By Rufai Sirajo
The recent inauguration of an astounding array of infrastructural projects by President Muhammadu Buhari across the three major cities in Kaduna State is certainly a cause for cheer by all citizens. For once, it seems that the immense pressure on the state’s dilapidated and grossly inadequate infrastructure is being gradually eased after decades of neglect. It was an especially exciting experience for engineers to see designs turned into direly needed developments.
With a population of around eight million and projected to grow to about 13 million by 2050, the execution of hundreds of urban renewal and rural development schemes is what the state needs to improve the lives and livelihoods of residents. Every electrification, housing and water scheme, bridge, drainage, road, hospital, school, market or even latrine is needed.
Real economic growth and social transformation can only take place based on a solid foundation of infrastructural facilities. Industrialisation and urbanisation have never succeeded without adequate infrastructure.
Clearly, Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai’s innovative Infrastructure Development Commission (IDC) has started the race to transit the state to an urban majority settlement and banished the bottlenecks hindering the delivery of infrastructural projects in the state. Its integrated and collaborative approach to achieving calculated targets is a game-changer and overdue paradigm shift. It also sets a new template for the performance of both politicians and public servants.
The IDC’s Kaduna State Infrastructure Master Plan 2018-2050 may be ambitious and costly, but it is set to pay off by positioning the state to maximise its massive economic potential especially in the medium and long terms. With handouts in the form of federal allocations and foreign aid shrinking into insignificance, this is the best path to sustainable development as set out in the United Nations SDGs.
Professional engineers, however, must be the most excited segment of the populace. Seeing major and minor engineering projects come to life to make life better for people is our dream any day. It compensates for the rigours of the course and the exertion of the practice. Scientists can only be fulfilled when their schemes take shape and touch lives.
For members of such organisations as the Council for the Regulation of Engineering (COREN), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Association of Consulting Engineers in Nigeria (ACEN), it is ‘Eureka!’ We have finally found a leader who believes in our ability to make a difference in the lives of the people and protection of the environment.
From the massive flyover bridge at Kawo to the modern market at Kasuwan Magani and from the state-of-the-art new Murtala Square in Kaduna to the gargantuan water-works in Zaria, it is clear that our professional colleagues have been enabled to contribute towards national development on an unprecedented scale.
This trend will not only ginger home-based engineers but attract the countless crack professionals in the diaspora to consider careers in their country of birth. In turn, this will dramatically increase the capacity of the local Infrastructure manpower.
Experience has already shown that poor funding and inadequate capacity are the major challenges to rapid infrastructural development in Kaduna State and across the country. For instance, majority of the over 2000 projects initiated by Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i are still works in progress, creating inconveniences to thousands of displaced residents, artisans and especially traders.
This makes it imperative to entice more stakeholders and invite all Nigerian engineers at home and abroad to sustain the tempo. We are proud to be part of the team to ‘Make Kaduna State Great Again.’
*Engineer Sirajo is a Director with TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria Plc and the Managing Partner/CEO of Watech Services Limited.
