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We want private
investors in Benue — SSG
Secretary to
Benue State Government DR. AUDU ACHIGILI speaks to JOHN EWAOCHE
GABRIEL at the recent Idoma Forum held in Kaduna. He spoke on the
level of infrastructural development in the state, and said, the
state government is not interested in establishing industries
rather; individual investors should come and invest.
NNW: What is the
level of infrastructural development in Benue State?
DR. ACHIGILI:
Before the government of
Governor Gabriel Suswan came in, the infrastructural development was
at zero level. But today, if you get to Markudi now, every thing is
in order, we thank God for the level we have reached so far.
Initially, we started with 24 km road, and we added another 10
kilometers in Agbaji, 8 kilometers of abstract road in Gboko, 22 in
Oturkpo. The essence of the rehabilitation is to make our cities
attractive for people, visitors and others to come and invest in our
state. We are happy today that the problem of water in the state, is
now a thing of the past, we have sign a contract with an
international agency who is doing a hundred water treatment plant,
and that will take some time to complete. We believe that by the
time that project is completed; the shortage of water supply in
Makurdi and its environs will be a thing of the past. Apart from all
these efforts, we are also calling on foreign investors to come and
invest in our state, like you see when you come to Benue State,
government is not a good business man. The governor is very open to
people who want to invest in some of our industries to come and run
it, and employ our people. The development in Benue State is not
just Makurdi alone, we extended to all our urban centres like Gboko,
Katsina-Ala, Oturkpo etc. and all local governments in the state
will also be touched. Recently, the governor flagged off the
construction of about 5 rural roads.
Thank God, we
are using competent contractors, PW, Dantata and others. So it’s not
a short job we are doing.
What effort is
Benue State doing towards resolving political crisis in the state?
You should expect
that if you contest an election, and you are not satisfied with the
outcome of election, you can go to court. The government is making
effort to resolve them for the benefit of Benue State.
In the recent
times, Idoma people feel cheated in the administration of the state,
and sharing of resources between Idoma and TIV who constitute the
majority. What is the government doing now to ensure equal
distribution of resources?
Maybe am ignorant
of what you are saying, I am an Idoma man, I have been in Benue all
this while, I have never felt cheated. Probably you are talking
about a case of 11 people who were to see an elephant. Some said you
should call the elephant different names. But you see, in politics
which is sharing of resources. Somebody must complain and so, when
somebody is complaining, and the government has addressed those
complaints I don’t think there is need for further complain any
more. As I said before, the same quantity of road we are
constructing in zone A, is the same thing we are constructing in
zone B, and C. No body is been marginalized. If you observed
carefully, we try to restructure our secondary schools. And the same
number we are restructuring in zone A, is what we are doing in zone
B and C. The state by this administration is a new Benue; we are
trying to live above ethnic sentiment.
Benue State
indigenes have cried out several times of non viable industry to
create employment for the indigenes. What is the state government
doing to alleviate people from poverty?
I have earlier
said, government is not a good business man. We do not want to get
involve in running industries. For those industries that are in
place, we said, let our people come, and take over these industries,
in order to revive the industries, we are going to employ our people
and empower them. So government is not going to run the industries.
Everybody is expecting us to run the industries, government will
never do that on its own, but if our people take the responsibility
and provide the technical know how, they can employ our people.
Look, we are not saying individual should come and buy our
industries, No. They should come with their expertise and run it for
the benefit of our indigenes. We have an uncompleted international
hotel in Makurdi, government is now inviting people who have the
expertise to come and run it in order to employ our people.
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