…as State Executive Council approves hosting of 6th national council on mining in Lafia
The Federal Government has approved the construction of two dams in Lafia and Tide, as well as the completion of the Farin Ruwa project for hydropower generation, irrigation and water supply.
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State confirmed this development when he presided over a state executive council meeting which held at the Government House on Thursday.
The Governor tendered before the council a letter of approval from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, signed by the Minister, Engr. Prof. Joseph Terlumun Utsev, for the construction of a dam each in Lafia and Tide, as well as the completion of the Farin Ruwa project for the purposes of hydropower generation, irrigation and water supply.
According to him, the Minister wrote to inform the state government about the projects, while also requesting for support in the areas of community sensitisation, compensation, and security for the sites of the projects.
Governor Sule equally presented another letter before the council from the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, requesting him to approve to host the sixth edition the National Council on Mining and Mineral Resources Development in Lafia in August this year.
Alake said in the letter that Nasarawa State is selected to host the national council on mining and mineral resources for the years 2024 and 2025 because of the prominent role the state is playing in the area of solid minerals development.
“Accordingly, and with your prominence in solid minerals development, I write to request Your Excellency to graciously approve the hosting of the combined 2024/25 edition of the council meeting to be held in August 2025. In case August is not convenient, we work with whatever date that His Excellency is giving us because we want to ensure that the event is held in Nasarawa State,” part of the letter reads.
The council also deliberated on the planned visit by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the state to commission some projects as part of activities marking his second year in office.
The Governor disclosed that he is in receipt of communication indicating that the President is willing to visit Nasarawa State between 16th and 25th of June, urging members of the council to immediately commence efforts to prepare for the event.
“I received a call during the weekend that Mr. President gave us dates to select and to get back to him to confirm. He gave us a wide range and asked us to select. He said that he is willing to come to Nasarawa State to commission these projects on any date that we select between the 16th and 25th of June. I just selected 24th June in order to give us enough time to plan. The essence of the meeting since I am going to travel, is to ensure that I leave a very good preparation on ground so that we would be ready even from the 15th that he has given, in case we get a feedback from him for a later date. We will discuss the projects during the course of the meeting,” he added.
Also, as part of the agenda for the meeting, the Governor brought up the issue of the N9.75bn refund from the Federal Government for taking over ownership of the Lafia Airport, now known as Usman Dan Fodio Airport.
He briefed the council about his earlier meeting with critical stakeholders where it was decides to deploy the refund towards completing the Kwandere-Sabon Gida Road.
“The consensus during the meeting was that we should try as much as possible to utilise that airport properly. And the only way you can get that airport properly utilised is for us to continue with the construction of the road between Kwandere and Sabongida. Originally, the contract was given for surface dressing only. Surface dressing of that road is not going to take us much before the road goes bad. I invited the contractor to give us three options. One of the options that is going to be the most expensive is where you will construct the road to the level of national highways. Then we came up with a second option that is going to be the standard of the highway that you have, which the Chinese are doing at the moment, like the Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi highway. The third is the laterite base. We will discourse the amount during the course of this meeting,” he said.
Other issues brought up for discussion at the council meeting include the ongoing screening and verification of teachers already recruited by the erstwhile Teacher’s Service Commission (TSC), with the Governor disclosing that a consultant hired from Lagos to conduct the screening and verification exercise has discovered that over 3700 teachers were recruited instead of the approved 1000, as well as the appointment of administrators for development areas and inroads being recorded under the Nasarawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NSPHDA).
Governor Sule officially announced that he is handing over the affairs of the state to his deputy, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, as he proceed on a 10-day vacation to enable him observe this year’s holy pilgrimage to Makkah.
He urged the members of the council to accord the Acting Governor maximum cooperation.
Shortly after the council meeting, some members of the state executive council, led by the Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Ibrahim Tanko, briefed the Government House press crew on the resolutions adopted during the meeting.
Specially, the Commissioners of Works, Environment, Security, Water Resources, as well as the Executive Secretary NSPHDA took turns to brief journalists on the outcome of the council meeting.
Muazu Adamu Gosho, Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport, said the council has directed his ministry to liaise with relevant agencies and also meet with the contractor handling the Kwandere-Sabon Gida Road with a view to finalising negotiations and fine tuning the contract financing to enable work commence in earnest.
Princess Margaret Elayo, Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, said the council has given approval for the state to host the sixth edition of the national council on mining and mineral resources in August, with a committee being put in place to commence preparation to hold the council.
On his part, Usman Baba, Commissioner for Security and Sundry Matters announced that the council has resolved to crack down on Illegal mining activities in the state.
Dr. Usman Iskilu Saleh, Executive Secretary NSPHDA, updated the media on the activities of his agency, particularly on the preparations by the state towards meeting guidelines set by development partners such as the Dangote Foundation, UNICEF and Bill Gates Foundations, with Nasarawa State poised to win N1.7m in prize money.
Saleh disclosed that so far, 85 primary health care centres across the 147 wards in the state are undergoing revitalisation, with 3 namely PHC Akwanga, PHC Andaha and PHC Toto already completed.
