The Senator representing Niger South, Mustapha Sani, on Wednesday, debunked rumours making rounds in the social media that he only commissioning electricity poles in some communities of his senatorial district.
In a statement signed by a Senior Legislative Aide to the lawmaker, Mohammed Usman, the Senator said the commissioning of electric poles was a symbolic connection of four communities to the national grid.
“We have noted with dismay the unfortunate misinformation going on in the media, especially the social media, over the electrification project embarked upon by Distinguished Senator Mustapha Sani Mohammed in four communities in his senatorial district.
“It is his way not to make noise over any project he is carrying out for his people, but in the face of how this particular one has been deliberately mispresented by the opposition, getting the public misinformed and eliciting a deluge of memes on social media.
“It is also apt we clear the air and let the public know and understand the truth, even though sanity and common-sense would have shown that no sane Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would gather people to commission a single electric pole.
“In the 2017 budget, the Senator included total electrification of some villages in his district among the projects approved for him for his constituency.
“Every lawmaker in Nigeria has constituency projects in the budget. We all know that the financial year covering the 2017 budget, even though we are now in 2018, is still ongoing. It is billed to elapse in May.
“Few weeks earlier, contract was given for the project in question. It includes planting of poles, fixing of wires, provision of transformers and connecting of the four communities — Nuwanya, Tsowa-dzuru, Tako, Tifin and Emitsara — it is covering to the national grid from about three kilometres away.
“However, being part of his constituency projects, the senator decided to do a symbolic foundation-laying by planting a pole, as the contractor moved to site.
“Obviously, some of the photos that emerged from the event were what the mischief makers disseminated with a blantant, mischievous lie that it was the commissioning of one pole,” he said.
The statement noted that government officials worldwide officially lay foundations for structural projects they want to embark on, adding that: “thus, generation of memes is grossly unfortunate if same was replicated in Nigeria, Niger South in particular, via a symbolic pole-planting in lieu of foundation-laying, since the project isn’t a building.”
