The Managing Director of the Kaduna Roads Agency, KADRA, Abdullahi Baba-Ahmed, has said the administration of former Governor Nasir El-Rufai concentrated its urban renewal and road projects in four of Kaduna State’s 23 local government areas.
Mr Baba-Ahmed, however, said the administration of Governor Uba Sani had adopted a more inclusive approach by spreading road and other infrastructure projects across all 23 LGAs, particularly in rural communities.
He stated this during an interview on Monday, saying the Sani administration had initiated 160 road projects covering 1,355 kilometres across the state, with about 60 per cent either completed or under construction.
“When His Excellency Governor Uba Sani came on board, we carried out a statistic. We realised that the previous administration focused only on urban centres,” he said.
“Out of the 23 local governments, we have only four local governments within the Kaduna metropolis. They are Kaduna South, Kaduna North, Chikun and Igabi. The previous administration focused on these local governments and called it urban renewal.
“However, 70 per cent of the urban renewal projects were done only in Kaduna North Local Government.”
According to the KADRA boss, an assessment conducted by the current administration showed that 12 LGAs had not benefited from a single completed road project in the preceding 12 years.
“Not a single road project was constructed in these local governments. Not a single kilometre was done from start to finish,” he said.
Mr Baba-Ahmed said six of the affected LGAs were in Southern Kaduna, arguing that residents in the area had been particularly disadvantaged by inadequate road infrastructure.
He said the decision by the Sani administration to prioritise rural roads was also driven by the importance of agriculture to Kaduna’s economy.
“Kaduna State is predominantly an agricultural state, and it will interest you to know that Kaduna is number one in maize production in the whole of Nigeria. Kaduna is number one in ginger production, number one in tomato production, number two in soybean production and also a major producer of grapes,” he said.
He said a significant proportion of the state’s agricultural production came from rural communities, making accessible road networks critical to reducing post-harvest losses and linking farmers to markets.
“So you can imagine that without road projects, ..-harvest losses that our farmers encounter will be enormous. His Excellency realised that the state government was losing so much and came up with the idea of rural transformation,” he said.
According to him, the strategy is designed to connect farmlands to markets, households to businesses and workplaces, as well as communities to hospitals and schools.
He cited Ikulu community in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area, where he said children previously had to cross a river to attend school.
“In some communities, they only need a bridge; they don’t even need roads. Like Ikulu community in Zangon Kataf, children need to cross the river before going to school. Whenever it rains, they can’t go to school.
“His Excellency said, ‘No! Go and construct that bridge.’ So we constructed a bridge. As I am talking to you, that bridge has been completed. Children are finding it easy to go to school.”
Mr Baba-Ahmed said the geographical spread of road projects was one of the major differences between the current administration and its predecessors.
“In just three years, there is no single local government out of the 23 local governments of Kaduna State that has not benefited from a road project under His Excellency Senator Uba Sani’s administration,” he said.
“In all the 23 LGAs, there are either ongoing or completed projects.”
