ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi
Bauchi state government has created the Bauchi State Road Maintenance Agency known as BAROTA.
The state Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, on Wednesday, assented to the bill which created the Agency recently passed by the State House of Assembly.
NATIONAL ACCORD reports that the new law provides for the regulation, control and management of traffic in the state and for other matters connected therein.
Speaking shortly after assenting the bill into law, Governor Mohammed, said that 200 youth will be employed at the commencement of the Agency.
He said those to be employed will be drawn across the 20 local government areas of the state.
“It is indeed an auspicious occasion today for me to sign the 16th bill enacted and promulgated by the State Assembly coincidentally on this 16th day of September, 2020. I don’t think there is an Assembly that has achieved this feat.
“Despite all the differences, we are connected by the constituents, Bauchi state and the people of Nigeria because all the bills were done in the interest of the state and the nation.
“This particular one, enacted and promulgated to control and regulate traffic and other matters related to it, will definitely sanitise our towns and villages.
“It will also provide employment for our teeming youths and about 200 youths will be employed at the first as well as deepen our responsibility and responsiveness. Our states like Kaduna, Lagos and Kano have done it, we are not reinventing this,” he said.
Mohammed said that the creation of the Agency will help in addressing some of the conflicts that exists in some Ministries in the state.
He said: “Some of the obscenities, some of the encroachments that we are seeing, the conflicts between the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Lands and that of Local Governments will be addressed because the issue of development control and others related to it will be dealt with and the Agency that will be established thereafter.
“I assure the Assembly and Nigerians that people of integrity will be selected to man the Agency to ensure that justice and equity are done. And when we come to implement it, it will be by persuassion, it will not just be the application of the law, we would carry out sensitization so that our voters will know that we are doing this in their interest.”
He described the relationship between the executive and the legislature in the state as cordial saying that “the synergy is working, democracy is working in Bauchi state and I have always stretched out my hands of comradeship to you and you have always accepted it.
“Definitely, we are going to surprise everyone by making sure that we leave legacies and landmarks in terms of doing things for the good of the people.”
Speaking earlier while presenting the bill to the governor, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, said that the Assembly has passed 16 bills into law since its inauguration in August last year.
He said: “It is the 16th bill we have passed since our assumption in office.
“Your Excellency, just as other bills you have assented to, this bill is equally important because, it will among others, create employment opportunities for our teeming youths, control traffic and inculcate discipline and traffic laws on our roads.
“It is also expected to significantly improve our IGR,” he said.
Suleiman reassured the governor of the commitment of the Assembly to cooperate with his administration to provide the dividends of democracy to the people of the state despite their political differences.
He said: “On behalf of the Members of the Bauchi state House of Assembly, I want to reassure you of our renewed mutual cooperation for the development of the state and the benefit of the people.
“Despite our political and other differences, we are still moving on the same frequency but that does not mean that in the course of discharging our duties, we’ll have minor misunderstandings, they are all meant for the development of Bauchi state.”
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