Masari and the health revolution in Katsina

For the 16 years that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) called the shot in Katsina State, it basked in undiluted arrogance and self-delusion. Is it any wonder, then, that much more than at any other place, the PDP in Katsina State is still nursing the trauma of defeat, ten months after the 2015 elections? The […]

For the 16 years that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) called the shot in Katsina State, it basked in undiluted arrogance and self-delusion.
Is it any wonder, then, that much more than at any other place, the PDP in Katsina State is still nursing the trauma of defeat, ten months after the 2015 elections? The APC-led government in Katsina, under Governor Aminu Bello Masari, rode to power on a people’s mandate. The people of the state used their votes to send a clear message, both to politicians and the elites, that, what they need is a representative leadership that will speak for them and see them as human beings and not just numbers.
To show that this message has been received, Governor Masari has embarked on reforming the state’s social services, abandoned under the previous administration.
Under the health sector, the Katsina state government has approved, and work has commenced in revamping the Daura General Hospital. The council has approved the construction of a twin theater and another new building to house a general outpatient department, A&E /OPD.
What is more, the Funtua General Hospital will also have a building to house a twin theater and another building to service administrative staff.
To the outsider, these accomplishments sound ordinary. However, if you have a picture of how general hospitals across the state were abandoned, then, one begins to appreciate why Governor Masari has fast forwarded revamping the health sector and making it a priority. 
While the physical development of structure and facilities has since commenced in the three key general hospitals in Katsina, Daura and Funtua, the government has also commenced the provision of services that will have direct impact on the rural and urban poor which include free medicare (drugs) for children under 5 years of age, free Anti Natal Care Services and drugs in all public funded health institutions across the state. 
For the first time since the return of democracy, the people here have every reason to celebrate a government they can call their own.
The era of “Big Brother” is watching is gone, and gone for good.

Bello Mohammed, Katsina.