The governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umar Bago, has declared that the state is too endowed with natural and human resources to be poor, promising that his administration is poised to harness the potentials of the state.
Bago vowed to rid the state of insecurity and create a conducive environment for investors to come in and tap the abundant resources, stressing that the security challenges would derail Niger’s development strides.
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The governor stated these at an interactive session with journalists covering the House of Representatives at the end of a two-day retreat on climate change organised by the state government in Minna.
He stated that Niger State is the largest in terms of land mass in Nigeria, with about 76,300 square kilometres of arable land, four hydropower dams, and the only white sand beach in West Africa, the Shagunu Beach.
Bago also said Niger has the largest congregation of shea trees in the world, two major rivers, and the highest producer of paddy rice, adding that steps have already been taken by the state government to harness these potentials.
“There is also Zuma Rock and a lot more that people don’t know about. I have come here today to tell you that with this partnership we are establishing, we need to spread the gospel. Let people understand where we stand. What people understand about Niger State is the issue of insecurity and insurgency.
“We have two major rivers. On the left side, the River Niger, and on the right side, the River Kaduna Niger is the only state with this endowment. You can navigate from Baro until you get to the Atlantic.
“So, Niger State is not supposed to be poor. Now we have been given the opportunity to write history but we don’t want to write it alone.
“Yes, we cannot shy away from insecurity, it is a reality but what percentage of our land is in that mess? Very insignificant. You cannot underscore the fact that lives are being lost but we are saying that we are working assiduously to make sure that everybody lives well in Niger State and in Nigeria at large,” he said.
Bago also said the state government has acquired 200 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses for free and subsidised transportation of students and civil servants respectively, adding contracts have been awarded for 566km roads across the state.
He said the two-day Green Economy Summit being hosted by the state government today will provide further opportunity for the state’s resources to be explored.
“We are holding the first-of-its kind green economy summit because we have seen the comparative advantage we have in this state. So much money is out there, and the only way we can access carbon credits is when we first aggregate our forests and trade them in exchange for emissions by multinational companies.
“I went for peer review in Kano because Niger State is the largest producer of paddy rice in Nigeria, but our rice mills are nothing to write home about. I heard of the largest rice mill in Africa in Kano, and I went for a peer review, and it is something that is massive.
“So how do we take comparative advantage of that? We will first aggregate this paddy and trade it off to these people instead of them coming here to carry it for free, and our people are losing. We want to empower our local farmers with improved seedlings and inputs so that they can produce more tonnage and also make more money.
“We are going to have an MOU between Niger State Development Company and Gerawa Rice Mill for the offtake of all rice paddy that we can control so that we are sure that our farmers don’t lose”, the governor said.