2011: ‘Sambo under pressure’

By EMEKA MAMAH Kaduna
*Plans school for Almajirai

KADUNA State governor, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, recently concluded a tour of the 23 local government areas during which he commissioned a number of projects and also used the opportunity to flag off work on some others. Faced with stiff opposition for a second term in 2011, Sambo may have used the tour as a subtle campaign to launder his image across the state and seek support for re-election. The governor’s special adviser, who is also the deputy chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Alhaji Hussaini Jallo, explained, however, that Sambo had used the opportunity to also assess the level of development projects executed by the various local councils.

According to Jallo, “the tour was mainly to commission state and local government projects. That has not been done before.  It is not everybody that has time to come down to the Government House to meet the governor. But the tour gave the governor the opportunity to meet the people and know what is happening at the various local government communities. We noticed that some of the local governments have performed well, some others above average while, in some cases, there is  room  for improvement.” He noted that the tour was not a launch pad for campaigns for 2011 as, according to Jallo, “people from all strata of the society have been calling on him to come out and contest for a second term. He has not come out to categorically say yes or no yet. What the governor did was a working tour of the state.”

Apart from Sambo’s strides in salvaging the hitherto deplorable state of security in Kaduna, he has embarked on a most ambitious project of building a New Kaduna Millennium City to decongest the Kaduna metropolis. During the tour, Sambo flagged off  work on  the 200-bed specialist hospital for the new city. The PDP National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, was represented at the ceremony by his Deputy, Dr. Haliru Bello, and laid the foundation stone for the hospital estimated to cost N4.02 billion. According to Sambo, “government decided to embark on the construction of the specialist hospital due to the relocation of the Federal Government-owned Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital to Zaria. Lack of tertiary health institution in Kaduna metropolis has created a gap in quality health care delivery in the state. The new hospital will reduce the incidence of seeking medical attention abroad and equally serve medical students from the Kaduna State University.

All these put together informed the need to establish a hospital of this standard and quality. The hospital will satisfy the yearnings of the people of Kaduna to have a tertiary health facility. The craze for overseas treatment will also reduce. The governor also commissioned the Water Supply Improvement Work at the Nigerian  Airforce Base, Mando, and the Malali Water Works at a total cost of N5 billion as well as various other projects at the Kaduna State University. The government has so far committed  N5,266,733,247.02 on the rehabilitation of major township roads. For equitable distribution of the transformation of the road infrastructure, government awarded contracts for reconstruction and upgrading of various roads across the state and Sambo commissioned those completed while others are at various levels of completion.

Government has also constructed tarred surface roads comparable to the trunk “A” roads, totaling about 1,200km. Sambo was also in Zaria where the Emir of Zazzau, Dr. Shehu Idris, described him as a “true and worthy son of the Emirate,” apparently based on the number of projects the Sambo government has executed in the ancient city. Although there were demonstrations in the area during Sambo’s visit, the people made it clear that the protests were not targeted at the governor but at the local government administration as well as the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) over the erratic power supply which they said had paralyzed their businesses over a long period of time. Referring to the protests, the Emir reminded the people that peace is necessary for continued growth and development of the area while the governor also cautioned the people against taking the laws into their hands as a way of expressing their feelings on issues they feel strongly about.

According to him, in a democracy, the people should always channel their complaints to the appropriate authorities and added that, “my doors are open to receive complaints from anybody or groups who feel strongly about any issues. We are in a democracy and it is very important that government listens to the people. We must avoid taking the laws into our hands as a way of expressing our grievances because that will not bring any progress.” He later commissioned the Chalk and Paint Industry at the local government,the electrification project at Hayin Bagadaza and flagged off the construction of  Hayin Ojo -Shika Dam road, before he met with stakeholders in the area who commended the governor over what they described as the rapid transformation of the area within the period of two years.

Sambo, who also commissioned a road project in the area, reaffirmed the determination of his administration towards the provision of quality education, free medical services for women and children as well as eradication of poverty. According to him, Sabon Gari Local Government was selected as the  pilot scheme for the construction of a school for the Almajirai where western and Islamic curricula will be taught. He promised to construct 300 housing units for civil servants in the area and asked the people to support his administration for the realization of government’s 11-point agenda.

Earlier, the governor was at Lere Local Government area where he commissioned various projects such as the development office at Garu, chairman’s official residence and tarred road at Lere, flagged off the construction of Gidan Dutse-Turai road amongst others. At the Kaduna South Local Government area, Sambo said that government had procured 150 electric transformers for distribution to various communities in the state apart from the 78 transformers which were supplied to the PHCN following violent protests against epileptic power supply in parts of Sabon Tasha. He said that his government had started the construction of a 132 KVA power sub-station that would evacuate 30 megawatts of electricity from the Gurara dam  to the industrial areas of the Kaduna metropolis.