On Saturday, Governor Uba Sani flagged off the construction of Vocational and Technology Skills Acquisition City at Samaru Kataf and other projects across the eight local government areas of Southern Kaduna.

He said the city, designed to train 800 youths annually across several vocations, was the second to be him.

He said the first one was sited in Igabi LGA to serve Kaduna Central, while the one started at Samaru Kataf will serve Southern Kaduna.

Other projects in Southern Kaduna included the construction of a kilometre surface dressing with reinforced drainage and culvert at Zango township road and rehabilitating vandalised transformers.

Mr Sani reiterated his administration’s priority of rural transformation towards revitalising the rural economy.

He said, “We are here for the groundbreaking of some important roads we want to construct across the eight local government areas of southern Kaduna. We have done similar ground breaking in zone 1 some two months ago and I promised the people of Kaduna State to ensure even development of the state.

“In this zone, we are going to be constructing some important roads, building hospitals, constructing some major roads that will link our markets with our farms, because the major focus of our administration is to revitalise the rural economy.

“We must support the people in the rural areas if we want to create jobs, improve productivity and reduce poverty in our communities. The only way we can achieve this is to support our farmers to be able to transport their produce from their farms to the markets. And that is why we are here to do these groundbreaking.”

Mr Sani also said that the state government was focusing on the improvement and equipping of the youths with skills, adding, “that is why we are building the city here in Samari Kataf.”

The governor stated, “We want to equip our youths so that they can compete favourably with their counterparts across the world in skills. This will enable them to be gainfully employed.”

He also promised to rebuild the Zango Urban market and other abandoned projects as requested by the Agwatyap.

The governor was conferred with the traditional title of ‘Chat Atyap’ (lover of Atyap people) by the paramount ruler of Zangon-Kataf, the Agwatyap, Dominic Gambo-Yahaya.

Receiving the governor at his palace, Mr Agwatyap applauded his commitment to rural development and identifying with the people of Zango-Kataf.

(NAN)