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Investing
in the Future of Nasarawa State
Speech by his Excellency, the first civilian governor of Nasarawa
State, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu (Sarkin Yakin Keffi) on the occasion of the first
Nasarawa State Economic Summit on 26th October, 1999.
It is with a sense of fulfillment
and commitment to the cause of regenerating the vision for the
creation of Nasarawa State, that I welcome you to the First
Economic Summit of the State and the first to be organised by any
State in the Country.
When we took over the mantle of
leadership of our state, amongst other things, I enunciated the
objectives of this administration to be:
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the evolution of a clear
socio-cultural philosophy, coherent principles and ethics
for the achievements of stability, good government,
transparency and accountability, and the efficient
management of resources;
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rapid development of basic
infrastructures in the urban and rural areas;
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enthronement of equity,
justice and fair-play in the conduct of government
business;
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the refocusing of the
collective energy of the people for self actualisation in
the context of self-help and self-sustenance;
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rapid educational,
industrial, agricultural and economic development of the
state;
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the empowerment of all
segments of the society as a catalyst for poverty
alleviation;
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The refocusing and
reorganisation of the entire Government machinery to be
responsive to the yearnings of the people and to
inculcate the culture of faster turn-around time in the
implementation of Government policies.
These are no doubt, lofty
objectives which the administration is jealously committed to
implementing through our various programmes and specific
projects.
There is controversy on whether
five months in the life of a Government that has a 4-year mandate
is sufficient time to appraise its performance. Whatever opinions
may be expressed on the issue, I am happy to account for our
modest performance so far. This we have done in order to provide
necessary foundation on which general economic activities can
take off and also prosper.
WATER SUPPLY
When I assumed duties in the
state, nearly all facilities and infrastructures had collapsed.
Water supply had become an amenity of yester-years. Happily, we
have been able to reactivate water schemes in Keana, Nasarawa,
Nassarawa-Eggon and Lafia town and are looking at new schemes in Mararaba, Karu and
Masaka. Water supplies in Keffi, Akwanga and
Doma which were earlier commissioned are still in good working
condition. Furthermore, Government is determined to ensure
comprehensive potable water supply to all our major settlements.
Our rural water supply scheme is
also in progress as we are providing boreholes in different
settlements around the state. This is expected to serve as
necessary infrastructure for small and
medium scale enterprises.
ROADS
Our road network programme has
been well conceived and articulated and will commence during this
last quarter of the year as the rains recede. This shall further
open up areas with huge mineral deposits, agriculture and
livestock production capacity.
EDUCATION.
There is no doubt that the quality
of education of any society determines to a large extent the
capacity of its citizenry to chart a sustainable course of
development.
Regrettably however, prior to the
assumption of office of this administration, our primary,
secondary and tertiary institutions were at varying stages of
decay. Given this pitiful state of our educational
infrastructures, this administration took urgent steps to build
two additional classrooms in all the Local Government Areas of
the State; establish two Science Secondary Schools in each of our
three Senatorial districts, purchase basic science equipment
worth about thirty million naira for the schools and acquire
learning materials including exercise books for distribution free
to our schools.
To further raise the morale of our
school teachers, their salaries were enhanced and are promptly
being paid with various allowances introduced to encourage
productivity.
Plans to establish a State
University are also in place. This is expected to produce
graduates needed to meet up with the quality manpower
requirements of the state.
HEALTH
The Health Sector also had its own
share of unbridled neglect by the preceding Governments in the
state. While health care services were not within reach of an
average citizen of Nasarawa State where hospitals and Health
Centres existed, the out-of-stock syndrome was the order rather
than the exception. In order to reverse this prohibitive
situation, this Government established General Hospitals in Akwnaga, Wamba,
Keana, Obi, Awe, Nassarawa Eggon and Nasarawa
Local Government Areas.
In addition, Government has
supplied essential drugs, dressings and reagents to all Hospitals
in the state.
POWER SUPPLY.
One of the greatest deterrents to
viable economic activity, investment and industrialisation is the
absence of steady and reliable power supply to oil the engine of
development. Until the coming of this Administration on 29/5/99,
Lafia the capital of Nasarawa State did not have sufficient
energy supply to stimulate economic activities. One of the
greatest challenges was to radically change the situation. And by
the Grace of God, this administration has been able to improve
the situation tremendously. The contract for linking Obi, Awe and
Keana to the National Grid awarded two years ago and which
suffered set back due to natural frustration has been re-awarded.
We have been assured of immediate continuation and early
completion of work on the project. When connected, that will
complete the circle of power supply network in the state.
Investors are assured that power supply in major towns in
Nasarawa State is reliable. Our Rural Electrification programme
is forging ahead to give electricity to the Rural populace
preparatory to the commencement of our Rural Small Scale
Industrial Policy Implementation.
