit of the last administration.
Let us prayerfully hope that the funds are still available but being deliberated upon on how best to utilise them to actualise the road dualisation project soon.
While the deliberations are going on, we pray not on one leg, the Niger State Governor, Umar Mohammed Bago swung into action.
Any visitor that leaves Abuja to Minna the State Capital of Niger State would be greeted by many bulldozers in action on his way, especially if he takes the Madalla route moving through Suleja town till the road that connects with Minna road at Maje junction.
The road becomes fairly okay as you move smoothly until after Farin Doki village, less than 40 kilometers to Minna. Here you sight, yet again, another set of bulldozers and other equipment. The road which used to be travelers’ nightmare is now being worked on. Movement becomes smooth afterwards until after a few kilometers where the road gets rough again. But this time around hope replaces despair as one is fully aware of efforts being put in place to rescue the situation.
After about an hour, you cover the next thirty kilometers and find yourself in Chanchaga and more bulldozers come to one’s view, some parked, resting on the beautiful velvet road that is almost completed while some are working on the yet to be completed parts.
As you get to the City Gate, you also notice the presence of heavy equipment being deployed for the road works. If you decide to enter the city of Minna, you move through a bypass, and a few meters away, you are diverted to join one lane as the other lane is being worked on. Immediately after leaving there, you turn to your right and see some new buildings coming up or almost completed inside and you are told that it is the proposed Teaching Hospital.
As you move into the town, you may severally miss your road because everywhere is a site in Minna town.
You will also learn that work is ongoing in earnest on the three-arms zone as well as in other cities of the state concurrently.
As someone who loves her state and town, you are filled with a great sense of elation that finally the development you see taking place in other states, particularly road projects, is now happening life in your state. Niger State has never had it this good!
Let us address some key concerns of some citizens of Niger State before the election of Bago. During the campaigns when Bago distributed some farming tools to some women and youths to encourage them to embrace farming, the opposition party tried to write off the gesture as a mere ploy to make him more appealing to the voters and would soon abandon the move once voted into office. But a decisive move he made seem to prove their political divination contrived or inaccurate, with the attention farming is getting in the state. He has gone a step further to affix “Farmer” to his name to prove his seriousness in making sure that Niger State becomes the food basket of Nigeria.
Another notable instance was when the opposition tried to deploy fear to discourage the people from voting for Bago, pointing out that Niger State would become a haven for thugs because they openly showed their support for his candidacy. But contrary to their expectations, the Governor recently declared a state of emergency on the thugs because of their nefarious activities. That is the first time a state action of the scale is taken against them in the history of Niger State. Bago has again proven that he isn’t going to be a weak leader in any way.
What prompted this write-up is the general belief most people have that God answers the prayers of those being wronged and so usually pray against their leaders who they perceive as having short-changed them. Similarly, God answers the prayers of those pleased with their leaders. So I am urging all the citizens of Niger State to support and encourage their governor in whatever way to consolidate on the efforts he has so far made. We should also remember him in our prayers so that God will help him to continue working towards making Niger State, the best in Nigeria.
I still want to call on the Federal Government to come in to do something about Lambata-Bida Road, Bida-Mokwa Road, and even Suleja-Minna Road to support Bago’s efforts on these roads.
Mairo Muhammad Mudi is a writer and journalist living in Suleja, Niger State.
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