Public fund is not for sharing, but infrastructure – Gov. Aliyu

The Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, on Monday said public funds is meant for the provision of infrastructure to majority of people in the country and not for sharing to the people.

Governor Aliyu, who spoke at the unveiling of Reverend Father Jeremiah O’Connel Educational Foundation and book presentation at the Idris Legbo Kutigi International Conference Centre, Minna, said stomach infrastructure politics being propounded by some politicians in the country will not facilitate rapid development but insisted that government must not be about sharing money to the people.

He said: “Government is not about sharing money to the people.

“Government is and should be about providing the needs of the people through provision of basic infrastructural facilities.

“It is in line with this policy that this administration had over the last seven and half years embarked on massive investment in the development of education at all levels through the construction of roads and provision of health facilities in all the nooks and crannies of the state, which has been beneficial to majority of people of the state.”

Aliyu added that education has been the cornerstone of the realization of the state’s Vision 3:2020, adding that the policy has led to Niger State being rated above many other states in the country by internationally recognized bodies in world ratings.

Accordingly, he said: “We will continue to create the space and give access to the underprivileged to gain access to education.

“With the investment of government in education, people now withdraw their children from private schools and put them in public schools.”

Governor Aliyu appealed to parents to place more emphasis on the education of their children.

He said it is by so doing that the children will be better people and be in position to contribute to the development of the country.

He further said: “Father O’Connel has done his share than anybody can do.

“We thank you for the sacrifices you have made May God continue to reward you.”

In a paper titled: “Contemporary Issues in Education Development in Niger State,” delivered by the Vice Chancellor of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Prof. Ibrahim Adamu Kolo, he said the present administration had provided more than 50 per cent of the total amount spent on the IBB University since its creation in in just seven and a half years.

Over N17 million was contributed to the foundation by the Niger State Government, top government officials as well as former students of Fatima Secondary School, now Government Secondary School, Minna.

Reverend father Jeremiah O’Connell was the oldest school principal in Niger State before his retirement a few years back.