By Oboh Linus, Lafia
The Secretary to the Nasarawa State Government, Dr Labaran Magaji, said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s courageous reforms and policies have put the country back on track for development and viable economic stabilisation.
Magaji stated this while speaking with newsmen on the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu in Lafia.
According to Magaji, President Tinubu came to power prepared, and with a deliberate vision as well as the political will to drive reforms and policies toward repositioning the country for the betterment of its citizens.
Magaji, who is also the Renewed Hope Ambassador in Nasarawa state, highlighted the significant progress made as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy that hitherto benefited only a few.
“The removal of fuel subsidy is one reform that people look at as being harsh, but whether we like it or not, it’s one of the reforms that has eaten deep into the fabric of our economy in this country.
“Removing fuel subsidy is one of the many courageous steps taken by Mr President and the evidence of the resultant effects of such drastic policy direction is what translates to development in all fronts we are seeing today,” he said
Magaji said the federation allocation to states has been increased by the administration of President Tinubu, arising from the proceeds of the subsidy removal and other economic reforms.
He said the recent approval and upgrade of Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital to Federal University of Lafia Teaching Hospital by President Tinubu was a component of the renewed hope agenda of his administration’s health reform.
Magaji said the administration of President Tinubu’s deliberate and bold steps in security and economic reforms significantly brought sanity to the country and stabilised the foreign exchange rate for the past one year.
He said that the Nasarawa State Government under the leadership of Gov Abdullahi Sule, as an adherent of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President, has keyed into several reforms and policies of the federal government.
Magaji noted that the construction of Bola Ahmed Tinubu interchange, flyover and underpass, dualised Shendam road, the state-of-the-art State Secretariat Office complex, and Keffi flyover and underpass were made possible as a result of the improved federal allocation
“The underpass in Akwanga and the recently groundbreaking ceremony done by Gov Abdullahi Sule for the construction of two flyovers in Mararaba to eliminate persistent traffic congestion are a result of the proceeds arising from the fuel subsidy removal.
“Only recently, the governor approved the construction of a one-kilometer road in each of the 13 local government areas across the state. And all of these were geared toward the actualisation of the Renew Hope Agenda,” he said.
Magaji said the administration of Gov Sule has rewritten the history of the state, hitherto known as a civil servant state, to an industrialised, agrarian, and modern state where anybody would desire to live and work.
“If you check, the influx of investors coming to Nasarawa state to invest is something beyond imagination, the state has been completely transformed from a civil service state to what we call an industrialised state.
“In no distant time, Mr President is visiting Nasarawa state to commission yet another biggest lithium processing plants in Africa. So these are some of the things that really come with the Renewed Hope agenda that the people need to know,” he said.
Magaji said that his appointment as a state ambassador of the Renewed Hope Agenda by President Tinubu was a call to national service that he holds dearly to execute with all sense of responsibility.
“This is a mission that should be carried out by a collective responsibility of the entire populace of the state, in no distant time, we are coming up with a full structure.
We, however, have started with the young minds who are very conversant with social media. We have distributed volunteer forms to all 147 wards, where each ward is expected to have 30 youths totalling 4, 410 youths who have a voter’s card.
“We recruited these youths, so that we can educate them on what Mr President has been doing in the last two and a half years, and to be able to disseminate this information to the grassroots. And we are doing that to the best of our ability,” he said.
Speaking on the national and state branding development project, the Secretary to the Nasarawa State Government and the Renewed Hope ambassador said the project aimed at promoting homegrown and Nigeria-made products to boost the economy.
Magaji called on the people of Nasarawa State to sustain support for the Government of President Tinubu and Gov Sule as they work tirelessly to continue to deliver the dividends of democracy through the Renewed Hope Agenda. (NAN)