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Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, has called on the federal government to provide basic infrastructural facilities to the people of the state, so as to ensure smooth running to the government.
Dankwambo made this demand in Gombe during a chat with journalists on assessment visit to the state.
The governor also said that Gombe State government was expecting a refund of N620 billion expended on the Kanawa-kuri-Jorogutel road, which was constructed by the Dankwambo-led administration from the federal government.
He noted that the 54killometers road with some connecting access roads links to the most fertile part of the state in terms of agriculture and other resources, thereby was considered a priority projects by the state government within the first two years of his administration.
The governor said basic facilities such as water supply, access roads and a federal secretariat should be made available for the effective functioning of every government, thereby urging the federal government to spread infrastructures across all states of the federation so as to give every Nigerian state a sense of belonging.
According to him, lack of a federal secretariat in the state had resulted to pressure on the few building available which in-turn inflates the costs of rent.
“The federal government is bringing its offices here, the federal government requires an office, if they don’t have a secretariat there will be too much pressure on the few houses that are around and that will inflate costs,” he said.
The governor disclosed that the population of residents in the state have increased recently due to influx of people from neighbouring states facing security challenges, maintaining that the working environment which had been made available to virtually all the states of the federation should also be built in Gombe State.
“Federal government secretariat which is a working environment that is there in all states should be made available to all the states, spread in development should also be encouraged so that everybody should feel the impact of being one nation, one destiny. For government to function it requires to have certain things and these things are basic, so what we are saying is that certain basic things that are ordinarily the threshold should be provided and must be provided,” he added.
Dankwanbo who noted that the state government couldn’t charge water rate due to poor supply of the facility, said influx of migrants from neighbouring states has forced the state to pump its treated water four times on daily basis as against only one time, which has also increased the cost of maintenance.
“I cannot even charge water rates unlike in some other places where water is already provided, dams have been built and piped. We now run the water four times, and monthly or quarterly costs of maintenance is about N242 million, we used to pump the water only once, but because of the influx of people into Gombe from neighbouring states that are in one kind of situation or the other, we pump the water four times now on a daily basis, so these are all the kind of pressures on us which also reduces our efforts to ensure that other areas that do not have water has,” he added.
He however urged the federal government to ensure notable federal presence in the state to as to ease the burden on the state government, as that some states of the federation were already enjoying infrastructures provided by the federal government and even collecting taxes on some.
“What is different in some other states is that facilities are there that you will tighten the controls around it and generate revenue, there’s no need to build Victoria Island all over again, there’s no need to build Ikoyi all over again, the houses are there, federal government built them there a long time ago. But we are not lamenting because we are coming-up too, and one day we will get to where they are, the most important thing is that we are optimally using the little resources we have to maximize benefits for our people, like you have seen, our objectives targets general upliftment of the welfare of our people,” he concluded.
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