Dancilla Nyirarugero was on Monday, March 22 officially unveiled as governor of the Northern Province, taking over from Jean-Marie Vianney Gatabazi, who is now the Minister of Local Government. 

Nyirarugero, the first woman to head the province, was appointed last week by President Paul Kagame.

"This province has recorded many achievements in terms of economic development, social welfare, good governance, and the judiciary,” Minister Gatabazi said.

"But, there is still a long way to go, because we haven’t yet reached the desired development of the people.”

Gatabazi said that during the more than three years he served as governor, the Northern Province attracted investments in different sectors, especially in hospitality and manufacturing.

Other achievements were registered in infrastructure including the Base-Gicumbi-Nyagatare road, connecting two districts of Northern Province and one in Eastern Province.

Nyirarugero, the fifth governor of the Northern Province, takes over three years before the end of the seven-year National Strategy for Transformation (NST1)

"The achievements of the outgoing governor are remarkable, and I promised to deliver on the targets enshrined in the NST1,” said Nyirarugero.

Key priorities

By 2024, the Northern Province targets to have reached 100 per cent of electricity coverage, from current 50 percent. The target will be reached through connecting more households to the national grid (hydroelectric power) as well as alternative sources like solar energy.

The new governor will also ensure the building of the remaining 164 health posts in order to reach 414, by 2024.

"For years, the government has focused on health and shelter as two of human security issues; and we have performed well on that," said Ignatienne Nyirarukundo, State Minister of Local Government, who officiated the handover.

"We want to focus more on food security, which is still a problem. The new governor will have to ensure it is solved by 2024," she said.

Governor Nyirarugero inherits a province that has Musanze as one of the six secondary cities, and which is a tourism hotspot. (Volcanoes National Park attracts over 30,000 tourists in a year.)

But she pledged to ensure that other tourist potentials, such as Lakes Burera and Ruhondo, are fully exploited.

According to Gatabazi, another priority is developing border communities in Gicumbi and Burera districts in collaboration with the private sector.

As of 2012, the five districts of the Northern Province (with an area of 3293km²) had a population of over 1,700,000, according to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda.