It is
often said that actions speak louder than words. While some leaders prefer to
talk, others tend to work silently and be noticed by what they do rather than
what they preach. Yet there are those who will never trade off their integrity
and patriotic zeal, hence they walk the talk.
In Kano State, the
centre of commerce in Nigeria, one man is revered to have left his footprints
on the crest of history due to his outstanding performance as governor.
That
man is the late Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, whom it is widely acknowledged to have
brought genuine development to bear on the state. In the past two years
however, Governor Abubakar Umar Ganduje has demonstrated that he has the
capacity to replicate what Rimi did in Kano and within just two years on the
saddle, it is clear that the people of Kano State did not make any mistake to
have invested their votes in the man that can easily be described as “Baban
Infrastructure” or ‘Mai aikin Gaskiyan” because of his obsession with
developing quality and sustainable infrastructure and revolutionalising
agriculture in the state.
Political analysts have agreed
that Ganduje’s rise to fame in the art of governance is rooted in his solid
leadership having started his political career as a local government chairman
and raised through dint of handwork and sheer commitment to become the governor
of one of the largest and most populous stated in the federation. Despite some
obvious distractions within the state since he came on board, the governor has
refused to be caught in the cobweb of opponents and political enemies whose
main objective is to weaken him and make him amenable to their whims and
caprices.
Although, his predecessor, Dr.
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, had also tried in his own right, Dr. Ganduje has in the
past two years shown that he can do better and had since assumption of office
on May 29, 2015 given priority attention to the infrastructural deficit in the
state. In an attempt to open up more towns and villages, the administration of
Ganduje has embarked on massive reconstruction of existing roads and
construction of new ones. Unlike, some governors who do not look the way of
projects abandoned by previous administrations, Ganduje is not giving up the
completion of on-going projects that he inherited, constructing feeder roads,
rehabilitating bridges and building new ones, renovating schools and colleges,
hospitals, and generally creating the necessary environment for new investments
and foreign capital. It is therefore not surprising that Kano has once again become
the preferred destination for investment, tourism and conferences, seminars and
workshops.
The administration of Ganduje
has also invested heavily in regional and feeder roads to link commercial
centres with rural communities and continuation of the construction of 5km
dualised roads with streetlights and drainages in some of the 44 local
governments so that farm produce would easily be transported to the urban
population. It is gladdening to note that roads are interlocked into
transportation networks that ease access and prevent congestion in the cities
and urban peripheries.
Again, the government
under Ganduje had continued to use the road networks to solve the erosion
menace that had bedevilled the town for years by creating drainages and water
collection and discharge points. Most heartwarming is the provision of and
installation of street lights in urban, semi-urban and local government
headquarters to reduce accident and brighten communities and reduce the risk of
criminal activities.
Of course, not oblivious of
the importance of education to both human and capital development, Ganduje,
himself a Ph.D holder, has taken it as one of the cardinal objectives of his
administration to raise the ante of educational development in state. Consequently,
child enrolment rate has soared in the last two years due to the incentives
being provided by the government. The state government has constructed 348 new
classrooms including provision of 6,960 sets of equipment across the state,
execution of rehabilitation of blocks of classrooms and distribution of
instructional materials, provision of three-seater desks and chairs in the
state’s public schools, by the Education Promotion Committee, and most
recently, the introduction of the Kano Basic Education Week to be celebrated
every year.
Through proper management of
resources, the governor has been able to settle students’ tuition fees abroad
as well as for students studying at home. It is on record that Kano indigenes
were owing various overseas universities as at when Kwankwaso handed over the
baton of leadership in the state to Ganduje.. He had undoubtedly seen the
wisdom of appointing an erudite scholar and first female professor, in the
person of Prof. Fatima Ibrahim Umar, to head the state scholarship board,
knowing that she possesses the capacity to solve complex academic issues.
A very close ally of President
Muhammadu Buhari, Ganduje is a strong believer in the fight against corruption
not just because it is part of the All Progressives Congress (APC) manifesto
but because he is a diligent administrator and an apostle of transparency and
accountability. As such, Kano State anti-corruption agency is one of the few
states anti-graft bodies that have in the past two years demonstrated a strong
resolve and commitment to eradicating corruption in the system.
A trustworthy friend that
could be relied on any day, Ganduje displayed this once again in the wake of
the illness of President Muhamadu Buhari when there were various rumours that
the President was incapacitated. A practical leader, Ganduje put a call to the
president and people listened to Buhari speak and expressed his appreciation to
the people for keeping faith with his administration in spite of his health
challenges and long absence from the office and country. no other governor did
this.
When he came in 2015, the
state was saddled with a huge debts profile but this never weighed down on ‘the
man of the people’ as Ganduje confronted his challenges almost on a case by
case basis, paying good attention and according top priority to important
spheres of human endeavour.
