By Sunday John
Akwanga – Gov. Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has inaugurated two hostel blocks at the College of Education (COE), Akwanga, Nasarawa State.
The governor, while inaugurating the buildings on Friday in Akwanga, said it was part of activities to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the state.
Al-Makura said that the initiative was borne out of the lack of hostel accommodation in all the tertiary institutions in the state and the attendant effects on the security and comfort of the students.
He said that the project was part of the 10 blocks of hostels being constructed across the four state-owned tertiary institutions in the state.
According the him, the projects would gulp N2 billion of the N10 billion bond secured from the stock exchange.
“The government is building four hostels in Nasarawa State University Keffi; two in COE Akwanga, two in the State Polytechnic Lafia; and two in the College of Agriculture, Lafia.
He promised to provide motorised borehole in each of the hostels in the next one month.
The governor also inaugurated a market in Akwanga with over 500 shops and other facilities such as toilets, motor parka and a bank.
He said that the priority of the government “is to meet the needs of the categories of people who are not on the payroll of government’’.
Al-Makura advised traders in the state to organise themselves into groups and cooperatives in order to benefit from the soft loans from government to boost their businesses.
He assured the people of the state that the government would soon embark on the second and third phases of the market to increase the number of shops to 1500.