In a concerted effort to alleviate the challenges arising from the removal of subsidies on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, Governor Mohammed Bago of Niger State has acquired 200 buses powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to ameliorate transportation difficulties faced by the state’s residents.
Governor Bago revealed this initiative during a dinner with members of the House of Representatives Press Corps in Minna, the state’s capital, on Sunday. He also disclosed the state government’s intention to establish a memorandum of understanding with a rice processing plant in Kano, with the aim of directly procuring locally produced paddy rice from Niger State.
As part of the state’s infrastructure development strategy, Governor Bago announced the allocation of a contract for the construction of an extensive network of roads spanning 566 kilometers throughout the state.
The distribution plan for the 200 CNG-powered buses was delineated by Governor Bago, with 100 buses designated for the Suleja/Abuja route, intended to provide affordable transportation for workers. An additional 50 buses will remain in Minna, while the remaining 50 will be allocated to Kontangora and Bida. Pupils and students will benefit from complimentary transportation to and from their educational institutions.
He said, “We are very ambitious as a government. We have already purchased about 200 CNG buses to commute for free students going to school and subsidised civil servants in Niger State. 100 of the buses will commute to Abuja and Suleja daily, while 50 will be in Minna and others will be spread between Kontangora and Bida.
“Secondly, we have awarded contracts for the construction of about 566 km of the roads and we have started with groundbreaking. It is unprecedented in this state. We are so ambitious and by the grace of God, we will be there.
“Niger State is the largest in terms of land mass in Nigeria, with about 76, 300 square kilometres of arable land. Niger State also has four Hydropower dams. That is Kianji, Jeba, Shiroro and Zungeru. We have the only white sand beach in West Africa, Shagunu Beach.
“There is also Zuma rock and a lot more that people don’t know. I have come here today to tell you that with this partnership we are establishing, we need to spread the gospel. Let people understand where we stand. What people understand about Niger State is the issue of insecurity and insurgency.
“Yes, we cannot shy away from insecurity, it is a reality, but what percentage of our land is in that mess? Very insignificant. You cannot underscore the fact that lives are being lost, but we are working assiduously to make sure that everybody lives well in Niger state and Nigeria at large.”
He continued, “I went for a peer review in Kano because Niger state is the largest producer of Paddy rice in Nigeria but our rice mills are nothing to write home about. I heard of the largest rice mill in Africa situated in Kano and I went for peer review and it is massive.
“So how do we take comparative advantage of that? We will first aggregate this paddy and trade it off to these people instead of them coming here to carry it for almost free and our people are losing.
“We want to empower our local farmers with improved seedlings and inputs so that they can produce more tonnage and also make more money. We are going to have an MOU between Niger State Development Company and Gerawa rice mill for offtake of all rice that we can control so that we are sure that our farmers don’t lose”, he added.
Given the resource endowment in the state, the governor stressed that Niger State has no business with poverty, even as he pledged his commitment to make the most of every available opportunity to impact positively on the lives of the people.
On the Green Economy Summit to be hosted by the Niger State Government on Tuesday, he noted that hee event provides a window for the state to take advantage of its potential.
“We are holding the first of its kind green economy summit because we have seen the comparative advantage we have in this state. So much money is out there and the only way we can access carbon credits is when we first aggregate our forests and trade them in exchange for l emissions by multinational companies.
“Niger State has the largest congregation of shea trees in the world. It is an endowment by God. These things nobody knows about are there but our women are on the farms, cutting them down to make firewood. We, however, need them to understand that we must protect our forest from deforestation and also promote afforestation”, he noted.