By Usman Shuaibu
A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gwagwalada Area Council in the FCT, Hon. Suleiman Ibrahim Barde, who is also the APC Chairmanship aspirant for the 2025 Area Council election in the area, has said that implementation of policies would be his priority if elected in 2025.
Barde, who stated this in an interview with Peoples Daily Correspondent in Gwagwalada, saying that my plan to become Gwagwalada Chairman started when I was a child.
He said: “I have the ideas to develop the Gwagwalada Area Council if given the mandate as the Chairman of the Council. Also I have the feelings to develop the youths and women if elected into the Area Council in 2025”.
His words “There are villages in Gwagwalada that remain the same in terms of development and I believe that if I become the Chairman I will partner with the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), companies, agencies and corporate organisations to make a change because if we depend on Gwagwalada Area Council allocation you cannot do anything”.
According to Barde, there is no way we can develop Gwagwalada Area Council without external connections or partnership, saying that he would do his best to move Gwagwalada to the next level.
He then called on the entire residents of Gwagwalada and its communities to vote for him coming 2025 Area Council Election due to his track records, as he said he had empowered 600 women on the skills acquisition programme in the area.
He revealed that he had trained about 65 youths on solar engineering scholarship in order to be self-reliance in the society, adding that he had provided independent power plants to four communities in Gwagwalada Area Council.
He said “If Gwagwalada residents and other communities support me in 2025 Area Council election, I will make sure Gwagwalada will not remain the same in terms of developmental projects”.
On the scholarship, Barde said if elected into the Area Council, he would provide scholarship for the students to study in Abroad as well engage some of the students in the professional courses outside the country.
According to him, I will make sure that I pay all the tuition fees/accommodation for the students in order to be comfortable with their studies.
He, however, pointed out that if elected as the Chairman his administration would put smiles on the faces of the farmers in the area by providing good seedlings to them, adding that he would give agricultural loans to the farmers by partnering with the government.
When asked on the packages for the staff of the Area Council, Barde said if given them mandate he would register Gwagwalada Micro Finance Bank so as to partner with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where the staff would obtain loans to take care of their children, noting that monthly salaries were not enough for the staffers.
On the developmental projects, the 2025 APC Chairmanship aspirant said he would deem it necessary to collaborate with the Works Department to the Area Council to execute people’s oriented projects in the area.
