Eyebrow-raising obsession with former governors

For millions of young Nigerians like me, who are hopeful of a better Nigeria,  one of the best examples that the country may stay longer in the woods is the stupendous resources wasted by the incumbent government of Jigawa State, organising what can at best be described  as a jamboree, in the name of receiving […]

For millions of young Nigerians like me, who are hopeful of a better Nigeria,  one of the best examples that the country may stay longer in the woods is the stupendous resources wasted by the incumbent government of Jigawa State, organising what can at best be described  as a jamboree, in the name of receiving members of the PDP into the APC. And just when one thought that making life better for the citizenry should preoccupy their minds especially in these challenging times. Sadly, one of the governors that attended the Dutse event was Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State.  In Katsina Government House, just like its counterpart in Jigawa,  the obsession with the immediate past state governors, Barrister Ibrahim Shema and Dr. Sule Lamido, respectively, have since assumed life.
As a young man who hopes to be a governor one day, I get dissuaded these days because from the look of things, politics, especially the Nigerian variant, is bereft of good conscience and principles. If I have learnt one thing, it is that as a leader, one doesn’t need to work for his people; that he can appropriate all the money meant for the people to himself, and simply do some good calculation and decamp to the political party in power or the one that is poised to win the next election. That way no-one, not even the so-called anti-corruption agencies, would look at you.
For Lamido and Shema, they made one mistake: Remaining in the PDP at a time their colleagues who have largely betrayed their people ‘smartly’ pitched their tents with the APC.
Lamido met a treasury that was brutally raped by his predecessor and also inherited a huge debt of billions of naira. Knowing that time waits for no-one, he did not engage in blaming his predecessor for every misdeed. He quietly repaid most of that debt and provided massive infrastructure in unprecedented scale, such that all those that attended the Dutse jamboree last weekend had no option but to utilise and benefit from those projects, including the grand venue where the event held.
So who is fooling who? It was such a shock that hundreds of millions of naira will be spent organising reception for people whose main motive for pitching tents with the APC is obviously the desperation to escape justice. In the case of Shema, he inherited some fortune from his precedessor, but he built and massively improved on it to record unprecedented achievements in Katsina State. What is more, he left behind billions of naira in the treasury.
Obviously overwhelmed with what Shema achieved for the people, Katsinawas by making his predecessor a subject of ridicule at every turn, the last seven months have seen Masari setting up more committees than all his predecessors put together have done, all in an obvious bid to mask his apparent inability to make positive impact.
When he assumed office in 2007, Lamido inherited only 21 doctors, six pharmacists and less than 200 nurses/midwives, in what was clearly a dilapidated health sector.  By last May when Lamido handed over power, however, there were 160 doctors, 685 nurses/midwives, 34 pharmacists, in a healthcare system having 6,136 staff strength. If he were an opportunist, he would have taken advantage of the fact that the biggest witness of his transformation of Jigawa State is no less a personality than President Muhammadu Buhari.
For me, as a young man, I believe the best legacy a leader can bequeath to his people is in the area of education. Here, Lamido made a particularly intensive effort in the critical theatre of education to change Jigawa State and securing the future of its children. Mindful that Jigawa is an agrarian society, and worried that farming was being done in an old-fashioned way, Lamido introduced high-yielding seeds, subsidised tractor prices and hiring, provided loan facilities for work bull and appliances, farm extension services, crop fumigation and aerial spray against pest, opening up of Fadama irrigation and government’s purchase of excess harvest as incentive for farmers to grow more produce, led to dramatic improvements in the sector and empowerment of the farming communities. 
Shema’s achievements in Katsina cover all aspects of Katsina life. And like Lamido, whether you like him or not, there is no way you can live in the state without benefiting from one project he has bequeathed or the other. And this particularly includes Governor Masari who is a direct beneficiary of a state-of-the-art government house Shema has built. In conclusion, I want, as a son to both Masari and Badaru, to advise them to stop the obsession with their predecessors and work towards bequeathing credible, lasting legacy. They should also know that one day, they will leave office, and their successors will subject them to the same, if not worse treatment, that they are exacting. This suggestion should be a stitch in time of sorts, from a worried young Nigerian.
Adam wrote from Abuja. He can be reached on [email protected]