Niger State has no reason to be poor – Gov. Bago

By Christiana Ekpa

Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago has said that the state has no business being poor, having been blessed with enormous human and natural resources.
The governor, however, assured that under his leadership, the resources would be adequately harnessed for the benefit of citizens
Bago stated this on Sunday, at a dinner organized by the Niger State Government for the House of Representatives Press Corp, in the State Capital, Minna
The event, which signified the end of a two-day retreat on climate change organized by the state government for the press corps, had the governor honoured with the ‘most innovative governor’ of the year award.
While lamenting that the state is always in the news for wrong reasons due to protracted insurgency that has claimed lives, Bago said his administration has developed strategies to tackle insecurity while assuring that the menace won’t stop the state from making developmental strides.
He said: “Niger State is the largest in terms of land mass in Nigeria, with aviht 76, 300 square kilometres of arable land. Niger State also has four Hydropower dams. That is Kianji, Jeba, Shiroro and Zungeru. We have the only white sand beach in West Africa, the shagunu beach.
“There is also Zuma rock and a lot more that people don’t know. I have come here today to tell you that with this partnership we are establishing, we need to spread the gospel. Lets people understand where we stand. What people understand about Niger state is the issue of insecurity and insurgency.
“Yes, we cannot shy away from insecurity, it is a reality but what percentage of our land is in that mess? Very insignificant. You cannot underscore the fact that lives are being lost but we are saying that we are working assiduously to make sure that everybody lives well in Niger state and in Nigeria at large.”
Revealing what his administration was doing to mitigate the hardship occasioned by fuel subsidy removal, Bago said the state government has signed an agreement for the purchase of 200 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses.
According to him, the 200 buses is in fulfillment of his promise to provide free transportation for students and also for civil servants at a subsidised rate.