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EL-Rufai Working Towards Restoring Kaduna State

The Kaduna State Government said it is working towards restoring Kaduna town’s togetherness to make it a home for all Nigerians as it used to be in the past.

The Governor, Nasir El- Rufai, made this known on Friday while commissioning the Nigerian Immigration Service Command Building, Kaduna.

El- Rufai noted that Kaduna had been a place of residence for many great Nigerians, but as a result of persistent communal clashes in the last two decades, the city has lost its glory.

”Kaduna used to be home for all Nigerians; many great people lived their lives here. Some came here to go to school, some came to attend the Defence Academy or Police College, but it was such a hospitable and inclusive city that many have chosen to remain.

”Many of the retired generals, Air Marshall, Rear Admirals come back here to retire. Abuja has taken some of them, and the constant communal clashes that divided the city have also discouraged some from coming back,” he noted.

El Rufai noted that ”more and more people are beginning to regard Kaduna as a low-cost option to Abuja.”

” We thank the Buhari administration for the train link that has made movement very easy and the ongoing work to reconstruct the Kaduna-Abuja road,” he added.

The governor also lauded the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for gracing the occasion. He urged him: ” to consider requesting a parcel of land to develop barracks or a housing estate for the Nigerian Immigration Service.”

” We will be delighted to provide that land, just as we have provided large parcels of land to the Nigerian military and the police. Kaduna is a garrison city, we are proud of the intensity of military and security presence here, and we have benefitted from it,” he added.

El Rufai further said he has always been admiring Aregbesola while he was in sitting Governor in Osun state and was ” investing in education, in primary healthcare, investing in infrastructure and generally focusing on human development.”

”I was inquisitive to know how you were able to construct those beautiful multi-story schools all across the state and, of course, your novel school feeding program because Osun state was the first state in Nigeria to start a Home Grown Primary School Feeding Programme,” he said.

According to El Rufai, ”I was taking notes, not knowing that I would be the governor of Kaduna state. ”

”Upon assuming office, we sent a team to Osun state, to study your governance strategy and practices, particularly in human development, in addition to the school feeding program.

”And Kaduna state became the second state in Nigeria to kick off a primary school feeding program based on the Osun state model,” the governor added.

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