I never wanted to be Dep Gov, says Mrs. Yakowa

Weekly Trust: Can you tell us how you spent the past one year without your husband?Mrs. Amina Yakowa: It has been continuous prayers for myself and my family for the repose of the soul of my dear husband; mainly trying to sort out so many things within the family to make sure that we have […]

Weekly Trust: Can you tell us how you spent the past one year without your husband?
Mrs. Amina Yakowa: It has been continuous prayers for myself and my family for the repose of the soul of my dear husband; mainly trying to sort out so many things within the family to make sure that we have a good path to thread as regard our daddy.
Since your husband’s death, how have you been faring?
Definitely it has been a challenging period. I remember on the 15th of December, immediately I got the news, the first thing I decided to do was seek the face of God, because I realise He is the only one Who can help me carry this cross. So the first thing I asked God in my prayers (and I kept singing it) was His grace upon me and the entire family.
There are some people who have been around you and especially those who have benefitted from your late husband when he was governor of Kaduna state. How is your relationship with them now?
My late husband has opened my eyes and told me everything about what power is and how to treat everybody when you are in power. Even he himself demonstrated it when he was in power. We all treated people with respect and dignity and I think that affected people. So I am glad that after his death people appreciated how he treated them and how the children behaved. These people are still with the family and share in our grief. They visit and call and we are still connected.
What do you miss most about your husband?
I miss him in so many areas. He was the closest person to me and it is like missing half of me. For you to wake up one morning and see that part of you is not there, is a very serious issue. He was a father to my children and also to so many extended family members. He united the family. Now you can imagine the responsibility on my head. But with God everything is possible. He loved his brothers, sisters and cousins. That responsibility also is now on me, including both my friends and his friends. I know that all of them are going to be a blessing to the family.
Are there some things he shared with you that he wanted to do, especially pertaining to the state that you would like to share with us?
For everybody that knows Yakowa and his career, he was somebody who was committed to his work and that is how he built up his legacy during his time; even in the course of the opportunity that God gave to him in Kaduna State. I knew that my husband had a dream for Kaduna State. He did not only have a dream, but he also had a plan. He did not only have a plan, but he laid a solid foundation on what he wanted to do in Kaduna State. With the little time that God gave him to do things in the state, he actually put his plans into practice. They are there and people can see them. He woke up with what he wanted to do in Kaduna and he slept with it. Even the last moment I had with him that late Friday, he was only talking about his plans for Kaduna in 2014 and about what he wanted to do with the budget.
What exactly did he want to do with the budget?
You know he had three slogans for his administration – It was all about peace, unity and development. This development was to cut across so many sectors: education, health and infrastructure. He commissioned many road projects. In agriculture, electricity, water, he had already put his plans and structures on ground that he intended to bring development to these various sectors and the initiatives are there. And if you recall his last few days was when he went around the state and commissioned some of the projects that he wanted to do. So, Yakowa wanted to have a total transformation of Kaduna State.
As the First Lady then, you also had your vision for the state. How were you able to sustain some of these visions before your sudden exit?
My concentration was on women, children and youths. They are the larger percentage of the population we have in this state. When I came on board, I knew that if we are able to take care of the women in Kaduna State, it will go a long way in solving many of our problems. So, in conjunction with the government, we had many activities that we were running for women to make sure we see that the women in Kaduna are up and doing. We focused on the health sector to ensure that our children grow healthy and also how to help them achieve their educational pursuits. For the youths we had to do something urgent, because most of these problems   we have as you will recall in Kaduna it is the youths who are mostly used. So, we wanted to put machineries in place to see how we can ensure that they are properly taken care of. And all these were even part of the transformation agenda of my husband. So I only had to key into those areas to compliment what he was doing. Just some few months before he died, I was able to establish my own NGO called Kauna Intervention Initiative.
Can you tell us about this NGO?
Kauna, to the glory of God, is still running and we do a lot of empowerment for youths. When I came on board, I studied what has been done for years in terms of empowerment and discovered that something was wrong and that is why empowerment keeps taking place without any effect. So Kauna had to take a different approach. We made sure that we had youths, men and women trained in different skills. All they needed to do was bring their certificates as evidence that you have been trained in a particular field. We discovered previously that if, for example, someone is trained in ICT and wants to open a business centre, at the end of his training, somebody gives that person a laptop and expects him or her to go and open a business centre. That would not be possible. So, what Kauna did was to  ensure you show us where you want to establish that business centre and we give you every single item that you need including generator, printer and other such equipment. Instead of giving them just an item like we discovered is usually done, we give them everything they need to set up the business.
Do you do all these for free?
Initially we were doing it for free and monitoring them, but as we expanded we had a plan of making them more committed. When I established the NGO until when daddy died, it was just like a pilot project that we wanted to try and see, but unfortunately we got cut off. But that is exactly what we were doing. There are some who are trained in barbing. We give them everything. If it is catering we give you everything that will set you up. Dry cleaning, tailoring and other such skills. All you need to do is show us your shop and we set you up. So, for some years that was how we handled empowerment. For those in agriculture, we went to rural areas such as Birnin Gwari where we knew women were farming and provided them with fertilizer and other implements they needed. We did the same by building structures where children were studying under trees or renovated dilapidated buildings in villages.
How did you secure funding for such projects?
We usually got donations from individuals and organisations. I got some people and organisations that worked in the state and donated for the renovation of such primary schools. These included   Aso Savings and some personal associates who empowered youths in different areas. We would invite those who had given such donations, take them there to see for themselves. We also realised that there was the problem of water during campaign. Before I ceased to be the First Lady, we must have commissioned between eight and ten boreholes in local government areas. Kaduna is still there and we are trusting God to raise men and women who will see what we are doing and come in.
Do you have any plan of delving into politics?
For now, it’s a capital no.
Have you ever been interested in becoming a commissioner?
In Kaduna State? No. If you do not know, I had my own career and just retired from the Federal Civil Service in 2013 and I rose up to the position of a Deputy Director and retired because I am 60. I have never wanted or thought of that.
Have you ever had the opportunity of having slots for such positions when you were the First Lady?
No.
There was speculation that you were to be made the Deputy Governor after the death of your husband. What can you tell us about that?
No. These are all rumours, so please do not work with rumours.