Nasarawa is basically a rural
state with much of its population living in rural areas. It has a
land area of 27,116.8 square kilometers with a population of
about three million people. It is also one of the leading food
producing states of the federation. With this combination of
arable land mass with a vibrant population of three million
people the state can boast of human and natural resources for
agriculture and agro-allied Industries.
The state is also supporting the
federal Government policy on agriculture to boost production. In
anticipation of surplus production therefore, the State is also
in liaison with the Federal Government to reactivate the silos
projects in Akwanga to prepare it for the storage of surplus
grains. We wish to use this opportunity to call on private sector
operators to come and establish small and medium scale food
processing industries to cater for our large domestic market as
well as for export.
Distinguished participants,
Resource Persons, ladies and gentlemen, you will wish to note
that Nasarawa State is the closest state to and has the largest
border area with the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, with such
growing towns as Karu, Mararaba and Masaka. These areas witness
relatively high level of commercial activities because of the
density of the population of residents there that heed to our
call to live in Karu while working in the Federal Capital.
Investment in property development around this neighbour-hood is
very attractive. The private sector is therefore invited to
strongly participate in this venture.
SOLID MINERALS
Our State as you know, is called
"The Home of Solid Minerals". This is in conformity
with the endowment of abundant solid minerals resources that is
available within our borders.
In realisation of these
potentials, Government has taken a step to actually undertake a
study of a selected number of mineral deposits and their
occurrences in order to determine their commercial quantity and
quality to avail interested investors. Bearing in mind the
Capital intensive nature of exploration Government had to take
this initiative as an incentive to investors. At the moment, the
current investigation is being limited to Salt, Byrites, Marbles
and Limestone. We are optimistic that by the end of this year
these studies would have been concluded.
I therefore, use this opportunity
to urge the Federal Government to remove duties on Mining
equipment. This is necessary to further encourage investors to
exploit the large mineral deposits that exist in our state and
Nigeria at large because as it has been said elsewhere
"Solid Minerals are the Gold Mine of the New
Millennium". We must therefore lay the necessary
infrastructure to maximise the benefit derivable from this
natural resource.
TOURISM
Tourism is also a sector that is
awaiting exploitation because of the abundant tourism potentials
that exist in the state. Hotel development sector of the economy
in Nasarawa State is still virgin. Apart from the abundant
natural sites of tourism and industrial development, little has
been done to physically develop them. Some of the tourism
potentials include the Farin Ruwa Falls in Wamba Local Government
Area, Feferuwa Lake in Lafia Local Government for holiday resorts
development, Hunki ox-bow Lake, Akiri Warm Spring in Awe,
the Eggon Rollong Hills and Caves, and the Bakono Games Reserves
in Nasarawa Local Government.
Ladies and Gentlemen, on our part
Government has put in place various incentives to attract
investment to the state. The incentives that are currently in
place include the establishment of industrial layouts in Masaka
and Lafia, which will soon be provided with infrastructure to
facilitate allocation. Processing fees for these plots will be
reasonable and the maximum period for granting Certificate of
Occupancy is within five weeks of application. In addition
elaborate legal frame work for a conducive investment climate is
being worked out. These include adequate security measures to
protect investors’ lives and property, liberal taxation
regime with adequate incentives and waivers for pioneer
investors, amongst others.
Also, the State Investment Company
has just been restructured and strengthened to make it pro-active
and thus meet the new challenges of development. I therefore wish
to assure that the state is eager to welcome investors and give
them maximum support required of Government to create the
enabling environment and climate for investment to flourish. So
any investor wishing to establish in the state can now approach
the State Investment and Development Company for necessary
guidance.
Ladies and Gentlemen, given the
above scenario, I believe that you can now appreciate our
decision to organise an Economic Summit for Nasarawa State. One
of the many objectives as you can see is to expose our abundant
resources in the minerals, agriculture, commerce, tourism and
livestock to would-be investors and urge them to discuss freely
their areas of interests with the relevant arms of Government for
possible areas of cooperation.
It is hoped that at the end of the
summit an economic and industrial blue print will be produced,
that will launch Nasarawa State into the comity of economically
strong, viable, industrial states of the Federation. I want to
urge all participants and investors to use this summit to freely
discuss areas of mutual interest in the state. Let me assure all
investors, that Nasarawa State the "Home of Solid
Minerals" is also the home of hospitality,peace, business
and it is also investor-friendly. Government is prepared for
joint venture investments in all sectors of its economy with
local, national or foreign investors. But we will also welcome
full private initiative and participation in any area of
interest.
In conclusion, I wish to
congratulate the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperative
for bringing this cream of personalities, businessmen, investors
and resource persons to our young state.
I wish you all happy deliberations
and safe return back to your destinations.
Thank you and God bless.
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