The Nasarawa State government has approved N13 billion for council chairmen to construct one-kilometre of road in each of the 13 local government areas of the state.

Aminu Muazu-Maifata, commissioner for local government, community development and chieftaincy affairs, stated this during a ministerial press conference on Monday in Lafia

The event was organised by Ibrahim Tanko, commissioner for information, culture, and tourism, to enable government officials to showcase their achievements.

Mr Muazu-Maifata said that Governor Abdullahi Sule had since granted autonomy to the LGAs and set up a structure to coordinate and ensure proper utilisation of their funds.

He said the structure was meant to review each LGA’s monthly demands in relation to their monthly allocations and other revenues, and to agree on releases to address them.

“It is in our meeting with them that we agreed to construct one kilometre of road in each area council, and N13 billion was approved for the projects.

“From our savings, we have already released 30 per cent of the total sum to the chairmen, and work has commenced and is at different levels of completion.

“We are monitoring the progress of the constructions, and very soon, another batch of funds will be given to them to continue with the projects,” he said.

He said this was in addition to many other projects the local government chairmen were executing across different sectors, some of which had been completed or were currently ongoing.

“Taking a cue from the governor who believed in saving for rainy days, we have saved over N4 billion for the 13 LGAs,” the commissioner added.

Mr Muazu-Maifata explained that the Governor Sule-led administration had no problem with efforts to grant area councils total financial and administrative autonomy.

He said the state government would support and champion efforts to ensure financial and administrative autonomy for LGAs across the country.

The commissioner said that, based on the governor’s counsel, the state had approved and was releasing N80 million monthly to the State Pension Bureau for the payment of gratuities to retirees at the LGAs.

On his part, the commissioner for information, culture and tourism, Mr Tanko, said his ministry had created many avenues, including the ministerial press conference, to inform the public about government policies, programmes and projects.

Mr Tanko promised to sustain the enlightenment campaign through visits to project sites, enabling the public to see the various projects embarked upon by the government across various areas.

The commissioner further explained that the government had included more projects in the 2026 budget.

“These projects are the highest in the history of the state, aimed at consolidating on the progress being made to enable the government to complete all ongoing projects.

He called on the public to take ownership and protect public facilities, such as schools and hospitals, from vandals, criminals, and saboteurs.

(NAN)