Katsina: In a bold step toward community-driven development, the Katsina State Government has released ₦3.6 billion to 361 wards across its 34 LGAs, allocating ₦10 million per ward for minor infrastructure repairs.
The initiative, spearheaded by Gov. Dikko Radda, aims to strengthen local governance, empower grassroots decision-making, and revive essential services like schools, health centres, and boreholes previously abandoned due to neglect.
The Coordinator of the state’s Community Development Programme (CDP), Dr Kamaludeen Kabir, disclosed this to reporters in Katsina on Tuesday.
According to him, the fund was disbursed to the wards as part of Gov. Dikko Radda’s commitment to turning the state into a community-driven development.
Kabir further disclosed that the funds were provided to the wards for minor repairs, especially the repairs of minor damages in schools or health centres in various communities.
He explained, “Before the initiative, when a borehole or water pump was faulty, instead of being repaired because they would not require huge money, they would just be abandoned.”
According to him, through his office, such minor issues would always be addressed before they cause severe damage and attract vast amounts of money.
“As I speak to you, we started less than seven months ago, but today, no single ward doesn’t have N10 million in their account to do minor works, and it’s at their discretion to decide what they want to do.
“This programme is an initiative by Gov. Dikko Radda to turn the state into a community-driven development. We want to ensure that every community has a functioning government.
“There’s a government in the sense that there are staff and a structure there to regulate more schools that operate in that community.
“In this programme, we have so many definitions of community, but in our aspect, for easy management, we adopt the 361 wards that we have in the state as community,” Kabir said.
He stated each ward was now regarded as a community under this programme, saying, “because it is a micro society, so they share some level of ethics and values within that particular area.”
The CDP coordinator explained that the programme was operated under three committees, which include a steering committee, headed by the governor, who oversees the entire programme.
According to him, the second committee is that of joint planning, which plans for what happens in terms of resource management, adding,” because there are projects that are meant for the local government.
“This joint planning committee, chaired by the Deputy Governor, Malam Faruq Jobe, is responsible for differentiating who does what and with which resources.
“And then the last committee is that of the community level, which is the ward level committee. That is to show you the level of seriousness the governor has on this programme at the moment.”
