Residents of Zamfara State have accused Governor Abdul-Aziz Yari of allegedly awarding contracts worth N10.2billion for the dualisation and construction of a bye-pass road in his hometown from the state’s share of the funds from the Paris Club refund.
The Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Abdullahi Shinkafi, had, in a joint statement with the Commissioner for Budget, Alhaji Ibrahim Magaji, said that the state Executive Council had, during its meeting, approved the construction of the 14.75kilometre Danfako-Bobo-MarafaColony Bye-Pass Road at the cost of N3,829 billion while the dualisation, street lighting and the culverts for the same road would gulp N6,299 billion.
The award of the contract has, however, continued to generate negative reactions from the residents living in other parts of the state.
Has he (the governor) forgotten that all the people of Zamfara voted for him during the election?
Many of them claimed that thousands of pensioners from the state and local government service, who were being owed, might have been edged out of the cushion provided by the Paris Club refund.
Pensioners in the state had recently staged a peaceful demonstration in front of the Government House, Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, to protest nonpayment of their entitlements.
A resident, Malam Inuwa Abdullahi, said it was political naivety on the part of Governor Yari to spend so much of the state’s share of the refund on projects sited within his hometown while neglecting other parts of the state.
“How could our governor have taken such an unwise decision? He should have known that people in the other parts of the state would raise eye brow. He needs to find a way out of this, it is not a politically sound decision,” he said.
Another resident, Shehu Malami, said, “How would you expect me to turn a blind eye to what the governor has done when even my own area, like those of the other people, have been neglected and our people are suffering?”
Also, worried about the contracts award to the governor’s home town are some residents of Bukkuyum and Maradun local government areas, where the roads linking them to the other parts of the state have been in deplorable state.
A resident, Abdulkadir Ahmad said, “Our roads here are in a terrible state; we can’t even travel out of this place freely because of this and yet the governor would splash such a huge amount on projects sited only in his own area?
Has he forgotten that all the people of Zamfara voted for him during the election?” A political analyst, who pleaded anonymity, also faulted the state government for allegedly spending such a large sum on projects in the governor’s country home at the expense of others, saying it was “a clear act of nepotism.”
According to him, democracy in Zamfara State has become non-existent because the government has over looked equity and fair play in the distribution of state resources.
“The act of nepotism by the governor is very glaring, even in the allocation of key government positions as his local government has about 10 permanent secretaries, while some local governments have only one,” he said.
Meanwhile, pensioners in the state said they were planning to resort to intensive prayers to seek divine intervention over the non-payment of their entitlements if they were still being owed by the end of this month.
The Secretary of the state Pensioners Association, Mr. Abba Dankande, stated that the only option left for them was to resort to spiritual intervention through prayers to enable them to collect their entitlements from the state government.
“Since we have done everything humanly possible and the government is not yielding, we have decided to resort to prayers and spiritual intervention to collect our dues and entitlements from the government,” Dankande said.
When contacted, the state Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Umaru Jibo, declined to comment on the criticisms trailing the award of the contracts for the road projects in the governor’s hometown.
Jibo, however, referred our correspondent to the state Ministry of Works, saying, “The project is under the supervision of works ministry.”
