Sokoto still yearning for development
According to UBEC, Sokoto State has 66 percent of children aged six to sixteen who have never been to any school. Till date, the government has failed to access the UBE funds, which for the state stands at billions of naira, according to a recent report. Tied to this is the plight of those who, […]
According to UBEC, Sokoto State has 66 percent of children aged six to sixteen who have never been to any school. Till date, the government has failed to access the UBE funds, which for the state stands at billions of naira, according to a recent report.
Tied to this is the plight of those who, in any case, missed primary education and who today swell the ever-expanding teams of hooligans, also known as “Area Boys,” whose jobs had been that of terrorizing the public under the watchful eyes of the authorities. The so-called youth empowerment programme has become a farce, as many of these youths continue to roam the streets aimlessly and without hope in their future.
In the area of agriculture, one would have expected that the government would focus concertedly in this sector, as it is the main stay of the state’s economy. Rather, the output of this sector has stagnated. The ease with which farmers get fertilizer to improve on their crop yield is gone. For inexplicable reasons, they encounter needless difficulty in obtaining this vital commodity because of the highly inefficient method of its distribution. “Marketers in government” fight for this commodity with farmers and the result being that the farmers lose out to the marketers who in turn sell the same to real farmers at exorbitant prices thereby depriving the farmers. The result is poor yield and poverty staring at the faces of the vast majority of the state’s population.
If there is anything that has been harvested with enthusiasm in the state, it is abandoned projects. There are indeed a number of projects conceived and even begun but have remained abandoned; certainly not the fault of the contractors but largely because the government has not been able to meet its own contractual obligations. Had the contractors defaulted, the big stick would have been wielded at them.
These contracts include the banking neighborhood flyover, which has been languishing unfinished for close to four years now; the first phase of the State University; the Independent Power Project (IPP); the Sokoto – Illela road; Sokoto Modern Abattoir; the NYSC permanent orientation camp; the state orthopedic hospital; the College of Agriculture and Animal Science and lots more. The state has never experienced a string of abandoned or delayed projects in its history as long as this.
It is well over six months now that an agreement was signed between the state and the South-American Breeding Company, an Argentine firm for the take-off of a modern cattle breeding programme. To date, the issue is still on the drawing board. Why initiate and arouse public interest in projects and programmes the government sincerely knows it cannot execute?
The plight of the working class has deteriorated from bad to much worse. The Sokoto State government does not appear to recognize that it is part of the indivisible Federal Republic of Nigeria and is therefore bound by its laws and regulations with regard to the payment of the new national minimum wage. For two months now the hopes of state workers enjoying the new salary structure jointly agreed to by all the state governors have remained a mirage. The recent pronouncement to the effect that the state government would pay the new wage seem to be an empty one having failed to state the time within which the payment would be effected by government.
It is instructive to recall that the immediate past administrations’ loss at the polls is attributable, in part, to its neglect of workers’ entitlements not even incentives. The housing programme is in shambles; not the 2,000 housing units being paraded all over the place but 500 in three years!
The claims that commerce will be boosted have continued to remain a pipe dream. No single industry was either resuscitated or moved from the drawing board in the last three years. Consequently, the state continues to wallow in youth unemployment. There hasn’t been a successfully implemented programme of empowering women in the state. The same women needing skills and legitimate engagement in wealth creation pursuits still roam the streets. This is sadly, an embarrassment to our society, which gives the pride of place to women, in view of their vulnerabilities.
An area that has equally suffered unquantifiable setback is the health sector in spite of the high-sounding programmes initiated and said to be directed at tackling the healthcare challenges of our people. Our people have never been far from healthcare than we now experience. The hospitals remain consulting clinics. Happily, this service exists. But for drugs, the health institutions are bereft of these luxuries. In the hospitals and clinics where drugs for women and children are expected to be free, these are sold at the watchful eyes of the authorities.
The state witnessed an unfortunate flood disaster last year. There was a torrent of solidarity and support from the federal government, organizations and individuals, who brought immediate relief support for the victims of the disaster. Alas, the disbursement of this aid was so shabbily done that most of the victims still lament how the task was managed. Forty victims were given a bag of corn and while some household heads received N10, 000, some got N8, 000. These facts could be verified from members of the communities. More so, one year on, these displaced communities still leave in inhabitable condition, which is better imagined than seen. This is another indication of systemic failure augmented by a failed leadership.
Guiwa wrote from Guiwa, Wamakko Local Government, Sokoto State