“We will perform better in 2017” – Governors, NASS assure Nigerians

As Nigerians begin the 2017 New Year with excitement and high expectations, some state governors and the leadership of the National Assembly have promised to do better and improve on their welfare.
They urged Nigerians not to dispel but cooperate with them to achieve their set goals through the faithful implementation of budgets for the year.

In his New Year message, Kano State Governor, Abdulla­hi Ganduje, noted that 2016 was not very smooth for “many of us in view of the challenging reali­ties we find ourselves in as a result of the current economic reces­sion in the country. I am how­ever quite optimistic that with the dogged commitment of our President, Muhammadu Buha­ri, to turn around the economy after many years of mismanage­ment, good days are very close by.

“It is no doubt that our ad­ministration, like all other states in the federation, is feeling the crunch as a result of the dwin­dling revenue from the Feder­ation Account. That notwithstanding, we have been able to judiciously utilise the little we are receiving along with our internal­ly-generated revenue to initiate and finance laudable and bene­ficial projects and programmes that positively touched the lives of the people. We have been doing that and we will continue to do it for the general development of Kano State.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that our commitment in this direction is very clear par­ticularly in terms of completion of inherited projects, initiation of numerous new roads and bridg­es, underpass and flyover, water supply, health, agriculture youth and women development, educa­tion, rural development, sanita­tion and environmental protection,” Ganduje said.

His Kogi State counterpart, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, wished all the residents of the state a better and prosperous New Year.

In a message through his Chief Press Secretary, Petra Ak­inti Onyegbule, the governor thanked God for an eventful 2016 and promised to intensify his ef­forts to make 2017 more reward­ing for the people.
Bello acknowledged that his attempts at positive reforms had been well-received by the majori­ty on account of the verifiable re­sults achieved.

He said: “This administra­tion came on board at a particu­larly difficult time in the life of both the state and nation, and it was clear to conscientious Kog­ites and genuinely concerned ob­servers that the ride would be far from easy.

“But 11 months down the road, following my many inter­actions with the good people of Kogi, I am humbled by the warm reception accorded me time and again, especially by average Kog­ites who have been hardest hit by the state of affairs.”

Promising never to be far re­moved from feeling the pulse of the people, Governor Bello ap­pealed for more support and co­operation in 2017 and assured that the gains of 2016 would be consolidated.
Similarly, Governor Rauf Ar­egbesola of Osun State has called on Nigerians to embrace hard work to earn money and create wealth, as dependency on oil rev­enue was no longer visible.
He made the call in his 2017 New Year broadcast to people of the state in Osogbo, the state cap­ital.
In Bayelsa State, Governor Seriake Dickson applauded the people of the state for their sup­port and encouragement to his administration.

The governor, who gave the commendation in his New Year message, attributed his adminis­tration’s achievements to divine grace of God and love of the peo­ple.
He also expressed apprecia­tion to the state’s workforce “for their extreme show of under­standing, especially with dwin­dling resources.’’

Dickson encouraged the or­ganised labour and the entire people of the state to continue to work with the government in the New Year.

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike in his message, said that for the people of the state, 2016 was a year of mixed feelings, noting it was also a year the state made some remarkable progress in fulfilling the elector­al promises to the people.

The governor, in a statewide broadcast on Sunday, said that the state government resuscitat­ed the broken economy to drive and sustain development efforts in the face of a crippling nation­al recession.
According to him, the gov­ernment under his leadership “reconstructed existing roads, build new ones and in the pro­cess created jobs and empower­ment for our people.”
On security the governor said that they confronted insecurity by providing concrete support to the security agencies to combat and reduce crime across the state.

“Among several other tan­gible achievements, we also en­sured the regular payment of salaries to our workers and pen­sioners as well as started the pro­cess of restoring quality into our educational and health systems,” Wike said.

The governor assured the people that as the New Year bea­cons with fresh opportunities, his administration will renew its commitment and vigour to serv­ing the people and deliver on the reconstruction and develop­ment programmes through effi­cient, transparent and accounta­ble governance.
From the National Assem­bly, the Senate President Abuba­kar Bukola Saraki, congratulated Nigerians for witnessing the New Year in spite of the hard times and called for collective efforts to end the current recession and grow the economy.

Saraki in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said that the nation’s challenges are surmountable “but we need to approach them with unity of purpose, focus and single-mind­edness.”

He said: “It is a thing of joy to celebrate the New Year in an at­mosphere of peace and security. For one thing, the people of the Northeast and indeed across the country are celebrating without fear of attacks from insurgents or other criminal elements.

“This was made possible by the determination of the pre­sent administration to effective­ly secure the country and ensure peace – which is key for any de­velopment to be achieved,” he added.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yaku­bu Dogara, also urged Nigerians to be resilient in the midst of the current hardship facing the coun­try, promising that in 2017, the solutions to their problems would be envolved.

In his New Year message to Nigerians, issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Af­fairs, Turaki Hassan, the Speaker said that some positive results of the new policies and initiatives of the present government will be­gin to manifest in 2017.

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