By Daniel Obaje/ Mukhtar Dambatta
The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has completed and commissioned more than 21 bridges, roads, mega schools and other critical infrastructure projects in two years.
The Minister of State for Regional Development, Uba Ahmadu, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
Ahmadu said the projects, spread across Taraba, Bauchi, Adamawa, Gombe, Borno and Yobe, were designed to address critical infrastructure gaps and accelerate development in communities affected by insecurity.
He said the commission had built major bridges to connect communities, explaining that some had seven, eight or nine spans and were much larger than ordinary culverts.
The minister cited bridges around Bara and Duku, linking communities across Gombe, Bauchi and Adamawa, among infrastructure projects commissioned during a recent tour.
On education, Ahmadu highlighted the Ari Kime School project in Yobe, which integrates primary and secondary education within one secured environment to protect pupils from insecurity.
He said the school comprised eight blocks of two-storey classrooms, staff quarters, a clinic, sporting and recreational facilities, with an enrolment capacity of about 14,000 pupils.
“We took schools in dangerous areas, so to speak, to secure the lives of the pupils, brought them together like small communities scattered around Potiskum Local Government,” he said.
Ahmadu said similar school projects had been replicated across other areas, with their sizes determined by local needs and pupil populations rather than adopting a uniform model.
He said the commission had also constructed lecture theatres and other facilities at Yobe State University, Borno State University and Taraba State University.
According to him, the interventions include a multi-storey entrepreneurship centre at Taraba State University, with facilities, furniture, computers and other essential materials provided to support learning.
The minister said the commission had implemented mega water projects, including industrial boreholes, overhead tanks with 10,000-litre capacities and steel water reservoirs across states in the North East.
He added that healthcare infrastructure, human capacity development and other interventions formed part of the commission’s efforts to meet communities’ specific development needs.
Ahmadu said development commissions under his supervision worked with state governments to identify priority areas requiring federal intervention beyond individual states’ capacities.
He identified misinformation and inadequate public awareness as major challenges, urging journalists to track projects and inform Nigerians about government achievements and ongoing interventions.
“The major bane of our existence as a ministry and as a government is that there is a lot of misinformation or under-information about our activities,” he said.
On funding, Ahmadu said the ministry operated through the regular budgetary process, while development commissions received allocations through first-line charges, adding that available resources were applied according to priorities..
He called for increased funding for the commissions, saying additional resources would strengthen their capacity to deliver more projects, while emphasising that existing allocations were being used judiciously. (NAN)
Edited by Rotimi Ijikanmi
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