The member representing Shelleng constituency in Adamawa State house of assembly, Hon Isa Abubakar has revealed spending about N20 million to ensure that his constituency project of rural electrification has come to fruition.
Isa who made the revelation at a town hall meeting meeting organized by the International Republican Institute (IRI), sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to entrench communication and understanding between leaders and the led on Wednesday, said he deemed it fit to use his personal resources to ensure the project was not abandoned.
“I have made constituency allowances open. I supplemented nearly N20m to ensure that my constituency project has become a reality.
” It is a huge project of 10.2Km virgin electricity project which connected Gundo, Ketembere and Lubo. Hitherto, nobody expected that a member can do it, but I have done it, and the people are very much aware of it,” he said.
Isa who is the second lawmaker to agree to attend a town hall meeting with his people in the history of the state added that: “I want to remain accountable to my people as I have always been.
” I must reciprocate the gesture and honour done to me as this is the first time the Shelleng people are electing a member back to back for the second time. So for me to appreciate what they have done, I must remain close to them so that we can chart a course of developing Adamawa together. We must identity the gaps together and fill them together.
“I promise to ensure that this town hall meeting, the first of its kind will be sustained. We had fruitful discussions with all the ten wards, they outlined their challenges to me and I’m going to take them up.”
He noted that in line with the constitutional powers vested in him, he will lobby the executive arm to ensure that all the challenges enumerated will be tackled.
“The constitution has given me the leverage to lobby the executive which I will do. There are small problems that I will solve from my personal savings such as repairs of boreholes. There are some challenges that are huge such as completion of Kiri/Shelleng road, issues of rural electrification, issues of solving electricity in Shelleng headquarters and water.
” I’m going to factor in properly all the challenges in the 2020 budget through the appropriate MDAs. We are going to partner the local government for the construction of culverts and drainages as the third tier of government. We are going to draw their attention that these are projects that local government can do especially given the fact that they enjoy financial autonomy now,” he added.
Residents of Shelleng have earlier poured encomiums on the lawmaker for entrenching accountable and transparent representation adding that such attributes prodded them to re-elect him for the second time.
While thanking IRI for the laudable move to institutionalize good governance, representatives of the 10 wards who spoke at the occasion enumerated water, dearth of healthcare and educational infrastructure, and perennial flooding as their priority needs.
Other concerns as articulated by the various speakers include; empowerment for women, youth and people living with disability, provision of fertilizer and other farming implements, access roads across nooks and crannies of the local government and provision of electricity.
Also commending IRI and the lawmaker, the representative of Amna Shelleng, Abubakar Isa Daso described the development as a positive manifestation that will serve as a springboard for the development of the area.
He urged the people to defer to constituted authorities adding that no development can take effect in the absence of peace, law and order.
