How we tackled yan sara-suka in Kaduna South – LG boss

Kabiru Yakubu Jarimi, the chairman of Kaduna South Local Government Area recently received the Nigerian Public Sector Leadership and Productivity Award. He speaks with Arewa Trust Weekly on his achievements since he came into office in 2018 and how his administration successfully tackled the yan sara-suka menace in the LG. What were some of the […]

Kabiru Yakubu Jarimi, the chairman of Kaduna South Local Government Area recently received the Nigerian Public Sector Leadership and Productivity Award. He speaks with Arewa Trust Weekly on his achievements since he came into office in 2018 and how his administration successfully tackled the yan sara-suka menace in the LG.

What were some of the challenges you encountered since you came into office? 

There are a lot but Alhamdulillah with the commitment of our council, state government and elders, we are able to surmount them. The challenges were mostly from the communities because we tried to change the way things were done at the local government level and some people think the LG is just there to give money. We have ensured that there is improvement in the area of security because we have faced challenges of yan sara-suka but Alhamdulillahi we no longer have those challenges in the local government. We also noticed that in the education sector, there were challenges with the structures but some of them have been renovated. In the health sector we also gave our support to ensure that the 255 primary healthcare centres are fully equipped.

Being a youth yourself, how did that play a role in your effort to eradicate sara-suka? 

Being a youth I took it as a challenge since most of them are between the ages of 18-35. I used to call them and sit with them and by engaging them in our activities and empowering them and because of that, some of them found something to do. There are a lot of empowerment programmes that have benefitted them.

What has been your major achievement? 

There are a lot because we have them segmented into the market component, the security, education and primary healthcare sector. In the market component, due to the financial status of the local government, we went into partnership with investors. We have some markets that were partially abandoned and were becoming a security threat. Such markets are in Unguwan Sunusi ward, the one on Faki road, Sabon Gari and the one in Television. We decided to go into private partnership just as the state government is doing and the projects are now ongoing. We have 13 wards in the local government but there is a ward without a PHC so we took it as a challenge and the council approved for a building to be bought which we demolished and it’s being made into a ward and is 80 per cent completed now. In the area of security, when you go to Kabala ward which is a big ward, there is only one police office and we decided to provide an outpost and it is about 60 per cent completed.

You recently received the Nigerian Public Sector Leadership and Productivity award, what were some of the strides you made that earned you such an award?

I appreciate the Kaduna State government for recognising and nominating me for the award. However, I can’t say precisely what was picked for my nomination but I know we have done a lot to ensure the people of our local government are carried along in terms of peace and development.