From Esther Akaa, Lafia
Governor Abdullahi Sule upon assumption of office as the fourth executive governor of Nasarawa State in 2019, laid out a roadmap for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSEMs) and similar entities in order to improve on the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state for the benefit of its citizens.
Perhaps, the governor has achieved this as his administration within four years had dramatically increased the state’s IGR from N7.1 billion to N20 billion annually.
Speaking during a media parley held recently at the Conference Hall, Government House Lafia, Sule said he achieved the feat due to the business friendly environment created by his administration in the last four years and wished to be re-elected to complete other projects his administration had begun.
He listed some of the industries operating in the state to include Olam Rice in Doma Local Area of the state, Dangote Sugar Refinery in Awe LGA, Flours Mills Nigeria PLC and Azman Rice Farm in Toto, as wells as Gudi Marbles in Akwanga LGA, among others.
“Today, I can brag about a significant amount of our own revenue coming from industries. We have raised the IGR from N7.1 billion to over N20 billion annually. This is as a result of progress made in agriculture. We are among the top 10 states in maize production because of the new industries operating across the state. We are number five in rice production in the country and we have also received support from Japan in the area of Cassava production and we are now number one in sesame seeds production in the country.
“We are going into industrialisation using Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Last year, we performed groundbreaking for the construction of a technology village in Karu LGA and today about 30% of the project is completed and we will complete some of these projects if re-elected. The biggest of all these industrialisation projects is oil and gas production. By the time we start, there will be oil refinery that will refine what is produced. There is also going to be a fertiliser plant that will be used to produce and the section that will produce the power that would be required and this is going to be the biggest in the state,” he said.
Sule further stated that his administration has done well in other areas including education, healthcare delivery, security and workers welfare among others.
“We have looked into certain areas that we did better than what we met when we assumed office especially the area of security. We can say that the situation of security in the state has improved. We have also improved the welfare of our workers because when we came in, workers and Pensioner both at the state or LGA levels were receiving only 50% of their salaries and pensions.
“Today, workers have received 100% of their salaries and some of have been promoted at the state level. However, local government workers have not because we do not have enough resources to pay them but we are getting ready for another promotion as soon as the revenue improves.
‘’We have also opened rural areas through construction of rural roads that is why there is an improvement in agriculture in those areas. Similarly, we have seen an improvement in the area of education. This is because when we came in there were a lot of challenges but we have improved in that area by employing more teachers in our schools and there is great improvement,’’ the governor said.
Commenting on steps taken by his administration to address the rising cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the State, Sule said the state government has enacted laws with stiff punishment for perpetrators of GBV to serve as deterrent to people who may want to violent women and girls in the state.
“We have created a level of awareness because one of the reasons why GBV continue to flourish is because those abused do not speak out and so , we have created more awareness to encourage people to speak out so that the perpetrators of such acts will be punished for what they have done . We have created awareness through the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and there are people who are in court for this particular issue and by the time the court begins to sentence them, it will reduce the menace in the state,’’ he said.
On the just conducted Presidential and National Assembly elections, the governor regretted that his party lost to Labour Party in the state, attributing the lost to the proximity of the state to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja where people from different parts of the country who do not share the sentiment of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) reside.
He denied internal wranglings with the state chapter of the APC as being the reason for the loss at the Presidential and National Assembly election, pointing out that the election was between political parties against a movement which made it difficult for political parties to perform well in the state.
Sule, however, appreciated God that his party’s Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu won the election, appealing to the people of the state to re-elect him (Sule) and all other candidates of the APC in the forthcoming governorship and State Assembly elections to enable them provide more dividends of democracy to the people.