Jigawa State governor, Umar Namadi, has declared that his government had created 27 millionaires in the plumbing materials business in his quest to produce 150 millionaires before the end of his first tenure.
The governor stated this at the opening of a week of training on business management organised for the 27 millionaires created by the government.
He said after careful assessment of the state of water supply infrastructure, a huge gap was identified in the management of thousands of hand pumps across the state.
“To address the gap, we recently trained and empowered 287 youths on hand pump repair, one person from each of our political ward, however, we now initiated project on empowering 27 people to engage in the business of selling the spare parts of the hand pump and other plumbing materials at each headquarters of our 27 local government.
“Each of the 27 selected businessmen was given a capital of not less than N10 million and connected with a production company for supplying the materials at a reasonable price. We also directed all our 27 local government chairmen to be patronizing them and also engaged our trained youth on any contract of repairing hand pumps in their area.
“Today, we are proud to say we have created 27 millionaires and we pray to Almighty to bless their businesses and give them prosperity, ” Governor Namadi said.
While fielding questions from newsmen, the executive secretary of the Jigawa State Directorate for Economic empowerment, Dr Habibu Ubale, said the beneficiaries were selected based on merit, integrity, business track records and other criterions for the sustainability of the businesses.
“We have also established a mechanism for monitoring the beneficiaries and evaluating their transaction for immediate advice and intervention where necessary.
“This project has multiplier effect including job creation, poverty eradication, enhancing water supply and strengthening public health among others,” the ES declared.
