GOVERNOR FINTIRI IS SUCCEEDING AGAINST ALL ODDS.
By: Foya Puja
The economics of what didn’t happen is always appreciated; its value is also often disputed. Be that as it may, Adamawa State cannot be denied the sense of progress. During the aftermath of the elections that brought Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to office, we have continued to see the Governor make determined efforts to salvage the State from the precarious economic situations.
Governor Fintiri has proven himself to be a purposeful leader during his double stints as acting Governor by providing developments in all strata of life which has earned him the sobriquet “ATM”.
If there has been any political weapon that Governor Fintiri is using effectively to befuddle wailers it is his tremendous and visible projects spread across the State that is giving sleepless nights to those who choose to be deliberately blind and willfully deaf to acknowledge the exceptional commitment of the ATM Governor to making Adamawa Work again.
In times like this, criticism is like a tonic. It strengthens and invigorates. There is this axiom that “the only sure way to fend criticism is to do nothing and be nothing.” I have come to discover that unfair criticism emanates from people who are not in government. Those in the opposition feel it is even morally right to bring down the government because they are not in the corridors of power. This tendency gives enough nourishment to the ever-growing hatred and rumors flying all round.
In advanced societies, public service is seen and treated as a privilege. People are called upon to serve; they do so with humility and great commitment, and when it is all over, they move on to other things. The quantity surveyor returns to his or her quantity surveying or some other decent work; the lawyer to his or her wig and gown; the university teacher, to the classroom, glad to have been found worthy of State service. When and where necessary, as private citizens they are entitled to use the benefit of this experience to contribute to State development. They speak on matters of public importance not as is the case in Adamawa currently.
It must be noted that criticism is an indispensable ingredient of democracy; it can only be tolerated and managed by leaders. What should concern a democratically elected government is touching the lives of the people.
The people of Adamawa State know that the State is now on the path of development.
Governor Fintiri in less than 70 weeks in office has been inspiring by impacting positively on the lives of the people of the State.
He has proven, by all standards, to be a good manager, and has made significant progress in virtually all critical sectors as a leader who understands the art of governance. His unshakeable determination to walk the talk by translating into concrete reality the Fresh Air 11-Points Agenda became the source of pride to the good people of Adamawa State.
Let me agitate your minds by bringing to fore, sector by sector, key achievements made by the Fresh Air Administration of Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the ATM:-
URBAN RENEWAL AND BEAUTIFICATION
– Construction of 2000 Housing units at Malkohi and across the 21 Local Government Areas.
– Construction of the first ever flyover in the state situated at Total Filling Station Junction.
– Construction of the first ever grade interchange in the northeastern part of the country at the heart of the State Capital.
Construction of 4.4km Yola Township Roads in Yola South Local Government Area, which includes:
– Mafia Road with fall out drain –1.2km.
– Zumo Street and link – 0.75km.
– Mbamba Street – 1.0km.
– Doctors Quarters –1.0km
– Nyibango – Yolde Pate road with 2 span bridges – 3.185km.
– Construction of 2.1km Weekly Scope Road.
– Construction of 3.5km Numan Township Roads spanning across:
Izala – Gweda Mallam and
Rafa – Wayam roads, with storm water drainages and box culvert.
– Construction of 3.8km Jada Township Roads which includes:
Palace Road – 650m.
Cattle Market Road – 1.50km.
Prayer Ground – 1.32km
Duha Era Road – 800m and rehabilitation of 0.4km washout section along Jada-Mbulo road.
– Construction of 3.2km Hong Township Road at European Quarters.
ROAD PROJECTS
Road construction is going simultaneously around the state capital and environs, with the Bachure road construction at the forefront.
– Benue Street
– Kaduna
– Lusaka
– Abeakuta
– Ndaforo
– Philip Maken & Links 2.5km.
– Lagos Street – 1.5km
Falu Road and Links – 2.31km.
– Mambila and Jambutu Street – 2.7km.
– Old Government House Road and Links – 1.35km.
– Reconstruction of Bachure road – 3.185km.
– Rehabilitation of Nepa Road – 2.2km.
Completion of abandoned road projects:
– Completion of construction of selected roads in the Adamawa State University Mubi – 5.3km.
– Mubi Township roads phase II (12.55km).
– Some selected Ganye Township roads (Buwangal-sangasumi road) – 7.0km
Song Bridge and Approach Roads.
– Mustapha Ismail Street × Links in Jimeta.
– Construction of Additional Road and Links in Dougirei and part of Lekki Taba Street.
– Resumption of work on the construction of Kiri Junction, Kiri-Shelleng Road 37.5km.
