Re- Al-Makura, you too?

At the inauguration of Transition Management Committee Chairmen of Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State last month, Al-Makura was, indeed, quoted as saying that in Nasarawa State, the problem has never been the lack of fund to execute Government Policies and programmes but what the state lacked in the past was judicious utilization of funds […]

At the inauguration of Transition Management Committee Chairmen of Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State last month, Al-Makura was, indeed, quoted as saying that in Nasarawa State, the problem has never been the lack of fund to execute Government Policies and programmes but what the state lacked in the past was judicious utilization of funds by the leaders. And from what we have seen since his coming on board as governor, there was  sense in what he said.

Al-Makura has, in the last 10 month, demonstrated that regardless of the level of allocation state receives from the federation account, if really a governor wants to impact positively on the life of the people, nothing will stop him from achieving his goals. What was required was prudent management of finances. Through this prudence Al-Makura was, however, been able to do many things which his predecessors have failed to do, in spite of limited resources at his disposal.

From the foregoing you will agree with me that a man who has this kind of mindset will not turn round and blame the unfortunate situations we found ourselves in the North on lopsidedness in revenue allocation to the northern states from the federation account.

Indeed, Alhaji(Dr) Dalhatu Bafarawa, former Governor of Sokoto State, expressed same worry as you did in an advertorial entitled; ”Reflections on the State of the Nation”; which appeared in Daily Trust (26/03/2012) He, in fact, captured exactly the hypocrisies of our so-called northern leaders. There is, of-course, no contesting the facts that those who have been calling for meetings here and there in the wake of security challenges as well as poverty and under-development ravaging the north are the same people behind the problems we are facing today in the North. And these people still remain our problem. These group of people were only good in hijacking genuine agitations that could improve on the fortunes of the North to their advantage. For example when the North came –up in unison for the purpose of retaining the Presidency in the North, it was the same people who quickly mobilized themselves and deceived us with their so-called consensus candidate.

Now they were at it again and from their antecedents, all the meetings that they were calling, including that of Maizube farm in Minna was intended only to blindfold the North against genuine agitations at addressing the security challenges and other socio-economic issues facing the North.

As you rightly observed, the revenue allocation formula, as it is today, is enough to improve the fortunes of the North if only there is transparency and accountability in their management. Though the call for improvement on revenue allocations to northern states was based on realities on ground, we must go about it with more convincing reasons.

Rayyanu Bala. No 27 Makurdi Road Lafia Nasarawa State. ([email protected])