Nasarawa State: What manner of verification?
In the meantime we earnestly demand that the Al-Makura administration also face the reality and challenge of continuing from where his predecessor left in the development of the state. As the third governor of the state since 1999, he should realize that development is an on-going assignment which commenced before his tenure and will surely […]
In the meantime we earnestly demand that the Al-Makura administration also face the reality and challenge of continuing from where his predecessor left in the development of the state. As the third governor of the state since 1999, he should realize that development is an on-going assignment which commenced before his tenure and will surely remain uncompleted after his scheduled exit from office. He should, therefore, focus correctly on delivering service to the best of his ability to the generality of the people of the state for posterity to judge his performance, as his predecessor, Aliyu Akwe Doma, did.
I do not intend to make any comparative assessment of Governor Tanko Al-Makura so far, but I am moved to draw attention to what I consider a potential pitfall that could adversely affect his administration. This pitfall is the recently unveiled plan to embark on what he called contract verification but which has all the hallmarks of an inquisition targeting his predecessor’s administration. In his remarks while inaugurating a 13-man “contract verification” committee, Governor Al-Makura mentioned “non-existent” and “dubious” contracts, clearly preempting the outcome of the committee’s report. Incidentally, since all the contracts under reference were awarded through state ministries and agencies, records already exist from which to verify whatever within the normal workings of government.
Governor Al-Makura needs to be reminded that these same allegations of “dubious” contracts were subject of petitions by his Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) supporters to the EFCC which are now, pending in court. Governor Tanko Al-Makura may be a layman, but I believe that he has access to superior knowledge and advice pertaining to the fairness and legality of actions that are patently pre-emptive and subjudicial and therefore contemptuous of on-going judicial processes. This is more-so in view of limiting the “verification” to only the tenure of his predecessor, Aliyu Akwe Doma (2007-2011) as there is every likelihood that the same issues before the court will be raised before the Verification Committee. This raises another legal issue of “double jeopardy”. In the circumstance, the motive clearly overshadows that of verification, period!
Governor Al-Makura hinged the setting up of the Verification Committee on the alleged N10 billion debt he inherited from the previous administration. But he must not forget that government is in fact a continuous process, even though governors come and governors go. In government, demand for development will always exceed available resources. Nasarawa State can therefore not be an exception, so long as government is regarded as credit-worthy. Government is therefore as much about assets, as it is about liabilities.
We can recall that when Doma took over from Abdullahi Adamu in 2007, things were so bad in the state that even government vehicles were impounded on the streets by debtors waving court judgments and public officers resorted to changing Government vehicle registration numbers to avoid embarrassment. There was also a huge backlog of unpaid staff salaries and allowances. Government was virtually at a standstill, and it was understood that bank loans had to be obtained to keep government afloat. We also learnt that Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma inherited liabilities of over N20 billion from previous administrations and had to settle over 70% of this, in the tradition of maintaining continuity and credibility of government. Projects such as the state legislative complex, Nasarawa Eggon-Mada Station road, Toto – Umaisha road, Panda-Karu road, Doma-Agbashi Road, and several others were either completed or almost completed by contractors, confident that they will be fully paid irrespective of who is governor. Governor Al-Makura by contrast inherited a stable government. Apart from other programmes and projects located across the state, integrated road construction was one of the unprecedented achievements of the Doma Administration which may prove difficult to match if indeed loan sourcing will not be part of the available legitimate resources to tap from. Governor Almakura may therefore be unwittingly digging the pitfall of his own government because Nasarawa State’s development needs far outstrip even the increased State income of today. May the impatience of our people not catch up with Al-Makura’s pseudo-prudence.
Danjuma Akwati wrote from Akwanga