– Pella – Maiha Road that was abandoned for more than 5 years.
ELECTRIFICATIONS
– Constituting a 1×7.5MvA 33/11KV Injection Sub-station with associated lines × installations of 6 No.500KV transformers at Army Barracks Road.
– Connection of Toungo Local Government Area to the National Grid after over 20 years of neglect.
– Reconnection of Madagali and Michika Local Government Areas to the National Grid after being disconnected for more than 5 years by the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents.
– Connection of Dumna Town in Guyuk Local Government Area to the National Grid.
– Installation of Traffic Lights at some selected junctions in the State Capital.
EMPLOYMENTS
– Reinstatement of 699 Batch D1 Teachers.
– Recruitment of over One Thousand Health Workers and 376 others who were hitherto suspended due to the faulty process of their recruitment by the past administration.
– Employment of One Thousand, One Hundred and Thirteen Technical Health Workers who will be deployed to the frontline of Health Security across the State.
HEALTH
– Launched the 10M Euro Solar Nigeria Project, aimed at providing electricity to Health facilities.
– Introduced free medical services to aged, pregnant women and children under 5 years old.
– Clearance and Transportation of Medical Equipment rotting away at the port for years.
– Total overhaul of Specialist Hospital Yola.
Renovation of Seven Primary Health Care Clinics.
– Renovation of Staff Quarters at Maiha Cottage Hospital.
– Renovation of Two Secondary Health Facilities.
– Procurement of Standard Modern Incinerators for Yola Specialist Hospital and Jada General Hospital.
– Ensuring the availability and unending supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs);
– Rehabilitation of Isolation Centres across the State and beefed up with unending medical supplies.
– Construction of Infectious Disease Control Centre, first in the North East.
– Prompt Payment of Health Workers’ Hazard Allowances.
– Donation of Three Months’ Salary by Governor AUF to help fight off the Novel Covid-19 pandemic in the State.
– Construction a 60 Bed capacity Cottage Hospital in Lamurde Local Government Area of Adamawa State first ever constructed.
– Construction of a 60-bed capacity Cottage Hospital in Shelleng after several years of neglect by previous administrations.
– Construction of a 60-bed befitting Cottage Hospital in Gombi Local Government Area to reduce the stress they always go through in going to Garkida to access medical services.
– Construction of Girei Cottage Hospital, 60 Bed capacity after staying for several years without a Secondary Medical facility.
EDUCATION (HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT)
Despite the fact that Governor Ahmadu umaru Fintiri meet education at a decline, he hurriedly revived it by introducing Free & Compulsory Education for Primary and Secondary School Students.
– Payment of WAEC, NABTEB, NBAIS and NECO for over 27,894 students across the State.
– Reintroduction of abandoned School Feeding Programs for both Primary and Secondary Schools.
– Keyed into BESDA initiative, a world bank funded program to reduce number of out of school children
Rehabilitation and Rebuilding of School Structures across the State.
– Construction and Rehabilitation of 80 schools in Fufore and Guyuk Local Government Areas in collaboration with UNICEF.
– Payment of matching grant to UBEC from 2016-2020 and access over 10 Billion to facilitate the construction and rehabilitation of 5000 classrooms across the State, most which have been completed.
– Scholarship for 60 Students to India to Study Engineering.
Rehabilitation of 5000 classrooms in Schools across the State.
– Approved the conversion of College for Legal Studies to a faculty of law at ADSU.
– Facilitating the conversion of Moddibbo Adama University of Technology Yola (MAUTECH) to a Conventional University that will make it possible for the institution to accommodate more courses and admit more students.
– Payment of Scholarship funds to Adamawa Students all over the Country.
The Governor also distributed Educational Materials to Public Schools across the State as follows:
PRIMARY SCHOOLS
– 1,800 Student Desk/Chairs.
– 21,000 Assorted Textbooks.
– 319 Teacher Table/Chairs.
– 6,000 Instructional Materials.
JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
– 46,440 STAN Assorted Textbooks.
– 27,750 Assorted Textbooks.
SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
– 22,400 Assorted Textbooks.
– 2,750 Students Desk/Chair.
– Laboratory Equipments.
– 19,950 Chemistry Textbooks.
– 8,830 Physics Textbooks.
– 6,790 Biology Textbooks.
– 800 First Aid Kits.
– 1,650 Double Bunks.
– 3,300 Student Mattresses.
WORKERS WELFARE AND ENTITLEMENT
– Implementation of the National Minimum Wage including Consequential Adjustments. Even more than the Federal Governments Agreed Minimum Wage.
– Prompt Payment of salaries on 23rd/24th of every month without collecting overdraft.
