By Deyemi Saka

I am one who never believes any governor or public office holder should be celebrated for doing any thing of immense benefits to the people who elected him or her into such public office while this is no condemnation for celebrating them when they do, it’s just to let you all know how much this mean to me.

Ever since Mohammed Umar Bago became assumed office as the governor of Niger state on May 29 2023, I’ve been careful not to get excited about the soundbites coming out from the state. I imagined it was the usual early praise singing which will amount to nothing and I wasn’t going to buy it. I had a cause to dash down to Niger State some weeks ago and I was pleasantly surprised with the situation of things on ground. The first thing which I found very impressive was the improved safety along the Dikko-Suleja-Lambata-Paiko-Minna corridor. This was when the numerous visits to the military leadership made so much sense to me.

The safety along that corridor was enhanced by the presence of many roving military patrols and for the very first time in a long while, I felt safe on a late evening journey. This was the first instance that I found impressive as there can be no growth and development when there is a huge presence of insecurity across the state. When i got to Minna and from my interactions with people around, I heard it the same approach to security and public safety in the capital. This also made me feel safe moving around the city at night. I heard it’s the same thing for the troubled Kontagora axis. Now to what got to me and which I considered very profound and worthy of celebration. It’s been a while I’ve been around the popular City Gate and taken a ride along Western By-Pass into Shiroro road towards Tunga. It was during my recent visit I had a reason to and I was very impressed. It was the abandoned Shiroro Hotel.

I was in Shiroro Hotel for two weeks in 2006-2007. I had a great impression of the hotel and I had always wanted to go back. I was there in 2011 and it was still functioning. Sometime around 2017, all I found on ground was a huge rot. This was after my friend and host informed me the Hotel had been sealed off, and had been shut down because of tax related issue. I argued extensively with him in a state of disbelief and insisted he drove me to the place just to confirm. What we found on ground were some Bureau de Change guys who use the gate house as their office and some herders grazing on the premises and around it perimeter. Maybe sentiment or emotional attachment, I felt there was a great need to revived Shiroro Hotel.

So when during my last visit, I saw there was an ongoing construction work on the premise, I was super excited thinking my dream is becoming a reality. I was more excited when I saw the perimeter and the information board of the ongoing work and I said to myself, I must say this to the world.

The ongoing construction at Shiroro Hotel is a redesigning of it into Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Teaching Hospital and I’m overwhelmed with the purposeful, resourceful and progressive thoughtfulness and leadership of Governor Muhammed Bago. This will surely aid the medical college of IBBU if it is there at the moment or when it finally comes on board. This will also promote medical research and Medicare for the people of Niger State.

I must say that this will also put an end to medical tourism of Nigerlites to Federal Capital Territory and beyond when this medical facility is completed. I’ve seen the layout, I’ve seen the proposed design, and I’ve seen the proposed departments and I must say it will be a world class health facility delivering the much-needed healthcare in the 21st century.

Mohammed Umar Bago is truly living up to the hype and I must say he has set out achieving a great transformation of the landscape, infrastructure and governance in the state for the good of Nigerlites.

Deyemi Saka, a Public Affairs Analyst, writes from Abuja.