Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, has said the population explosion in Karu, headquarters of Karu LGA, has made it impossible for the state government to plan for the city.
He made the statement while playing host to a delegation from the UN-Habitat at the government house.
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The governor said with the continuous influx of people into Karu, which is contiguous to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it’s out of place to put the population of the city at just around two hundred and something thousand, as is presently the case.
“That is why we can’t plan for Karu, because you plan for two hundred and something thousand people and then 500, 000 people are coming and going out, then you are not going to succeed.
“After the efforts we put in there, we constructed roads for two hundred and something thousand people, one million are plying that road, that road will be damaged.
“If we don’t have correct data, information, we won’t be able to do a good job,” he stated.
While emphasising the significance of data in effective planning, Engineer Sule commended the UN-Habitat for selecting Karu LGA as the sole beneficiary of its COVID-19 Response and Recovery Strategy in the country.
He described the intervention as timely, especially as Karu, Keffi and Lafia constitute over 80 per cent of the total COVID-19 infections in the state.
The governor specifically appreciated the UN agency for undertaking to update the Karu urban profile, to facilitate evidence-based development planning, as well as conduct training programme to enhance the capacity of local and national authorities on COVID-19 response and evidence-based development planning.
He also commended Karu LG chairman, Hon. Samuel Akala, for distinguishing himself in Marrakech, Morocco, which led to the UN-Habitat selecting Karu for its pilot project in the country.
The governor also thanked Gen. T. Y. Danjuma Foundation, for also choosing to intervene in three locations across the state.
Earlier, the UN-Habitat Consultant, Paul Okunola, disclosed that the agency selected Karu LGA as sole beneficiary for its COVID-19 Response and Recovery Strategy, with $220,000 earmarked to be utilised.
Okunola listed the projects to be undertaken as, installation and commissioning of six emergency water sources, hand washing stations and other health and hygiene interventions in Karu peri-urban settlement, production of updated Karu urban profile to facilitate evidence-based development planning, as well as conduct training programmes to enhance the capacity of officials on COVID-19 response and evidence-based development planning.
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