Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The Caretaker Committee Chairman for Jalingo local government area Dr Aminu Jauro Hassan has flagged off the rehabilitation of several strategic township roads in Jalingo to ease movement of persons and goods within the metropolis.
Hassan, who disclosed this at a brief ceremony to kickstart work at the Jalingo Main Market-Gadan Boboji road said that the council has identified several key roads within the town and it’s suburbs that are in dire need of repairs and have decided to commence work on their rehabilitation immediately.
He said that though there is acute paucity of funds, the council was relying on harnessing every available local revenue source to fund the project as a way of giving back to the people.
“This road from the central market down to Gadan Boboji is a key road and we need to put it in good shape. This will make the flow of traffic easy and will take off the unnecessary gridlock that we experience around here most times. What we are doing is to identify such strategic roads around town that need rehabilitation so that we can do our best to put them back in shape.
“We have the issue of funding but we are not going to let that deter us. Instead, we take it as a challenge to harness every available revenue and to channel it into this project. This market, no doubt generate revenue for the Local Government, and it is only proper that the revenue is reinvested into the market so that the traders themselves can see what happens to the little taxes they pay.
“We are not paying compensation here because we don’t plan on encroaching into people’s property. We would just maintain the actual size of the road. The only thing I ask of the people is to cooperate with the people doing the work so that we would not have unnecessary issues.
“Let me also use this opportunity to call on the people to build on and sustain the relative peace that we are enjoying in Jalingo at the moment. This is requisite for any meaningful development to be done. So long as there is peace, I can assure you that there is no limit to what we can achieve” Hassan said.
The Galadima of Muri Alhaji Tukur Abba-Tukur, who witnessed the occasion commended the efforts of the council and assured that the royal family will continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure sustained peace and provide the enabling environment for the council to carry out the works without undue distraction.
Tukur who is also the District Head of Jalingo, urged the people to shun anything that is capable of causing disaffection especially as the campaigns and electioneering are about to start in earnest.
Chairman of the Central Market Alhaji Gamandi Bala hailed the Chairman for the good work and assured that traders would give maximum support for the success of the work.
“I must say that this is the first of its kind here. We have sensitized all the traders and as you can see they are all very excited to see this work commence. We have told them that this is from the taxes that they pay and for the first time, they are seeing the results of their commitment. We are indeed grateful Mr Chairman. Like Oliver Twist, we would always ask you to do more” he said.