Written by
Concerned Citizens of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states
(I had wanted that they name some of their leaders, bcos they said the minds of people in the above mentioned states).
Dear Mr. President,
We write on behalf of the many concerned indegenes of Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara states who stood by you through thick and thin from the day you registered your interest to contest for the highest position in the country back in 2003 up till today. The people from this sub-region held you in high regard, believed in your vision, supported your cause, prayed for your success, cried with you, and rejoiced when you eventually won the election in 2015. Mr. President, you must have seen the videos of wide jubilations and celebrations by people of these states when you were announced by the INEC as the winner of the last presidential election.
The main reason for their jubilations and celebration, Mr. President, was the hope – this great optimism – that their suffering as a people would be over with an honest man now at the helm of their affairs. They believed that the years spent plying the deadly traps called roads were over. They were optimistic that the acute shortage of power that crippled their businesses would soon become history and the era of families being choked to death by generator smoke would, in a short while, become a thing of the past. Farmers in the region were overjoyed having the belief that the railway lines would soon arrive into their villages and their perishable goods would get to any part of the country without losing half of the produce for lack of quick access to the markets. This was also the joy of other travellers in these states who were anxiously waiting for the railway lines that would simplify their sojourn to different parts of the country for business, leisure and other reasons.
Mr. President, while your government is making huge investments in the area of infrastructural development, especially roads, railway and power, the people of Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara states are dismayed having noticed that they are marginalised in the distribution of these developmental projects. The opinion leaders, as well as the ordinary citizens, in the state have noticed this neglect of the sub-region in the Federal Government’s appropriation acts of 2016 and 2017 when allocations were made for major infrastructural development projects across the country with the exception of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states. However, in the people’s high regard for your person and our well-known character of decorum in dealing with our leaders, we deemed it necessary to be patient with your government and regard the omission of our states in all major projects in the past as an oversight, which we thought would be corrected in the year 2018.
Alas, your new year speech left us with no doubt that your government, for some inexplicable reasons, does not consider these states as worthy of your priority in terms of projects allocation and execution. No major Federal Project is currently under construction in these loyal APC states during your tenure as president with a little more than one year remaining of your first term in office. In your 24-minutes speech, not a single mention was made of any town or village from these three states confirming our fears that we are not really part of the larger plans of your government. We find it difficult to understand why the Federal Government is carrying out – and have earmarked – railway projects, road dualisation projects, power infrastructural development across the country with the exclusion of these three states.
To give you few examples in two different sectors, your Excellency:
Road Projects:
1. Four road projects are outlined for the Northwest region from the N100 Billion Sukuk budget and not a single kilomitre is to be executed in Sokoto, Kebbi, or Zamfara.
2. Contracts have been awarded for the dualisation and expansion of the Federal Roads linking the other four states of the northwestern region in the 2016 and 2017 appropriation acts, again with the exclusion of Sokoto, Kebbi, and Zamfara.
3. Several other road dualisation projects were issued across the country with the exception of our three states, Mr. President.
Railway Projects:
As highlighted in your 2018 new year speech, the following projects are earmarked across the country.
1. Lagos-Kano Standard Gauge Railway.
2. Kano-Kaduna segment of number one above.
3. Port Harcourt to Maiduguri line covering Aba, Owerri, Umuahia, Enugu, Awka, Abakaliki, Makurdi, Lafia, Jos, Bauchi, Gombe, Yola and Damaturu.
4. Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic passing through Kazaure, Daura, Katsina, Jibia to Maradi.
5. Lagos to Calabar the “Coastal Rail” through Ore, Benin, Agbor, Asaba, Onitsha, Sapele, Ughelli, Warri, Yenagoa, Otuoke, Port Harcourt, Aba, Uyo and Calabar.
6. Abuja to Itakpe through Baro and terminate in Warri with construction of a new seaport at Warri.
Mr. President, these are just a few examples of how your government keeps ignoring the three states in all your infrastructural development plans since you became the president. The three states were not captured in both the roads and the railway projects shortlisted.
We still believe that there is time for the president to make amends in the few months that remain until the end of his tenure. Hence, we call the attention of his Excellency on some of the major works that the old Sokoto state region is currently in dire need of. These projects are in line with the government’s vision of ‘renewing and increasing Nigeria’s stock of infrastructure in order to achieve global economic competitiveness as targeted under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan’, as stated in your new year speech.
Road Projects:
1. Dualisation of Sokoto – Zaria Road
2. Rehabilitation of Sokoto – Jega- Yauri – Kontagora Road
3. Rehabilitation of Mararrabar Birnin-Yauri – Rijau – Zuru – Daki Takwas
4. Rehabilitation of Argungu – Kangiwa – Kamba Road
Railway projects:
1. Reactivation of Zaria – Funtua – Gusau – Kaura lines in the short term; standard gauge line in the long term.
2. Standard gauge line, Gusau – Sokoto – Illela with exit line to Birni-N’Konni in the Niger Republic.
3. Standard gauge line, Sokoto – Birnin Kebbi – Jega – Yauri – Kontagora – Minna
4. Standard gauge line, Jega – Kamba – Malanville in the Benin Republic.
Power Projects:
1. Request for construction of new line from the existing 330kV in Kebbi to Sokoto-Gusau-Katsina/Kaduna
2. New transmission stations in Argungu, Sokoto, Bukkuyum, and Gusau to boost power supply in these areas.
3. Immediate installation of a new power transformer to improve power supply in the Zamfara state capital and environs. Power supply in the capital has deteriorated for some time now due to absence of a capable transformer to serve the capital city.
We believe that this is not not too much to ask for from the government considering the many projects allocated to other regions of the country since the inception of your administration. We are not requesting that we should be treated better than the others because we come from the same region with the President, but just asking for fair treatment.
We chose to call your attention on what bothers the people here, with the hope that our calls will be answered. This would further boost your popularity in the region and silence those who are anxiously waiting to use this to desuade millions of voters in the region. It would also give our elected representatives and supporters from the region some references in selling the mandate and candidates of your party in the forthcoming election.
We appreciate the challenges the country is facing from all fronts and we commend the government for its efforts in tackling the many problems bedevilling the nation. We pray to Allah (SWT) to guide our leaders aright in steering the ship of this country to the Promised Land.
Many thanks, Sir.
Yours faithfully,
Concerned Citizens of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states.