By Mannir Shehu Wurma

Local Government administration has witnessed a remarkable transformation since mallam Dikko Umar Radda assumed office in the last six months. This period has witnessed mutual cooperation between the state and the 34 local government councils in the areas of provision of social services and critical infrastructure.

Traditionally, local governments provide basic services such as water supply, healthcare, rural electricification, basic infrastructures such as rural feeder roads, education and social welfare. Major reforms by the Mallam Dikko Radda administration have gone along way in injecting more life into these services delivered by local governments in the state.

As an agrarian state which largely relies on farming, livestock breeding and commercial activities that center around agriculture, the administration has provided a wide range of assistance to farmers to boost their production in the last rainy season.

More critically, the administration has invested heavily in dry season farming by engaging 2,040 farmers, 60 from each Local Government Area, in intensive irrigation agriculture.

The governor inaugurated the irrigation scheme last year in Funtua Local Government Area. It entailed the construction of six solar-powered irrigation schemes in each of the 34 Local Government Areas with 60 farmers accessing the irrigation scheme in each Local Government Area. It also distributed fertilizers, seedlings, chemicals, constructed tube wells and trained farmers in the production of various staple foods to boost food production, commercial agriculture and food security in the state.

This is in addition to the improvement  from 72 to 600 agricultural extension agents who have been trained to provide farmers with modern farming skills to enable them compete with their peers in other parts of the world in agricultural production.

These efforts were further reinforced with the administration’s intervention in the security sector where Community Watch Corps which comprises of an initial 1,500 well-trained officers were deployed  to various communities to assist security agencies in providing security in their communities.