Niger state Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello on Sunday reassured people of the state that his administration has sworn to cater for all Nigerlites, irrespective of political, socio-cultural affiliation.
Governor Sani Bello stated this in Kontagora while meeting with various stakeholders from the area in continuation of his efforts to carry the people along and get public input to governance.
“I recognize that I contested on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC and promised to abide by its constitution and manifesto. I am 100 percent loyal APC member. But I swore to an oath to abide by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
“And Nigerian Constitution is supreme. It is above the constitution of APC or any other political party. Political parties come and go, but Nigerian Constitution remains. I am not a governor for just APC members but all citizens of the state.”
This he said informed the spread of developmental projects and programmes undertaken so far in the state are being executed base on areas of need and priority and not necessary for party patronage or affiliation.
The Governor explained to the stakeholders’ current financial difficulties that the state was going through and calls on them to support government policies and programmes geared toward repositioning the state.
“Nigeria in general and NIger state in particular is facing serious economic challenges as a result of fall in oil price at international market and security challenges in the Niger Delta. Niger state like many other states of Nigeria depends on federal allocation, which has reduced drastically since the beginning of this administration. In the past 16 years under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP lead administration in the state, Niger state was getting monthly FAAC Allocation not less than N5 billion. In some months, the state got N7 billion from the federation account.”
“Since the inception of the APC lead administration in the state, the highest federation allocation it has gotten was N2.5 billion. And the state wage bill for salaries is about N2.4 billion. The state has so far taken over N3 billion Overdrafts to augment salary since January this year.
The Governor who promised to continue to relate with various stakeholders in the state emphasised that this period call for sacrifice.
“These challenges call for sacrifice from all of us, from me as governor to messenger in the state. Already, this administration has reduced spending in Government House from over N150 million weekly to N20 million.
“A stakeholder meeting was held recently to explained the current situation to the people and also to explained to the people the ongoing discussion with labour in the state. As a government we are committed to the mandate given to us by over 4 million Nigerlites. This obligation includes, but not limited to payment of salary. We have to provide basic amenities in line with the cardinal priority of the administration. ”
He assured stakeholders of his administration’s resolve to provide people -oriented policies and programmes and also increased Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.
“Despite these challenges, there are 52 ongoing projects in various part of the state. This includes both urban and rural roads, hospitals and schools. We remained committed to the mandate given to us”.
