Re:Gov Badaru, Jigawa people and matters arising

A lie travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Charles Spurgeon. It is perhaps the tales of opposition which is lacking an iota of resemblance with what is happening in Jigawa state is the ranting of Adamu Muhd Usman’s article titled “Governor Muhammad Badaru, Jigawa People and Matters […]

A lie travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Charles Spurgeon.

It is perhaps the tales of opposition which is lacking an iota of resemblance with what is happening in Jigawa state is the ranting of Adamu Muhd Usman’s article titled “Governor Muhammad Badaru, Jigawa People and Matters arising” which appeared on Daily Trust of Thursday, 5th October, 2015.
In line with the Adamu Muh’d Usman(a fomer aide to governor Sule Lamido) article,  Governor Badaru’s administration has not performed to the expectation of Jigawa people despite been elected on the premises of “Change” mantra.
Though I intend not to join issues with Usman, because of two reasons: He served under a government that embezzled served funds accrued to the Jigawa  state under the guise serving people. An evidence of this was the prosecution of their leader, Dr Sule Lamido and his two sons by EFCC. This fund will have ordinarily served as buffers to our state current revenue shortfalls but Dr Lamido leave new administration with zero balance account and N114bn liability.
The second reason is that he served the government that prioritized embarking on white elephant projects that have little or no effect on the socio- economic lives of our people. The construction of an airport at the detriment of a very important sector like Water Supply, Agriculture which employs more than eighty percent of our population and that’s barrages of ceremonies that took place during those periods are is pointer of how the previous administration squandered public funds with impunity and the poor people continued to leave in object poverty despites huge resources accrued to the state in the last eight years.
I believed Adamu’s ignorance of happenings in Jigawa state can easily be deducted from his write up and it is fair if he can arm himself with fact in order to make an informed and constructive criticism.  For instance, on the so called airport that Usman talked about, it is on record that Dutse airport is one of the most deserted airports in Nigeria. It’s conceived to satisfy the egos of its founder rather than the state. Throughout the period of Lamido only one aircraft do come to Dutse, three times in week with its attandent expenditure to the tune of N27million every month paid from the state’s purse for empty seats. Most times, only the likes of Adamu who served in government and had access to state funds can afford to pay about N27, 000 for a less than a hour journey from Dutse to Abuja and you can pay half of that if you have the courage of driving down to Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
So, no matter how you look at it the airport is not competitive. In other words, the state is not ripe for an airport when looking at all economic indices of the Jigawa state. Today, the maintenance of the Airport is consuming substantial amount of money thus, the airport have become a huge burden on the Jigawa state’s meager resources. However, Governor Badaru is committed to good governance and continuity, as such plans are underway to correct these abnormally by making the airport viable. It is planned for the  airport a cargo terminal and hangers where aircraft maintenance can be carried out  without hassles  as part of effort to increase revenue base of the state, especially at  this time  of dwindling oil revenue to counter any short fall that may be incurred.
I don’t know where Usman got his fact on proposed empowerment policy of Governor Badaru. I am not aware that Governor Badaru distributed pillows as micro credit. So it is unfortunate and I am advising Usman to check his record again and desist from speaking on false claims as that is  an embarrassment to his person who at one time held the position of S.A Media.  Contrary to the claims by Usman, the compassionate Governor Badaru counts on masses with an economic empowerment programmes that is sustainable to all. The so-called skill acquisition centres which Usman enumerated as archive end of his boss are not meant to sustain which indicate the inefficiency and lack of commitment in previous administration. A clear example is the diffusion of the said trained youth without making an inpact to themselves talk less of the society.
In addition to that GMB reiterate his commitment to continue with what his predecessors leftover. In one of his interview, the governor was quoted saying “Jigawa is our state, our political difference will not affect our judgment on what is good. Let me make one thing clear, we will continue with all laudable programmes and projects embarked on by our predecessors in all sectors. But we will be careful in our economic policies.”
The present administration commitment to education is quiet remarkable. In last five month of this administration, he announced free for boys and girls education which is an improvement of his predecessor, Dr Sule Lamido. This policy of free primary to secondary education was in line with the manifesto of his great party, APC. He is also looking into subsidising post secondary education just to make available and accessible to all the people in jigawa State. The recruitment process of 4500 teachers in the state that is ongoing is pointer which is aimed at making education better than it was now. But, for Usman to start for politicising an important sector like education is the least of what I was expecting from him.
Governor Muhammad Badaru’s goverment is a promising future for Jigawa state, as he proposed more than fifty(50) projects in his 100 days in office which indicates his zealous commitment in moving the state to the next level. The administration is welcoming a fair and constructive criticism that will help in shaping and making Jigawa state better.
Bello wrote from No. 6 opposite old Police Barrack, Hospital road, Babura local govt, Jigawa State