People are poking nose into governors forum’s affairs – Al-Makura

Weekly Trust: Recently the Bauchi state governor, Alhaji Isa Yuguda withdrew from the Northern State Governors Forum and also there was low attendance at its meeting in Kaduna last Thursday, which is an indication that there is a divide in the body. What is your take on this?Gov. Al-Makura: As far as I am concerned, […]

Weekly Trust: Recently the Bauchi state governor, Alhaji Isa Yuguda withdrew from the Northern State Governors Forum and also there was low attendance at its meeting in Kaduna last Thursday, which is an indication that there is a divide in the body. What is your take on this?
Gov. Al-Makura: As far as I am concerned, there is a kind of generalization in this question. There is no any low turnout. The meeting was well attendant and I can say out of the 19 governors, only one governor was absent, where there was no representative and that was that of Bauchi but virtually, all the governors or their deputy governors were in attendance. Where you have a governor, attending and for certain reason, his deputy is attending on behalf of the governor, we are on the same ticket, the status, the position has not changed. So, as far as I am concerned, whether it is the deputy governor, or the governor, the government of that state is represented. As long as we are governors or deputy governors, we have the same status; whatever decision is taken, with deputy governors around, it is as if the governors were around. So, when people are talking of not forming a quorum and that it is not well attended, I tend to wonder whether some people just want to castigate or stigmatize the Northern Governors Forum, but as far as I am concerned, it is well attended and this is not the first time. There were meetings we had only four or five governors and all the rest were  their deputies. And even Yuguda said he would allow his deputy to attend. So, it is him as a person and he is entitled to his own opinion and he has not negated the position of Northern Governors Forum. There is no any fuss about it. The Northern Governors Forum is intact and   valid and we are doing our work without any problem.
It is presumed that why people are talking about this is that in the past, all governors are likely to be at the NSGF meeting personally but this time, it is not the case.
I think that is not correct. I have been attending Northern Governors Forum in the last two years and there was  no single meeting we had all the governors attended, not even the Nigerian Governors Forum, even National Economic Council meeting. Sometimes, you attend the National Economic Council meeting and you find out half of the governors were not there, but their deputies were there and no decision would be invalidated by just mere presence of the deputies. because he has equal status as the governor.
So was there any agreement to field the Governor of Plateau State Jonah Jang, as the candidate of the Northern State Governors Forum in the last election of the Nigeria Governors Forum and what is the reason for the sudden turn around by some of you?
I would not want to divulge too much into that, because it would be prejudicial if I should comment on this. The matter is already in court and as a democrat, and someone who is a product of due diligence and democratic process, I think making any comment that is preemptive of the expected judgment in the court would be undemocratic and not fair on the court, not fair on the parties.
What do you think is the implication of a divided Northern State Governors Forum as far as 2015 election is concern?
We are yet to get to 2015, and you know politics is always mixed with a lot of issues, a lot of frictions, and a lot of rubbing shoulders and things like that. So, I wouldn’t want to look at what is happening as pointer to what kind of things that would happen in 2015. Like I said, in Kaduna as far as I am concerned, whether the Northern Governors Forum or even Nigeria Governors Forum, is a family affair and it is our business to see how we put our house in order and nobody’s business. People are poke-nosing in issues that don’t relate, don’t concern them. I would want people to please allow the governors to determine their affairs, to allow the governors forum determine how we do our things.
Some of the governors are being targeted and handed punitive measures like suspension as a result of what has happened in the ranks of the Nigeria Governors Forum. What is your take on this?
I don’t think that is my business, it is the PDP’s problem. By the time the CPC suspend me, because I voted for Ameachi, I would have something to say. What happens as regard suspension is entirely a party affair and since it has not come to my own party, I think I would rather not comment on that.
What is your assessment of work at the Karu International Market which is dear to the heart of the Nasarawa State government?
This project   was started over 12 years ago and almost completely abandoned at a point, the state was in the danger of losing the whole site due to indebtedness and when we came on board, we discovered some of these anomalies and with the efforts made by previous administrations to start settling some of the debts, we made sure all issues relating to the market and indebtedness of the edifice were sorted out. Besides that, we sat down and looked at the structure and the way the facilities should be used. Don’t forget that the  market happens to be the largest within the vicinity of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and in fact, within the north central zone, so it is not one market one can take a hush-hush decision in completing the market.
Your administration is engaging in various capital intensive projects all over the state, where are you getting the finances from?
The finances are not coming from anywhere, other than from within. When I came in, I discovered the modus operandi in handling government resources was not following procedure and due process. Government lost substantial revenue as a result, a lot of substantial funds just because of the luxury some people do in squandering government funds. When we came in, we introduced maintenance culture and much as possible reduced cost and be seriously accountable for every kobo of all that we spent. And I am proud to say that two years into office, I and my cabinet have not taken any kobo to execute our projects, it is just prudence and sense of responsibility in managing the resources of the people of Nasarawa State. I can mention to you just five projects running into billions and these are done without loans. We are doing 60 kilometres of roads within Lafia, the state capital and other local government headquarters; we have reached about 90 per cent. We have done our geographic system where we spent over  N2billion. Revenue generation would now triple from this moment, another one is the Karu International Market where we have committed over N2billion to see that we complete this project, hand them over and within the next two years, the money would be recouped. We have also spent over N2billion to reactivate and upgrade our television station in line with the National Broadcasting Corporation’s directives of all television stations to digitalise by the middle of this year and that also would be a revenue generation outlet. So, I can tell you without any contradiction that in spite of all the capital intensive nature of these projects, we have been able to stay afloat without taking any loan.