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Thursday, 30th April, 2009
SUPPORT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, GOV ALIYU TELLS PRIVATE CONCERNS

The Chief Servant and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has requested and encouraged Nigerlites to always patronize companies that support and greatly contribute to the development of their communities.

 Speaking at the commissioning of the two-kilometre Minna Market Road rehabilitated by the P.Z. Cussons Foundation, Governor Aliyu enjoined the people to pay attention to and be more interested in those companies with genuine interest and desire to better the lots of their host communities. He stated that thte State government will henceforth give an annual report of all the indigenous and international companies operating in the State that have assisted Nigerlites out of the little profit that they have made.

 While acknowledging that the provision of infrastructural development is crucial to achieving sustainable development in both urban and rural settings, the Chief Servant expressed gratitude to the Foundation and the management of P.Z. Cussons Nigeria PLC for the laudable contributions to the socio-economic development of the State. “We Nigerlites are very greatful at this display of corporate social responsibility and a show of enlightened self interest by the private sector,” he added.

Governor Aliyu stressed that the State Ministry of Works has been repositioned and accorded the statutory functions of handling all capital projects of road construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of public buildings. He expressed the hope that before the end of his tenure, most of the infrastruvtures that have suffered years of depreciation and dilapidation will have been rehabilitated or reconstructed.

Dr. Aliyu used the occasion to call on other investors in the State to emulate P.Z. Cussons Nig. PLC., in complementing government’s efforts towards the socio-economic development of the State.

 In her address, a member of the P.Z. Cussons Foundation and Nigeria’s former First Lady, Justice Fati Lami Abubakar disclosed that the road rehabilitation is among the take-off projects embarked upon by the Foundation which is a non-governmental organization formed and fully sponsored by P.Z. Nigeria PLC as a vehicle through which it can implement its corporate social responsibility programmes.

The former First Lady stated that the formation of the foundation was informed by the need to leave policy formulation and implementation of the corporate social responsibility programmes in the hands of an independent entity. She said the decision to rehabilitate the Minna Market Road is based on the need to partner with the State Government in its development projects and free some of the resources of government for deployment to other areas thereby making life better for the people. She urged the benefiting community to ensure proper usage, utilization and maintenance of the road.

Also speaking, the representative of the company, Mr. Panos Varelas, announced that P.Z. Cussons Nig. PLC., has always supported the development of local communities through its community development projects across the country.

Mr. Varelas re-stated the commitment of the company to the improvement of the national economy and also strongly refuted recent media reports that the company was planning to relocate its business from Nigeria. He said the company has been in the country for more than 100 years and has remained consistent in giving back to the communities what it benefited over these years.

The gathering was entertained by the State Cultural Troupe, the Gwape International .


Bala Ibrahim Abdulkadir,

Director General