My administration will focus on township roads, education and health – Bwari chair-elect

The Chairman-elect of Bwari Area Council, John Gabaya, has promised to fix deplorable township roads, improve education and provide quality health for rural dwellers once he is sworn in next month. He spoke to Aso Chronicle in Dutsen Alhaji.

What do you promise the people of Bwari who gave you their mandate to lead them for the next three years?

I first of all want to thank God Almighty for this opportunity given to us, and I’m also grateful to God for the gift of life and good health.

Let me use this medium to thank the residents of Bwari Area Council for what they have done for me in the just concluded election. I want to say thank you to each and every voter in Bwari.  I also thank my predecessor, Musa Dikko, for congratulating me two days after the election.  I’m grateful for that too.

I want to promise the good people of Bwari that by His grace all things are possible. First of all, I need unity and peace among the good people of Bwari so that we can work together. I know about 70 per cent of problems of Bwari Area Council. Therefore, we will try our possible best to tackle the problems head on and we hope we will solve about 60 to 70 per cent of the problems.

Road network is very poor in Bwari Town, especially during the rainy season. I want to assure all that the road network problem would be solved.

Also, we have so many schools that the structures are bad and some are collapsing. We will try our best to invest in education and provide facilities needed in various schools.

What will you do in the health sector?

I only mentioned a few things, but health is among the things that are on our priority list.  So many rural areas, don’t have healthcare centres and we will look into it to see what we can do  and we will make sure something is done in those remote areas about health.

The incumbent administration of the council has engaged consultants to improve its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), but traders are not happy over the practice. Will you continue with the system or will you jettison it?

In terms of the IGR consultants, I do not have details of what is on ground, so I cannot decide now. I have not been chairman before, but I believe that once I get into the system, I will understand how it works and the best way to go about it.

I have been given the mandate to go and represent the good people of Bwari, so by the grace of God, I want to believe by the time I get there, I will fashion out the best way to generate revenue for the council.

I will first look at what they have on ground and it will give me foresight.

You got massive support from the youths to clinch the chairmanship of Bwari, what are you going to do to reciprocate their gesture?

I will not let the youths of Bwari down.  I have already told them that this is their time and they gave me support and ensured my victory. I want to assure them that I will not put them to shame. Our area council constitutes about 60 per cent of youths, so we will ensure we engage them positively.