The Technical Support Team (TST) of the formulation of the Niger state Urban Policy has commended the foresight of stakeholders for the policy aimed at guiding government’s delivery of better services to residents.
Alhaji Hassan Chado, Managing Director of the state Water and Sewage Cooperation, gave the commendation during the presentation of the second draft state urban policy to the TST in Minna.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports in Minna on Thursday that the Niger state government received a grant from the South Korean government to prepare the state urban policy with the technical support of UN-Habitat.
The TST members were advisory board of heads of various Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA’s) and the private sector for the formulation of the urban policy.
Chado called on the state government TST members to support the urban policy formulation process that would help in harnessing economic potentials in the state which were not fully harnessed.
Also, Prof. Bashar Nuhu from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, commended the resilience of government to drive the formulation process of the policy that would be implemented by MDA’s.
He lauded the engagement of key stakeholders in the formulation process who would be responsible for implementing the policy in their MDA’s.
Alhaji Ahmed Matane, Chairman TST, said the policy was at its final touch and advised the participants to come up with ideas that would add value to the policy.
He urged them to go through the draft policy and identify gaps, adding that the policy would be valuable to serve not only Niger but other states in the country.
“I want to commend the active participation of all of you to come up with this document and I urge you to continue to drive it,” he said.
In his remarks, Prof. Mustapha Zubairu, Coordinator, Niger State Urban Support Programme (NSUSP), explained that the state urban policy was to guide government on how to harness the potentials and resources in the state.
He advised the participants to study the policy and come up with what they think should be added so as to come up with a document that would serve as genuine basis for reworking the society.
Zubairu noted that it was necessary to complete the policy for it to get approved by the executive and ensure its implementation.
NAN report that the meeting was also to present the policy to team members for them to review the documents feasibility and advise on the best way of formulating it. (NAN)
