31st May, 2024
By Maduabuchi Nmeribeh/Katsina
Katsina state Governor, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, on Wednesday, said the priorities of his administration are to reduce the level of poverty and fight insecurity in the state.
He expressed his determination to ensure that all residents, particularly, women and youths in Katsina are empowered to become self-reliant.
Governor Radda stated this, during a Press Conference in Katsina Government House, where he unveiled the achievements of his administration towards reducing poverty in the state from May 29, 2023 to date.
According to him: ”We came up with a lot of strategies towards reducing poverty in the state. t is true that you don’t need anybody to tell you that there’ is poverty.
“We also understood that the problem of insecurity is attached to the problem of banditry and criminalities that we have in our region. We promised to approach the problem in two ways, kinetic and non-kinetic approach.
“If you are unable to stop or to reduce poverty and provide the teeming youths job opportunities, it will be very difficult to address the issue of insecurity.”
He said the state government established the Katsina State Enterprise Development Agency to provide support to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMSEs), especially micro and small businesses.
To achieve this feat, Governor Radda said his administration has set aside N3.4 billion, in collaboration with the Bank of Industries as managers.
He further stated that: “Just in the last three weeks, we launched the training of 3,000 youths across the state on mechatronics, who would be attached to various workshops.
“After their graduation, we will support them to set up their own workshops, so that they can provide job opportunities for our teeming youths in the state.”
Governor Radda added that the state government was presently trying to put in place community centres in all villages that will be saddled with the responsibility of all the development and provision of employment and support to the teeming young, men and women in all the localities.
He added that, “we are concentrating on the frontline and vulnerable local governments so that the government will address that issue squarely.
“Second way of fighting poverty is to improve productivity. Agriculture is our major occupation, that is why we created Katsina State Irrigation authority. The aim is to have all year-round irrigation farming in the state, that will reduce redundancy, and keep everybody busy.”.
He pointed out that to achieve or increase productivity , farmers have to be sensitised on farming as a business,”when we came to power, there were only 72 extension workers in the state, but now there are722.
“Just yesterday (Tuesday) in we gave each of them a motorcycle and other equipment to enable them move around to enlighten farmers on the way to improve their productivity.
“We also launched the sales of about 20,000 metric tons of fertilizer to farmers in the state at a very subsidised price.
“These are some of the things that we are putting in place to engage the farmers, the youths and the locals to be more productive, reduce the level of poverty and improve their livelihood.”
Governor Radda added that also, the state government, through the KT-CARES, has supported over 6,100 farmers in the state.
“We also supported women and youths with items worth over N2.5billion to get them moving,” he said.
However, Governor Radda said his saddest moment was anytime he received calls that bandits have attacked a community, killed people, kidnapped others, burnt houses or raped women.
“My saddest moment is when I received calls that people were killed, houses burnt and women raped by bandits in a particular village. The only way to appreciate that is to put your shoes in their situation, and you will feel it.
“I have developed that feeling and it remained with me because my senior brother was killed by the bandits. He left behind three wives and 27 children,” he lamented.
Radda said that when his administration came on board, 22 out of the 34 Local Government Areas were severely affected by insecurity.
According to him, “by the time the government inaugurated the community security watch corps, the problem reduced drastically.”
He said due to the intense pressure being mounted on the criminals, they have now resorted to attacking residents of hard-to-reach areas in the night, making it difficult for the security operatives to respond easily.
Governor Radda advocated the creation of state police in the country, seeing as one on the best to fight insecurity.
Governor Radda said: “Before I became a governor, I was a critic of the state police. It is now that I see the importance of that,” he said.
Governor Radda regretted that bad eggs in the society were affecting the ongoing efforts in the fight against insecurity in the state.
“There was a village head who was arrested for collecting N700,000 to allow bandits to attack the village and killed over 30 people,” he said.
According to him, the only way to address the problem was to use technology.
Speaking further on his one year anniversary, Governor Radda said though the government has recorded some achievements, the stage is set for more work so as to ensure adequate dispensation of democratic dividends to the people.
“As a governor, I have set myself a very high target. I always make sure that the right person gets the right thing. That is why I moved away from an era of favouritism, lobbying, political consideration and making sure that our approach to government is to reach the people at the bottom of the pyramid,” he added.
According to him, recently, the government offered foreign scholarships to over 40 students who were children of the poor based on merit, adding that the government also recruited over 7,000 teachers based on merit.
He solicited for the support of the good people of Katsina state, promising to always ensure that administration carry out projects and programmes that have direct bearing on the lives of the masses.