Niger revenue dropped by more than 50%, says Gov. Bello

The Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, on Monday, confirmed that the revenue accruable to the state from all sources had dropped by more than 50 percent.

Bello said that the downturn in the economy of the state would not be an excuse for the All Progressive Congress (APC) government not to perform its duties.

The governor was addressing supporters of APC at the Bako Mohammed Kontagora Memorial stadium, where the local government elections campaign of the party was flagged off.

“Our revenue has dropped by more than 50% but it will not be an excuse for us not to work for the people.”

He therefore said that the administration would soon begin to award contracts to reputable contractors for the overall development of the state, but warned that contractors who failed to execute the contracts would not only have them revoked but would be arrested and prosecuted.

Bello also said the administration would not accept shoddy jobs from any contractor engaged by the state.

He lamented that his visits to some boarding schools revealed gross degree of dilapidation of structures which must be corrected by the government.

“I visited some schools and met students sleeping on bare floor; the food they eat is not good enough for dogs.”

He said the people of the state should vote massively for the APC in the election as doing otherwise would be a disgrace to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Also addressing the rally the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa, said Nigerians had been fasting in the last six months because the new APC government was implementing the budget of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Marafa said now that Buhari and the state governor had presented their budgets to the legislature and with the promise of speedy passage of the appropriation bills, Nigerians should now expect better reward from the APC government at all levels.

A member of the board of trustees of the party and former Niger state Deputy-Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Musa Ibeto, told the gathering that they should not give the PDP any seat in the January 16 election.

“Our victory will give Bello the strength to forge ahead in the delivery of dividends of democracy to the people of the state,” he said.

Other speakers included the Commissioner for Information Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, Chairman of the party in the state, Engineer Mohammed Imam.

Flags were presented to all the chairmanship candidates for the 25 local government areas in the state.