• Says 50% of women will make his appointment
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Bago, connecting the dots in a press briefing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after meeting with President Bola Tinubu, related the persisting insecurity in his state to the illegal efforts of some individuals to gain control of the vast and valuable mineral resources present there.
This is even as he affirmed that his government will pursue every necessary measure to tap into the state’s significant mineral reserves for the benefit of the people.
In response to inquiries regarding the persisting security challenges in his state by State House Correspondents, Bago shared that a constructive partnership had formed with security agencies to restore tranquillity to all areas of the state. This would, in turn, enable the revival of the agricultural sector, which is the primary source of livelihood for the people.
The governor, who said he was in the Villa to reiterate his commitment to President Tinubu’s success in office, as well as congratulate him over the successful election process in the National Assembly leadership, said his administration would be working, through the state’s Ministry of Mining, to take advantage of the mineral endowment in the state.
“We are endowed as a state with a lot of mineral deposits and is not only related to the insecurity issues, most of the places where you see these banditry are places where you have lithium or gold. So a lot of these activities are kind of associated to why the banditry is springing up.
“However, yes, we will harness our mineral potential, we don’t intend to come to Abuja every month to collect FAAC or JACK or whatever you call it. As a State we have to put all the things in order so that we can harness these potentials.
“Now the state also has an SPV. The State Mining Corporation, where we’re hoping to have an MOU or synergy with other mining companies so that we can harness that potential and I assure you the next one year we will come out tops.
“If you’ll agree with me Niger State has a lot of ungoverned spaces and we are agrarian and in our strength is agriculture. So, we intend to cultivate most of your ungoverned land.
“We have a lot of body of water across the state, we want to encourage our irrigation farming and that is why we are collaborating with Mr. President, to ensuring that the agric potential of Niger State is tapped very well.
“So, we will harness them. However, in the interim, we were working with security agencies in making sure that we curb this menace and by the grace of God we will come out tops”, he said.
Responding to a question on how his government intends to ensure the inclusion of women in government in Niger State, Bago said he already issued an executive order, which ensures women are made secretaries of local government councils, besides the plan to ensure that women should have more than just 35% affirmative.
“First and foremost we have issued an executive order to change all the secretaries of the local government councils to be female, that we’re going to implement in the next local government council, it is compulsory that at least all the vice chairmen of local government will come out as female, that is one.
“Secondly, I have just made five appointments and I promise that the next one will be female. So you should be watching out for that. So we are not going to even stick to 35 percent, we will have 50-50 if needs arise”, he said.
Speaking on the question of addressing the out-of-school-children menace, the governor said “it is still associated with this insecurity, and we are bringing technology to learn. Thank God for COVID-19 meetings can be held you know, virtually. So we will deploy lending facilities to areas that are mostly affected so that we can put students back into schools. So, I agree that a lot of these out of school children will be enrolled back to school”.