By Musa Na Annabi Sokoto
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State has appealed to the federal government and the National Assembly to adjust budgetary provision of the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) to enable it function optimally.
Governor Tambuwal made the appeal while receiving the Executive Secretary of the agency, Captain Junaidu Adamu Abdullahi at Government House, Sokoto.
He appealed to the executive and legislative arms of government to pay more attention to the agency and strengthen its operational capabilities, more especially now that the country is having challenges of bandits and transborder criminals in the communities living along its border lines.
According to him, the agency is very important especially in the security of Nigeria, because the country’s communities that are living on the border lines require every support especially in terms of their welfare and their wellbeing.
Tambuwal added that in the past some of these communities were compelled by foreign elements to pay some taxes to the governments of Cameroon or Benin Republic, a situation he said shows lack of concern from the Nigerian government either federal, state or local government.
He expressed gratitude that much of the past ugly trend has been reversed with the establishment of the BCDA, which mandate includes looking after those communities.
He also expressed the willingness of the state government to collaborate with the agencies of the federal government because of its extensive international borders with Niger Republic.
In his address, the Executive Secretary of the BCDA, Captain Abdullahi, said the agency, in collaboration with other agencies of the federal government and border states, is mandated to provide social and economic infrastructure to the border communities.
He said Sokoto state is a major stakeholder in this regard and that the agency visited the state to handover seven projects that it executed in 2020 financial year and also to inspect the ongoing ones.
