President Goodluck Jonathan has promised to revive Kano groudnut pyramid if he is re-elected in the March 28 election.
Groundnut pyramid made Kano famous in agricultural production upto the early 70’s.
Speaking while while commissioning the newly constructed N2.5 billion naira Kundila fly-over bridge on Zaria road, Kano today, President Jonathan said that Kano city is a significant part of Nigeria which cannot be ignored.
The President said that being the centre of commerce and trade, his administration is committed to uplifting the living standards of people in the state.
He made it clear that in his second tenure, he will put in place the necessary infrastructure to boost it’s processing and packaging, as part of measures to empower Kano people and boost trade and industry.
“Kano state is one of the important states in Nigeria. This is one of the most important roads that traverses this country. This is a critical infrastructure that will help to promote commerce and industry. Kano state is known for commercial activities, known for agriculture, known for trade beyond Nigeria, beyond west Africa. It is a state that needs to work with the federal government so that the federal government working with the state would improve the quality of the life of the people, to improve the productive capacity of the people and generate wealth for the people. We love Kano people and we will work with you so that we don’t just get the pyramid back but we are taking about processing.
“What you produce in your farms, what we produce in our forests, what we get from our soil have to be processed so that we add value to it so that we can create jobs and wealth for our people. That is why we are very happy that Kano people believe in the leading party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
“Though there were some movements recently, but the coming elections we will use it to correct those movements. We want to work with you. We are not going to exploit the people of Kano state but to work and add value to the people, the people that we love so much and want to work with.”
President Jonathan named the new bridge after late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, describing him as “one of our prominent traditional rulers who was not known for controversy. He never played with his stool. He applied his rule with extreme dignity, he added true colour, brought dignity and respect to that office. He has left us but we need to continue to remember and respect him.
“This bridge we are commissioning we are naming it after Ado Bayero, that is the little thing that the Federal Government can do to immortalise him and continue to promote his leadership style and encourage the people of this great state.”
Jonathan thanked the people of Kano for supporting the ruling PDP, adding that the recent loss of the state to the opposition will be corrected in the next round of elections.
Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen said the bridge is strategic and critical to the socio-economic life of the people even as he thanked the President for providing funds for the quick construction of the bridge.
It would be recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the construction of the bridge in December, 2012 in the sum of N2,499,924,850.50 to Messrs Road Construction Limited.
The Kundila roundabout is at the crossing of Zaria road with Hospital and Maiduguri roads. The bridge is strategically located at the intersection of two Trans- Saharan Highways, namely; Ndjamena- Dakar and Lagos- Algiers.
The scope of work comprises the construction of 120m long reinforced concrete (8 No spans of 15m each) dual carriage flyover bridge over Zaria road at Kundila roundabout. It also involves construction of 200m and 165m lenght of ramps with reinforced concrete cantilever walls on both Zaria and Kano approaches respectively.
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