Dr. Manassah Jatau, the deputy governor of Gombe State, has encouraged the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute to address the nation’s poor roads, particularly the federal roads connecting Gombe with other northern states, in an effort to lessen commuters’ suffering.
When meeting Prof. Samson Duna, Director-General of the NBRRI, on Tuesday, the Deputy Governor made this statement.
Jatau called the condition of the federal roads connecting Gombe “calamitous,” but he was happy that the Institute conference in the state will offer remedies for easing the suffering of travellers.
He said, “You cannot believe that the road leading to Bauchi has a collapsed bridge, the one leading through Bauchi is also collapsed. That you are here to meet, I urge you to do research. Every road has its peculiarity, and every society has its peculiarities. Your presence in Gombe, and your researches will help us from these calamities.
“You are doing very well in executing projects, let the public know what you are doing. Let people know that you are collaborating with Gombe State and impacting positively in the lives of the people.
“Take a particular look at the North-East, we have a lot of Internally Displaced People in Gombe State who are coming from the places devastated by insurgency. You can go round the state and will not see a single IDP, this is because we have deliberately avoided keeping them in camps, but integrated them in the society so as to avoid stigmatisation like it was with them in colony of lepers.”
He was grateful for their presence and advised them to tour the state to witness the administration’s efforts at change firsthand.
The Institute’s Director-General, Prof. Samson Duna, stated that the Institute had a constitutional responsibility to do research on building, road, and construction-related topics.
The institute, he said, has offices in each of the six geopolitical zones, with the North-East Office located in Gombe, which served as the region’s geographic center.
The Deputy Governor further explained that “the institute’s presence is felt in almost all the local governments in the state, through building of schools using the NBRRI technology, construction of roads, erosion control, skills acquisition centres, among others.”
He expressed gratitude to the governor for donating the property for the office and mentioned that the institute was building their permanent office in the state capital, which was approximately 40% complete.
He praised the governor for maintaining the state’s stability, security, and infrastructure growth, which brought in tourists.
