Posted by By Bala Dan Abu on
Ali Modu Sheriff, governor of Borno State explains why he is in a hurry to develop the state
Ali Modu Sheriff, governor of Borno State explains why he is in a hurry to develop the state
Governor Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State knows his people have waited too long for the dividends of democracy and did not get it from the previous administration. "That is why I am in a hurry to turn things around. Our people have suffered needlessly for too long and I am determined to make the difference."
Sheriff who spoke in Maidiguri when he hosted a group of senior journalists and editors from Lagos, said nothing will alter his determination and concern for the suffering people.
Sheriff's administration is pursuing an aggressive water supply programme. Everywhere in the state, engineers are busy doing water boreholes. In central Maiduguri not less than 20 of these boreholes have been completed. During the visit, youths and adults were busy savouring the joy of the arrival of a borehole in many places in the city. That is in the areas where the facility had just been completed. In several other places, the facility had been completed and had become a welcome part of the community it is meant to serve.
If you thought that water is the priority of the Sheriff administration, then come to the 777 housing scheme in Maidiguri. The houses are the best any government can give its people. And, as Sheriff told the journalists, the houses, especially, their quality is a testimony of his concern for his people. "I don't believe in half measures. What is worth doing is worth doing well. My people deserve nothing but the best that government can afford."
Sheriff's programme of development is not limited to the state capital alone. In fact whatever facility is provided in Maidiguri is replicated in all the local governments. The water scheme has reached virtually all communities in the local governments.
There are also elaborate health, agricultural, especially irrigation programmes in the state. Hospitals which never had tools to work with have been revived with modern equipment. Every local government now has a general hospital. They never had before. Communities and wards now have functional clinics. The provision of water in the rural areas has enhanced irrigation and farmers are now smiling home from their farm with good farm yields.
Education in the state has benefited tremendously from the rehabilitation programme of the Borno State government. Education has been given a new emphasis and the desire among the youths to go to school has grown. In reaction, Sheriff has expanded school facilities to take care of the new reality.
Roads have been another area of remarkable achievement by the government. In the state capitals, over 20 roads are under construction waiting to be tarred. Sheriff told journalists that the engineers handling the project had told him that the road project would be completed before December ending.
Despite all that the governor has achieved, political opponents who he called "Abuja politicians" are engaged in plots to spread false information about what the government has achieved, "I know it is a political strategy targeted at the 2007 governorship race. But let the time come and we shall know the stand of the people. There is no room for politicians who only come to the state when the president is visiting. I'm a people's man and they are all with me."