Divert project funds again, risk recall, Jigawa residents warn lawmakers

The people of Gwaram Local Government Area of Jigawa State have threatened to initiate a recall process against the lawmakers representing them in the National Assembly if the N300million recently approved for the execution of the Gwaram Power Project was diverted again.
The people also berated the Senator representing Jigawa South West, Sabo Mohammed Nakudu, and his House of Representatives counterpart, Hassan Yuguda Kila, over the delay in the construction of the electricity sub-station in the area.
Chairman of the Gwaram Abuja Residents’ Association, Hamza Mohammed, who gave the warning in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, alleged that a sum of N200million was approved by the Senate for the project in 2014 but it was diverted as the contract was not awarded.
Mohammed said, “As we speak, Gwaram LGA has no portable water, no electricity, no bank, no court of law, no police station and there is not even a functional hospital.”
According to the association’s chairman, the hospital, which was functioning in Gwaram was built in 1975 but it was allegedly taken away from the community by the SURE-P programme under the guise of renovating it. “They abandoned the hospital without renovating it. Although the police station is now being renovated, but we hope it will be completed. “If Senator Nakudu and Hon Kila maintain their dumb postures, the N300 million recently approved will be diverted again,” he said.
Mohammed stated that the Jigawa State Government had directed that since the substation was a Federal project, the two National Assembly members representing the area should be able to ensure its full execution.
“We met the governor, and he explained that it is a Federal project and advised us to consult the senator and our representative at the Federal level to push for it, but they are not willing to fight our cause,” he said.
He added that Nakudu and Kila had continued to avoid the people of their constituency, claiming that they were always busy with meetings.
The association’s chairman recalled that the “Gagarawa power project which was approved alongside Gwaram project commenced that same year, 2014, but that of Gwaram was not executed, despite all the efforts made to ensure this. It is suspected that some zealots planned to divert the funds approved for Gwaram project.
“They didn’t respond to our letters and always say they at a meeting. Our fear is that history may repeat itself because the money allocated for the Gwaram power project is about to be diverted again to another place to complete the power infrastructure needs of another community.
“In 2014, the Gwaram Power Sub-Station project was first approved by the Jonathan administration but intrigues and power-play delayed its execution and later led to the diversion of the funds to feed project near and around Gwaram,” he said.