By Suleiman Yakubu

Niger State Governor, Hon. Umar Mohammed Bago has said that his administration will carry out developmental projects that will stand the taste of time.
The Governor stated this when he received the report of the Niger State Development Forum, presented by its Chairman, Amb. Zubairu Dada at the Niger State Government Lodge, Abuja.
The Governor explained that the expectations of citizens are much and that his administration will do its best to meets the expectations.
In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mal. Bologi Ibrahim, Nigerlites should not be fixated with the euphoria of the first 100 days in office but should be concerned with the quality of development that will be delivered to them in four years.
According to him, "We shouldn't be interested in the euphoria of the first 100 days. Our limit should not be in the next 100 days. We don't want to do window dressing, we want to do groundbreaking projects that will last for a long time ".
He appreciated the forum for its insights in coming up with such a developmental document and promised to support them as well as work with most of the recommendations.
He said, there are lots to achieve in the state and "we don't have a second state aside Niger, as such, we have to make it work".
The Governor charged them not to hesitate in bringing to his knowledge any opportunity that will help in transforming the state.
Governor Umar Bago who said he considers himself lucky to receive such a document gave them the conference room of the lodge as their temporary secretariat.
Earlier, the chairman of the Forum, Amb. Zubairu Dada, who's the immediate past minister of state, foreign affairs, explained that the Forum is an apolitical group of individuals from different fields of engagement, that came together with the sole aim of contributing their quota towards the development of the State despite their political differences.
"We decided to come together to rub minds as citizens of Niger state irrespective of our political leanings. Our main concern is Niger state, and how to contribute to the development of the state", he further explained.
He observed that the state was blessed with many human resources that if properly harnessed would engender rapid development and improve the quality of lives of Nigerlites.
The former minister of state highlighted six areas of interventions upon which their report centred; Agriculture and Rural Development, Extracting Industries, Financial and Revenue Generation, Human Capital Development, Infrastructure and Security.
He said the issues in the report were not exhaustive but expressed optimism that the document would be helpful to the administration.
"We don't pretend to have answers to all the issues, we just felt that we should make these humble suggestions and recommendations with the hope that you will find them useful to complement your blueprint", he said.
The Chairman said the Forum had met with the immediate past Governor of the state, Abubakar Sani Bello on their intentions to come up with such documents and he gave them the go-ahead but couldn't present the report before his exit.

By Suleiman Yakubu

In a bid to set the ball rolling in tackling security issues in Niger State, the Governor, Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago has visited Service Chiefs in the country.
The Governor visited them at different times in their offices in Abuja to seek collaboration in curbing insecurity in the state.
Governor Umar Bago expressed concern over the ravaging activities of bandits and other forms of criminality in the state.
While appreciating the security chiefs for their efforts towards ensuring a peaceful society, the governor urged them to do more.
"We have taken time to first visit the service chiefs to introduce ourselves to them formally, secondly to thank them for the collaboration in the past and also to ask them to do more", he explained.
The governor disclosed that the Inspector General has given a nod to his plan to demolish the police station in Chanchaga.
"We have discussed with the I.G on very relevant issues including the police station issue in Chanchaga and he has given his nod. He is in tandem with our change policy and we will bring that down on Thursday", he said.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Isiaka Oladayo Amao while speaking to Journalists, disclosed that they were working ahead of criminals especially during this farming season so that farmers can carry out their farming activities.
He also assured of the deployment of more aircraft to ensure quick response to security challenges in the state.
"We know the problem we have now is the criminals don't want farmers to go to their farms but we are working ahead of them. We are deploying some aircraft to Minna to increase our response to any security issue in the state", he stated.
The service chiefs visited were the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Isiaka Oladayo Amao, and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieut. Gen. Faruk Yahaya, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba and the Director General of the Department of State Service, Mr Yusuf Magaji Bichi.