– Payment of 2019 Leave Grants.
– Payment of pension and gratuity of retired Civil Servants from 2012.
– Payment of wardrobe allowances to staff of Adamawa Television Cooperation (ATV Yola).
SECURITY
– Arrest of over 200 Shilla boys, over 50 kidnappers and also brought to the barest minimum, farmers and herders clashes which were getting out of hand, all in his first 3 months in office.
– It is safe to say that the present administration has achieved 95% success in the fight against insecurity.
– Distribution of 80 Toyota Hilux and more than 100 motorcycles to security outfits in the state.
– Facilitating the return of 133 Nigerian refugees to Adamawa Origins who fled from insecurity to Cameroon.
– Payment of Allowances to Vigilantee Groups sacrificing their lives in the frontlines.
– Redesign of the Security Architecture of the State which gave birth to the revamped taskforce codenamed “Operation Farauta”.
– Led Security Chiefs to an ongoing Communal Clash at Tingno and Tito Communities in Lamurde LGA, and repelled the attack in the process.
– Constitution of Administrative Panels to address the recent communal clashes and avert future occurrences.
HUMANITARIANISM
– Award of Scholarship to Children of the Michika CAN Chairman who was kidnapped and killed by Boko Haram Insurgents.
– Donation of Three Million Naira (N3,000,000.00) for the education of the children of Soldiers killed by Boko Haram in Garkida, Gombi LGA.
– Donation of Five Million Naira to Ganye, Michika and Loko in Song LGA’s Markets fire victims to ameliorate their hardship as a result of the inferno.
– Donation of Governor AUF’s Three (3) months salaries to help in the fight against the novel Corona Virus.
– Donation of Twenty Million Naira (N20,000,000.00) to Tricycle Riders in the State in an effort to ameliorate the hardship caused by the COVID-19 in the State during lockdown.
– Slashed the rent of shops at Jimeta Ultra-Modern Market by 50%.
Distribution of palliatives to the 21 Local Government Areas of the State as follows:
– 3,948 Bags of 50KG Rice.
– 4,545 (25L) of Vegetable Oil.
– 135 Bags of 50KG Sugar.
– 21 Cartons of Couscous.
– 21 bags of 50KG Beans and
1, 530 Cartons of Tomatoes Paste.
– 1, 060 Cartons of Spaghetti/Macroni.
– 480 Second Hand Cloths Bale.
– 57 Second Hand Cloths Raps among others.
– Donation of Five Million Naira (N5, 000,000.00) to Rainstorm victims in Jada Locaal Government Area to enable them rebuild their damaged homes.
WOMEN AND YOUTHS EMPOWERMENT
– In a bid to empower women and youths in order to give them a sense of belonging and make them self-reliant, Governor AUF in collaboration with the Poverty Alleviation and Wealth Creation Agency (PAWECA) and Ministry of Entrepreneurship Development empowered over 2000 youths across the State through training on Barbing, Fish Farming, Poultry, Food Processing and preservation, Make-up, Photography, Soap making, Solar Installation and Web Design.
– Appointment of numerous Women and Youths in the Fresh Air administration.
– Donated a brand new Coaster Bus to Adamawa United Football Club.
– Sponsored players to Asaph Zadok National Scrabble Tournament in Abuja.
– Sponsored team Adamawa to Kwara for National Youth Games.
– Resuscitation of all the Technical and Vocational Training Centres across the State to provide skills and talents required by manufacturing and services industries within the State and beyond (ongoing).
– Earmarking 100 hectares of land in each Local Government to be shared to Youths across the State to make them channel their potential for the benefit of the State.
AGRICULTURE
– Launched the Adamawa Green Project, to plant 4M trees in 4 years.
– In collaboration with NECAS, he distributed 600 tractors to small and large scale farmers.
– Released funds for the augmentation of flight hours and chemicals for the 2019 wet season Aerial control of Quelea birds.
– Established stock shops in the 21 LG for farmers to get easy access to farm inputs.
– Purchase and Distribution of Fertilizers, Farm implements to farmers across the State.
– Reviving the State Governments Fertilizer Blending Plant at Damare, Girei Local Government Area abandoned for more than two decades.
With these giant strides by His Excellency Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s Fresh Air Government, we can do more for ourselves, and our State with true resolve to be a centripetal rather than centrifugal force. Whether Bitter-Enders who have resolved to see nothing good in this administration change their minds or not, Governor Fintiri is succeeding, and would succeed even more. It is for the good of our State, and for the greater majority. I believe even those that are deliberately blind and willfully deaf will no doubt hail these achievements and stop wailing where there are no issues.