FG’s neglect of North-East hampers infrastructural distribution says Gombe Gov
Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Yahaya on Wednesday bemoaned the poor distribution on federal infrastructures to the North-East part of the country, adding that it has hampered development in the region
The governor made this disclosure in Government House, while receiving the Chairman of Federal Character Commission, FCC, Dr. Muheeba Dankakam said the road infrastructure in the North-East is making transportation of people and goods in the region extremely difficult.
He said, “We are really shortchanged with regard to the issue of infrastructure. Now when rails are being constructed, one would have thought that the rail line which came to Gombe since 1962 will be extended to Yola and Jalingo so that we could connect with Cross River, the South East and the rest of South-South.”
Yahaya said he emphasized this because he knew that the job of the FCC is not limited to equity in distribution of federal jobs but also include the distribution of infrastructure across the country.
He said sharing social services and infrastructure with equity and justice is fundamental to the operation of the federal system of government.
Yahaya stressed the need for a deep and sound thought over the lack of infrastructure in the North East among the Governors and regional leaders so that the region will not at the end of the day be treated as second class group of people.
Speaking earlier, the FCC chairman, Dankakam said the cry of marginalisation by one section or another in the country has remained recurring decimal in the political and economic history of the country.
Dankakam said the FCC was established to promote unity with the primary focus on ensuring strong, virile and indivisible nation based on fairness, equity and justice with a view to promoting national loyalty and fostering a sense of belonging among all Nigerians.
According to the FCC chairman, “These are the virtues to which our forefathers through the 1994 constitutional conference agreed to foster with a wisdom that such is required for heterogeneous society like ours, and the diligent, effective and successful discharge of the constitutional mandate would eradicate feelings of marginalisation, neglect and exclusion as well as prevent threat to national peace and security which sadly many states today are being confronted with.”
