ADAMAWA INFRASTRUCTURES AND
MAINTENANCE CULTURE
By Usman Garba Santuraki <usbaturaki@yahoo.com>
Sept 7, 2006
One has to be tempted to say one or two words about
the infrastructural development and the maintenance
culture by both the government and the people of
Adamawa State. While, it has become the
order of the
day for the people to be always crying for
the
government to provide infrastructures, the
maintenance
of the infrastructures is far from being
commended as
there is a complete absence of that culture
either on
the part of the government or the people.
It is quite ironic, that the government is
expending
quite a substantial amount of money to
provide
infrastructures for the benefit of the
people but, to
maintain them is another big problem. The
present
government of Gov. Boni Haruna recently
rehabilitated
the Mohammed Mustapha way at a whooping sum
of about
#2.2 billion but, the road is not being
properly
maintain and almost a year with the
completion and it
commissioning by the Governor Boni Haruna,
the poles
for the street lighting stretching from
Total junction
to River benue roundabout have not being
erected.
One, is at loss as to the main reason(s) the
road is
not being maintain or the organization
charged with
the sole responsibility is not living up to
expectation. The usual once in month
cleaning of the
road by some women cannot solve the problem
of the
filthy nature of the road especially during
rainy
season where sand would fill the road. What
the
government needs to do is to purchase road
cleaning
machines that would be deploying to all the
major
roads of the state capital to ensure
adequate cleaning
of the major roads of the capital city of
Yola.
The current women engage for the daily
cleaning of the
roads should also be maintain to assist in
sweeping
the pavement of the roads. By doing so, the
government
would be giving the town the status of the
cleanest
town in the whole of the federation.
There is no point for the people to be
crying wolf
that there is no any physical development
but, when
the government expend huge amount to build
or erect
something that is beneficial, its
maintenance become a
problem by the government and the people.
It is quite ironic that in Adamawa State the
culture
of maintenance of public utilities is
absolutely
absent with the belief that it is government
properties. This kind of impression needs to
be erase
in the minds of the people-those inside the
government
and outside.
Some many infrastructures have been
constructed by the
past administrations of the since its
creation but,
because of the absent of maintenance culture
on the
part of the people and those charged with
the
responsibility of overseeing them has all
gone into
drain. A cursory look into some of this
infrastructures like the Fertilizer Bleeding
Plant,
Brewery Company and some Cottage industries
across the
state bleed ones heart as to the reason(s)
why the
government would be sinking public funds
into projects
that would be beneficial to the state
towards
enhancing its revenue generation but,
abandoned mid
way or if completed cannot be maintained?
This is the great poser that any well
meaning indigene
of the state would ask him/her self for the
fact,
that, there is no any jinx associated with
it rather
than the lukewarm and lackadaisical attitude
being
shown to anything that belongs to the
government.
One doesn’t know how to comprehend his sense
to
believe and see that in other states, public
utilities
and infrastructures are well maintained by
both the
people and government but, in Adamawa State,
the case
is the reverse.
The present government headed by Gov. Boni
Haruna is
seriously building a lot of public
infrastructures
but, the main fear being express by
concerned citizens
is that these structures that gulfed the
state
resources running into billions cannot be
adequately
maintain by the people of the state and this
does not
augur well for the state and the generations
coming
behind.
It is proper that at the threshold of
civilization in
Adamawa State, the people and those serving
in
government charged with the responsibility
of public
trust should imbibe the culture of
maintenance. That
is the only way that government could
justified their
responsibility to the people and the people
on the
other hand, should reciprocate by imbibing
the culture
of maintenance and believe too that it is
for them and
their children.
I would sound a note of warning that as
citizens of
Adamawa State that had no where to go than
Adamawa, it
is incumbent upon us to remain and at the
same time
show commitment to savage the state from the
clutches
of lack of maintenance. It is only then,
that our
state could move forward and be at the same
level with
the other states that are living in the
euphoria of
saying that we are developed.
Institutions should as a matter of
conjecture solidify
the improvement of maintenance. Towards this
end, the
Ministry for Environment should be empowered
to take
concrete punitive measures to prosecute
those that do
not uphold the culture of maintenance.
The Adamawa State Urban Planning Authority
should be
on their toes by carrying out their function
properly.
The government needs to provide the
authority with
much needed equipments for the maintenance
of the
capital city of Yola just like the Jos
Metropolitan
Authority in Jos, Plateau State
BY
USMAN GARBA SANTURAKI
WROTE IN FROM NO74, TAFIDA STREET
JIMETA-YOLA
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