Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on North West Development Commission (NWDC), Hon. Suleiman Abubakar Gumi has donated irrigation equipment to farmers as part of ongoing efforts to generate massive employment for youths across Gummi/Bukkuyyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara State.
The multi-million naira equipment was handed over to the beneficiaries while addressing thousands of his Constituents after over 5 hours citywide rally held to herald his defection from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC).
Hon. Gumi who expressed grave concern over the ravaging insecurity within the North West region, however, unveiled various empowerment and developmental programmes for the Constituents to ensure they are self-reliant.
He said: “Today’s donation is one of the things we do, we get items for them as much as we can from the federal level. Today was for the distribution of irrigation equipment so that we can empower our youths to go back to the farm.
“That is one way we can take out teeming youths out of joblessness to being gainfully employed through agriculture and that is what we are trying to promote. Apart from the solar pumping machines, we are trying to encourage the youths to go back to the farm.
“I announced the commencement of the construction of a major road that is leading to the farms in Gummi Local Government. The reason is that if we are encouraging people to go farm, we should pave the way for them to go to the farm and bring out their produces with ease, that is why we launched that and it will be constructed in the shortest possible time.
“Secondly, there’s another Ward called Zonma in Bukkuyyum Local Government which the road in their town has a lot of water crossing a particular point where there’s a dam. Unfortunately, the dam gave way during the rainy season and the road is really not motorable and very difficult terrain for them to pass through.
“So, we think it’s better to create a permanent solution by constructing a Steel Bridge for them so that they can access their homes and come to town to do their normal day-to-day business. That is also ongoing right now. Every member is entitled to certain threshold in the annual budget, at this moment what our people are suffering from is insecurity.
“Because of insecurity, they cannot go to the farm to get their livelihood because farming is what we do here in my region. So, I will focus on a lot of empowerment for them so that they can get some succour from the insecurity that we are facing.
“And like the road that we are trying to construct, is another part of the Local Government that is safe for farming and because of the bad road people cannot go there, so the best thing is to divert their attention from where there’s so much insecurity, to the area that is secured.
“By creating that road we will open up more farming lands at the areas where there is good security so that they can go to farm. And part of the things I plan for them is to make sure we empower them as much as we can so that they can go to farm, because farming is the fastest way you can get employments for people so that they can be self-reliant.”
Speaking at the sideline of the rally, Hon. Gumi said: “We just witnessed an unusual political rally to herald my defection from Peoples Democratic Party to All Progressives Congress. That shows there is something the politician is doing right and I know that this is what every politician aspires to have.
“What we witnessed today is just remarkable. I was also taken by surprise by the good gesture by my people because if you decamp from another party I think you always leave some people behind, but in this case, you see the whole town decamped with me from PDP to APC, which is just a joyous moment.
“And the message I passed to them is that politics is about people, it’s about representing people and doing what is right for the people, and offering justice and fairness to everyone. That is the message I passed across to all the Politicians in my Zone, that the way forward is not to wait till election time you give out money, but to be kind to the people, and be just to them as you execute your official engagement and by doing so, people will always align with you.
“It’s just a rare occasion where you see the executive of one party merging with another executive of another party under one umbrella. I think it was a remarkable sight to see, where the whole structure of Local Government is coming together to work for one individual towards achieving dividends of democracy. So, today was a very good event and I’m hopeful that when the time comes, there won’t be any much struggle to get re-elected or for you to get the support of your people.”
While responding to question on his political ambition for 2027, Hon. Gumi who harped on the need to prioritize empowerment programmes for his Constituents, said: “No, 2027 is far away we are not thinking about 2027. What we are thinking about is how do we bring development to your people?
“Bringing development, the way forward, that is why you’re there, you are there to represent them properly and bring the goodness of politics to them, when they vote for you, you return by being kind and being a good a good representative for them. The message is we should be responsible to our people.”
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