The Federal Government will continue to execute projects across the country which demonstrates the sincerity of purpose of the Buhari administration towards entrenching justice, equity and fair play to all, the Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said in Kaduna on Thursday.
The Minister underscored the Buhari Administration’s resolve while commissioning the soil erosion and flood control project in Kwoi Town in the Ham District of Jaba Local Government Area, in the southern part of Kaduna State.
He noted that at this critical moment of our nation building and economic recovery, proper execution of people-oriented projects, will provide a window of opportunity for economic growth of communities and unlock the potentials which are in tandem with the Buhari administration’s policy thrust, especially on agriculture and food security.
The Minister explained that the Kwoi erosion and flood control project is one of the ecological intervention projects approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in August, 2016 for which contract for execution was awarded by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on January 25, 2017.
“The project is expected to check flooding and erosion menace in the communities that had for so many years been experiencing untold hardship and neglect. It is also expected to enhance the wellbeing of the people as well as reduce dangers to lives and property”.
Senator Udoma said the negative impact of the twin ecological problems of erosion and flooding on the socio-economic lives of the people in any community such as Kwoi town cannot be overemphasized, noting that the intervention of the Federal Government has brought a huge relief to the distressed people of the communities.
The Minister said Government’s intervention on the project was very timely given the previous devastating experiences in the area. “The people are filled with joy that the Federal Government came to their rescue and no doubt, the reclaimed land could be put to use for other developmental purposes”, he added.
The approval of project by the President, he said, is a testimony to the present administration’s promise that no part of the country will suffer any neglect.
The Kpop Ham, Paramount Ruler of Ham Communities, Dr Danladi Gyet Maude, relayed the appreciation of the people to the Federal Government and was full of praises for President Buhari “for putting a smile on the faces of Ham people.”
The Paramount Ruler said the Ham people will remain eternally grateful to the President who not only sympathized with the request by one of the illustrious sons of the area, Ambassador Bulus Lolo, “but graciously presented it to the Federal Executive Council in February 2017 for approval.”
Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El’Rufai, who was represented by the State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Mrs Amina Sijuade, applauded the Federal Government for helping out on the project and pledged cooperation with the central government on other areas of intervention in the state.
Ambassador Lolo, a retired Permanent Secretary in the Federal service, who was the arrowhead of the intervention, was very grateful to the President and the Federal Government for the timely intervention, to rescue the community which he said was persistently being harassed by erosion and which was on the verge of being swept away by flood.