In order to address the issue
of unemployment, Ganduje had in the past two years initiated many high profile
empowerment schemes to assist women and youths to acquire the skills of vocational
training which had gulped millions of naira.
Acting in consonance with
President Buhari’s diversification policy, Governor Ganduje speedily took the
bull by the horn and turned his attention to farming. Two years down the line,
Kano has continued to celebrate bumper harvests in major staple foods like
wheat and rice, making Kano exceptional in agricultural production. Last year,
Kano cultivated 7,000 hectares of wheat which was the highest in over 20 years.
This year, Kano has cultivated over 30,000 hectares which made wheat price to
crash geometrically in the northern region. Due to the bumper harvest recorded
this year, Governor Ganduje has stated that for the first time in the history,
“Kano will have Wheat Pyramid emulating the famous groundnut pyramid back in
the days.”
His investments in the
agricultural sector so attracted the federal government that in the early 2016,
for five days, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu
Ogbeh relocated his office to Kano, touring the 44 Local Government Areas of
the state, inspecting and visiting various agricultural projects in the ancient
city.
As
part of the visit, the minister launched the drilling of 1,000 boreholes across
24 local government areas of Kano State, as part of initiatives by the state
government to encourage farmers to produce more wheat under its commercial
agriculture programme.
Commissioning the boreholes at
Alkamawa in Bunkure Local Government Area, Ogbeh said that with what he saw on
the ground in terms of commitment of the farmers and the political will of the
state government, the agricultural revolution has commenced from Kano State.
The minister also commissioned Kano FADAMA tractorisation project and seed
processing facility with capacity of producing 50 tons per day.
He commended Governor
Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and his economic team as well as the farmers for their
huge investment in the mass production of wheat and rice, including other
major food items, declaring that Kano is well positioned to feed the nation in
the nearest future.
Aware of the fact that health
is wealth, Ganduje has in the past two years ensured that all hospitals in the
state, in all the 44 local government areas has received considerable
face-lift, with all the facilities equipped with the state of the art medical
gadgets, installed to detect the predicament of a patient seeking serious and
urgent medical attention.
The administration has
continued with the construction works at abandoned Paediatric Hospital Zoo
Road, Giginyu General Hospital, completion and commissioning of renovation of
Dambatta General Hospital, upgrading of D/Tofa Cottage Hospital to General
Hospital, renovation of Yadakunya Leprosy Hospital; renovation and construction
at School of Health Technology, Bebeji, etc. The administration also
established two permanent Artificial Insemination Centres at Kadawa and
Dambatta, resuscitated the State Agricultural Supply Company (KASCO) to
sufficiently meet farmers’ fertilizer demand and constructed 1000 tube wells
across Fadama sites in order to boost the agricultural sector in the state.
Ganduje has also made the
provision of potable water a major priority of his administration.
Consequently, several infrastructural development projects have been executed,
which include the installation of Raw Water and High lift Pumps at various
water works; laying of 1000mm diameter D.I. Pipes from Tamburawa to Hadejia
Road (23.1km), rehabilitation and construction of three tube wells each at
Wudil Water Treatment Plant; on-going construction of 88 solar powered
boreholes, two each within 44 local government areas, on-going rehabilitation
of Bagauda Dam etc.
On environment, there
are projects like fortification of embankment protection along Challawa Road,
erosion control at Yaryasa Bridge along Tudun Wada Jos Road, construction of
drainages at Giginyu quarters in Nassarawa Local Government Area, Tudun
Wazirchi, Kabara and Chiranchi quarters, Link 67 Albarka, Dorayi Babba, behind
Forestry in Gwale Local Government Area, Ja’en in Kumbotso local council,
Construction of drainage with cover slabs and interlock at Sharadar Malam B in
Municipal council etc. The administration has taken adequate steps to
ensure that the state water board and the Rural Water Supply Agency(RUWASA),
are funded to meet the yearnings and aspiration of the common people.
It is an incontestable fact
that information and communication technology are indispensable in today’s
world. Hence the Ganduje administration has keyed in and already rehabilitated
its Data Bank to facilitate storage and retrieval of information/data about all
Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and local government areas in the
state, supply and installation of digital broadcast equipment at Abubakar Rimi
Television (ARTV), rehabilitation of buildings and offices at Kano State Radio
Corporation, Gidan Bello Dandago.
This is just a tip of the
iceberg about the revolution that has been loading in Kano since May 29, 2015.
There is no doubt that Kano people are satisfied with his performance so far and
would beg him to seek re-election come 2019, if he continues in this stead.
*Hon. Ugwu is Executive
Director, Centre for Reform Education Initiative (CREI)
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