The Federal Government, African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank are collaborating to construct 700 kilometres of rural roads in Kano State.
Mr Ubandoma Umarama, the National Coordinator, Federal Projects Monitoring Unit, told a one-day stakeholders’ workshop in Kano on Monday.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop is on identification of intervention areas and selection of high priority rural roads for the AfDB/World Bank-funded RAMP III in Kano State.
Umarama, who was represented by Mr Aminu Mohammed, said the project was an initiative of the federal government, which when completed, would address the challenges faced by rural communities in terms of access roads.
According to him, no fewer than seven states are currently benefiting from the initiative which is being funded by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The current benefiting states, the national coordinator said, include Adamawa, Cross River, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna and Osun.
“The federal government is playing an intermediary role in the projects which is expected to enhance socio-economic activities of the benefiting communities,’’ he said.
In his remarks, Gov Abdullahi Ganduje said the project was in line with his administration’s commitment to improve the socio-economic activities of rural dwellers.
He said the state had recently awarded contracts for the construction of 500 kilometres of rural roads across the 44 local government areas of the state.
Ganduje said this was as part of efforts to open the rural areas for economic development.
“Rural infrastructure development is aimed at uplifting the living standard of rural dwellers, hence our decision to provide the roads for easy access to these areas.
“These projects, when completed, would not only link the areas to the local and state headquarters, but would also enable rural farmers to transport their farm produce to various markets in the state,’’ the governor said.
Alhaji Usman Ririwai, the state Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development, commended the federal government for the initiative.
Ririwai said that many communities in the state have suffered a lot due to lack of access roads.
NAN reports that the workshop was attended by representatives of associations, village and ward heads, among others. (NAN)
