Senator Ali Ndume, who represents the southern Borno senatorial district at the National Assembly, has noted that the Northeast is not the federal government’s priority regarding infrastructure, especially roads, power, and other social amenities.
Ndume stated this on Wednesday while paying homage to the Emir of Shani, Alhaji Muhammad Mailafia, at his palace as part of his end-of-the-year visit to the local government areas of the senatorial district.
Ndume, who has embarked on his constituency visit to the nine local government areas of the senatorial district, visited Damboa and Chibok, where he addressed supporters, before moving to the other local government areas to encourage youths to invest in agriculture and business skills as a panacea to looming food insecurity and high cost of living.
He said the deplorable condition of the federal roads in the region makes it difficult to easily access communities in southern Borno and other States of the North-East. He added that a journey of 200km from Yola in Adamawa to the neighbouring Bayo local government area in Borno State takes about six hours, while from Gombe State to Bayo and Shani to Kwayarkusa and Shani in Borno State takes a whole day.
The senator added that the same situation is faced between Bama and Gwoza in Borno and Madagali in Adamawa, as well as from Uba down to Damboa, making it difficult for farmers who have harvested their farm produce to carry it to their homes and markets.
He said, “If the federal government and the road contractors are afraid of the security situation in the region, the Nigerian military has Army engineers who can do the work better than those mushroom companies the federal government is engaging in constructing the roads.
“The federal government should seriously consider contracting road rehabilitation and construction to the Nigerian Army engineers. By doing so, the government would be bringing the money back home. It would be cheaper and more efficient, and it would also promote security.
“Once the soldiers are doing the construction, there will be security along the roads. So we are calling on the federal government to provide roads as requested by the Emirs I have so far visited”.
He regretted that many communities which suffered the over 15 years of Boko Haram insurgency are yet to be connected to the national grid, adding that many of the electric poles that were brought down by wind or terrorist activities are still abandoned on the ground.
Meanwhile, responding to Ndume’s advice for the youths to engage in Agriculture due to the hardship resulting from fuel subsidy removal, the Emir noted that the significant challenge of the farmers in Shani is the annual flood that washes synthetic materials from the two rivers in the local government to farmlands, resulting in poor harvests despite massive agricultural activities in the local government.
The Emir regretted that despite the significant presence of the illustrious sons and daughters of the local government who are academicians, no single federal institution exists in the local government area. Hence, he reminded Ndume of the bill for establishing a federal college of education in Shani, which scaled second reading but was abandoned.
Noting that other bills, such as a federal medical centre initiated with the Federal College of Education Shani, have been established, while Shani’s is still hanging, he called on Ndume to revisit the bill.
Similarly, at a meeting between stakeholders and Ndume in Kwayarkusa, the Chairman of the local government area, Salihu Yanga, called on the federal government to restore the dykes that have collapsed in the dams in the local government to enable farmers to engage in irrigation farming.
Yanga, who decried the dilapidated roads in the local government area, cried to the federal government to rehabilitate the roads to reduce the hardship faced by motorists moving within communities in the local government area and those connecting to other neighbouring States to Borno.
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