Laleye Dipo in Minna
Under the Rural Access and Mobility Programme (RAMP), the Niger State Government has said that it has rehabilitated 176 kilometres of rural roads and constructed 20 bridges to facilitate linkages between several communities in the state.
The government also said it was working out modalities for surface dressing of these roads “due to traffic build up on the routes to also increase their lifespan”.
Speaking at the flag off of the construction/rehabilitation of rural roads under the second phase of the implementation of the Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP-2) at Kampani Bobi in the Mariga Local Government Area of the state on Monday, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said 403 kilometres of rural roads would be affected in the phase.
Bello said the roads were spread across the three senatorial districts of the state, adding that: “This no doubt represents a significant milestone in our drive towards improving the socio-economic lives of the rural dwellers in Niger State.
“I therefore urge the benefiting communities to take ownership of these roads and ensure their maintenance through effective minor early repairs so that they would get the maximum advantage of this gesture by the state government.”
He assured the people that all bottlenecks that would hinder the timely implementation of the project would be removed for their prompt benefit.
“We will also continue to pay all our counterpart contributions to development partners for all projects in critical areas,” he said.
The governor also said emphatically that government would continue to seek for partnership and collaboration with reputable development and donor agencies “to ensure accelerated development of the critical sectors of the state such as security, health care delivery, education, infrastructure and agriculture”.
He expressed gratitude to the federal government “our development partners including the World Bank and the French Development Agency (FDA) for their tremendous support to the implementation of the project”.
He recalled that in order to boost and mechanise farming activities in the state, a 130-tractor loan scheme was inaugurated at the flag off of the farming season this year, adding that the early sale of fertiliser to farmers at drastically reduced prices would lead to increase in food production.
The coordinator of RAMP, who is also the Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Haruna Duku, disclosed that under the first phase of the scheme, seven local government areas were covered, adding that in the second phase, the programme would spread across more local government areas in the three senatorial zones.
The RAMP programme, Duku said, “will improve transport conditions and bring about sustained access to the rural population through rehabilitation and maintenance of key rural roads”.
He also said the government would reposition agriculture through the early release of farm inputs.
The World Bank in an address by its National Coordinator, Alhaji Mohammed Ubandoma, said $60 million had been set aside for the construction of the 579 kilometers of rural roads under RAMP in the 25 local government areas of the state before the end of 2019.