By Meletus EZE
Kaduna State Government on Thursday said it has completed the upgrade of 120 Primary Health Centers (PHCs) across the state to enhance access to healthcare services.
The government also said it is executing over 400 kilometers of roads across the state as part of its infrastructure development programme.
Alhaji Saidu Adamu, Counselor on Information and Communication to Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai, who made the disclosure said the government is executing at least one major project in all the 255 electoral wards in the state.
TBI Africa reports that the government began the upgrade of all the 255 PHCs located in each ward of the state in 2015.
“We are executing at least one priority project in each of the 255 wards across the 23 local government areas, but we cannot do everything for every part of the state at the same time,“he said at a forum with journalists in Kaduna.
Adamu said the administration party had within the last three years embarked on major projects with direct impact on the lives of the people in spite of paucity of funds.
“We have upgraded PHCs, general hospitals, primary schools and roads across the 255 wards and 23 local governments in the state, most of which have been completed while others are at various stages of execution.
“The take-off of some of the projects was slowed down by issues of contract agreements, procurement procedures to ensure standards, especially the PHCs that are meant for communities.
“We are working to ensure that we fulfill all that we promised the people of the state. The upgrade of 255 Primary Health Centers is going on across the 23 LGs and more than 120 of them have been completed while others are at different levels of completion.”
Fielding questions from journalists, Adamu said some of the projects were taking too long to complete due lack of funds, but assured that most of them would be completed soon.
“No project has failed, they are going on based on available funds,” he said, disagreeing with suggestions that Governor El-Rufai has failed in keeping to his campaign promise of transforming the state.
Adamu appealed to journalists in the state to put aside their misgivings and join hands with the government to promote the state and move it forward.
He cautioned media practitioners against bias in their reports, stressing that the tenet of objectivity in media reporting must remain sacrosanct.
