Niger Poll: Bago to boost mechanised farming using hydroelectric dams

Alhaji Umar Bago, APC governorship candidate in Niger, has promised to leverage the state’s four hydro electric dams to establish mechanised farms, if elected as governor.

Bago disclosed this in Minna on Thursday when he paid a courtesy call on the Chairman of the Niger chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Abu Nmodu.

“We are going to leverage on the four hydro electric dams in Kainji, Jebba, Shiroro and Zungeru to establish mechanised farms across the state to enhance food security.

“We want a situation where our farmers will utilise irrigation facilities from the dams to engage in all-year farming activities,” he said.

He said that the measure would increase food production, create jobs and and bring wealth to the people.

The governorship candidate said that if elected, his administration would create a Ministry of Inter-Tribal Affairs to tackle intertribal issues in the state.

“We want to give equal opportunity to indigenes and non-indigenes; we want everyone to contribute his quota toward developing the state.”

He opined that a government not willing to accommodate non-indigenes would not witness rapid development.

Bago said that his administration would establish an industrial park in between Suleja and Tafa Local Government Areas to engage more youth and increase the revenue base of the state.

“All of you know the nearness of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to Suleja and Tafa Local Government Areas.

“We are going to remodel Suleja and Tafa by building an industrial park in these areas, akin to the parks between Lagos and Ogun states,” he said.

He also said that if elected, his administration would take advantage of the heavy vehicular movement from the FCT to Suleja to increase the revenue base of the state.

The governorship candidate appealed to the people to vote for the APC in the governorship/state assembly elections to offer him the opportunity to push his lofty ideas.

He thanked the people for voting massively for the party in the just concluded presidential/national assembly elections in the state.

Bago also commended newsmen for reporting events as they occurred during the elections.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the APC polled 375,183 votes in the concluded presidential election in the state to beat its closest rival, the PDP, which got 284,898 votes.

The Labour Party (LP) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) got 80,452 votes and 21,836 votes respectively.