His Excellency Governor Bello Matawalle swung into
action, setting machineries in motion to enable him achieve his vision, by
quickly establishing the Investment and Public Private Partnership Directorate,
and appointing a Special Adviser to head the Directorate.
The truth is that the vision and investment ideas of
the Governor is yielding the desired fruit as the Investment Directorate has
become very busy attracting various investments to the state as well as
investing the resources of Zamfara State in profitable Real Estate investments
in the Capital City of Nigeria, Abuja and Kaduna, that serves as the
Headquarters of Northwestern region.
Zamfara State has joined the league of States like
Lagos, Kano, Jigawa, bauchi, Kaduna, Nassarawa and Kwara State, that generate
huge internal revenue from their Real Estate Investments in Abuja.
Zamfara State that was in the news for all the wrong
reasons in the past has now transformed to a safe haven with investors flooding
in like never before, a thing that never happened in the past with any
administration in the State.
The success being recorded by Governor Bello Matawalle
is not far connected to the fact that His Excellency is an all-rounder and a
man on a mission to change the narrative in Zamfara State in terms of providing
adequate infrastructures, and developmental projects in the education, health
and economic sector of the State.
Today Governor Bello Matawalle has been able to provide
the State with most of the social basic amenities such as clean water, good roads,
electricity and affordable healthcare in the State capital, local government
areas and all the 147 wards in the state.
Despite the fact that Governor Bello Matawalle met an
empty treasury and accumulated debt to the tune of 350 billion naira when he
came into power, he still manages to set aside resources for investment out of
the meager Federal allocation the state receives monthly.
The Zamfara people feel blessed having someone like His
Excellency Governor Bello Matawalle sitting on the drivers seat of the
administration of the State and it is seen in their love for him and how he is
openly appreciated by even indigenes and Government of other states, especially
because of his wisdom and doggedness in handling insecurity in the Zamfara
State and neighboring states.
He is a grass-root politician, educationist, a former
legislator and an astute businessman that plans and projects accurately. All
these qualities makes it easy for him to provide the people of the State with
good governance that was lacking in the state for so many years.
The beauty of working with His Excellency Governor
Bello Matawalle is that he gives you freehand to operate, especially when you
display competent and innovative ideas.
The Investment Directorate under my stewardship has
been able to make investments in properties worth a little above 10 billion
naira, and gold deposits worth 2 billion naira, so the total investment made by
the Directorate amounts to the tune of 12.035 billion naira under one and a
half year, and we are still negotiating to acquire more properties for the
state so as to increase the Internal Generated Revenue.
Most of the properties we have purchased has
appreciated because we do thorough negotiation and in most cases purchase in
what valuers describe as Forced Sale Value (FSV), thats why a block of six
units of three bedroom flats we purchased at aviation District Abuja for 235
million naira now goes for 350 million naira within a short period of time.
The Latest acquisition of the state in their Real Estate
investment through the Investment and Public Private Partnership Directorate is
a functional five star hotel at Wuse II the posh area of the capital city of
Abuja.
The hotel was offered for outright sale at 2.1 billion
naira and it is built with modern day facilities and tasteful furnishings,
however after intensive negotiations, and the advice from the consortium of
three valuation consultants engaged by the Directorate, the price was slashed
down tremendously to 1.8 billion naira. We wrote His Excellency the Governor
for approval, which he did but requested we must ensure due process.
Shockingly, barely few weeks of purchasing this hotel,
it has appreciated in value close to one billion naira, if the State wants to
sell immediately it will go for about 2.7 billion naira.
The purchase of the hotel was a good deal that will pay
off the total purchase price approximately in five years and still generate
more revenue for the State in subsequent years, as well as create job
opportunities for our youth.
The hotel is a brand of Best Premier Hotel, an
internationally recognized chain of hotels that can be booked through hotel
booking.com all over the world. This investment was purely and solely done by
the Investment Directorate according to its mandate.The only involvement of His
Excellency was his approval.
The Government of His Excellency Hon. Dr. Bello
Matawalle went into aggressive reconstruction of most of our dilapidated
properties in kaduna and abuja given them a greater value in the market today.
The Liaison office at Maitama Abuja that had a total
value of 400 million naira is now wearing an amazing look giving the property a
huge leap in value to the tune 2.6 billion naira.
The state property at Kaduna worth not than 100 million
naira before has been reconstructed by Governor Bello Matawalle and now is
valued at 2.8 billion naira, the Directorate is also making arrangements to
convert this property into a hotel.
Zamfara State property at Mississippi Maitama, Abuja has also gone through modernization that increased the value to about 2.6 billion naira.
The present administration of Zamfara State under the
leadership of His Excellency Governor Bello Matawalle should receive praises
and accolade from the previous Government of Zamfara State for his business
acumen and doing what they could not do when they wear in power, instead of
making mischief with his noble achievements.
The previous administrations never invested the
resources of the State, instead they disposed a lot of the State investment
instruments in the custody of the State Investment and Property Development
Company a parastatal under the Investment Directorate.
When I was appointed the Honorable Special Adviser to
His Excellency on Investment and Public Private Partnerships, I took inventory
of all the Investment Instruments and shares the State had, I was shocked to
discover that most of the shares were illegally disposed and certain
investments of the state could not be accounted for but the good news is that I
will trace all the stolen, looted and state investments that was converted to
personal ownership and return them back to the state following the right
channel.
Zamfara State has never had it this good, and we keep
thanking God for the gift of His Excellency Governor Bello Matawalle to the
state, we are also undoubtedly grateful to His Excellency for serving the state
diligently with a pure heart.
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