Tribute to Alhaji Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi

This phrase actually captures the result-oriented and purposeful life of one of the most prominent citizens that the present day Kano and Jigawa states are lucky to have as the first executive governor from October 1, 1979 to 1983. I am a living witness to the giant strides made by this worthy son of Kano […]

This phrase actually captures the result-oriented and purposeful life of one of the most prominent citizens that the present day Kano and Jigawa states are lucky to have as the first executive governor from October 1, 1979 to 1983. I am a living witness to the giant strides made by this worthy son of Kano with his team of commissioners and advisers in all facets of human life in the old Kano state such that Kano became a role model for other states.
Indeed, the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) on whose platform Rimi emerged as governor of the old Kano state can be equated to the present All Progressives Congress (APC) as a truly grassroots-based political party, with a key platform for its coinage and ideology laid by Rimi and the likes of Lateef Jakande, late Bola Ige and others in the 1980s towards forming the defunct Progressive Governors’ Forum that has been resurrected by the APC.
In terms of achievements and progressive transformation, Rimi would remain indelible in the footprints of history as the most charismatic, innovative, eloquent, intelligent, result-oriented, focused, dynamic and resourceful governor that the old Kano state was lucky to have as its chief executive.
His charismatic disposition was reflected in his confidence and ability to initiate one of the most ambitious and successful rural transformation programmes undertaken by any state administration to date in the history of Kano led by Alhaji Mahmud Usman, through aggressive construction of rural roads, establishment of Rural Electricity Agency, the first of its kind in Nigeria, subsequently adopted by other states and federal government, construction of boreholes and small dams, extension of the Kadawa irrigation project initiated by late governor Audu Boko, to mention just a few.
His innovativeness lied in his being the first to create and subsequently provide a lead for other states and federal government to adopt in the creation of development oriented intervention agencies and programmes. The adult and mass literacy programme, code named Agency for Mass Education,  the Science and Technical Schools Board, The Primary Education Board, Kano State Environmental Protection Board, The Rural Electrification Board, Declaration of May 1 as a day to celebrate workers’ contributions to state and national development, the conditional grant scheme of paying secondary school students a stipend of N9.50k monthly to attract and retain school attendance, provision of school buses for children, granting overseas scholarship for bright Kano citizens to advance their education and skills, with the former Kano state governor Engr. Rabiu Musa Kawankwaso as one of the beneficiaries.
His intelligence lied in his ability to futuristically chart a course towards driving Kano to becoming a self-reliant state so that it would stop relying on handouts from the federal government through an aggressive agricultural development policy and commercial activities transformation through the creation of Kano State Agricultural Supply Company and Kano Agricultural Rural Development Agency that together worked as twins, complementing each other towards developing agricultural production through the provision of high yielding seeds, fertilizer, chemicals and pesticides and above all, a comprehensive and community-based extension services to farmers.
In addition, what Dubai is today a hub of trading for the Middle East, was also planned by Rimi for Kano, code named ‘World Trade Centre,’ to be sited in the present Farm Centre GRA housing estate. Though the initiative was truncated by subsequent administrations, the policy thrust was to make Kano the hub of free trade and business in West Africa, thus consolidating our historical role in the Trans-Saharan trade route and providing a means of income for citizens and expanded source of revenue for the government.
His eloquence lied in his capacity to address public with un- common charismatic confidence that I have never seen in any other public figure. I remember clearly in 1981, the then US vice president, Mr. Walter Mandell visited Kano and was hosted by Rimi to a political rally at Shahuchi Playground which I attended as a secondary school student in Form Two. After Mandell delivered his written speech, Rimi stood up and responded with no single paper in his hand with classical world class english diction that surpassed the written speech of the American vice president. This single episode was the driving force behind my pressuring my late father, Alhaji Abdullahi Dan Amina, to purchase a cassette recorder so that I can record speeches of Rimi and the president Shehu Shagari and a dictionary to look for meaning of words spoken by them that I didn’t understand. This singular event had a profound effect on me and really shaped my diction and vocabulary as attested to by my colleagues and students.
His result-oriented character was reflected in his capacity to inspect projects in the middle of the night such that once the executive council was in session, he gave clear details of the progress made on the project that even the commissioner in charge would not have adequate knowledge of. This made each political appointee sit up and be alive to his duties and responsibilities.
A clear example of this was his ability to construct in 1980, over 50 new secondary schools to accommodate the surplus first set of Universal Primary Education pupils from various primary schools in Kano of which I am one. These schools were constructed in less than 6o days to absorb us; what an uncommon feat! Though I was placed in Government Day Secondary School Kofar Nasarawa, my senior brother, Alhaji Magaji Abdullahi, was not comfortable with my long stay at home without starting my secondary school education, hence he enrolled me at Kano Community Commercial College, which named was later changed in 1983 after the demise of Mallam Aminu Kano, its founder, to Aminu Kano Commercial College.
The former governor also introduced a conditional cash transfer programme, the Secondary School Students Stipend, whose major objective was to increase school attendance with a view to attaining good results in the GCE, reducing the financial burden on parents for students up keep, thus increasing the quantum of Kano citizens with requisite qualification for admission into tertiary institutions. 
As a way of ensuring equity for Kano citizens attending private secondary schools like AKCC, St. Thomas and St. Louis, interviews were conducted to assess the fees paid by our parents towards providing partial scholarship for us. My school fees per term, was N250, but after the interview, it was reduced to only N63. I can confidently state that with the demise of my father, Alhaji Abdullahi Dan Amina on May 7, 1984, while I was a Form four student, and without Rimi’s partial scholarship, the old N250 schools fees per term would have been un affordable, thus truncating my education at that stage or delaying it beyond a reasonable period of time, with dire consequences on my career and life-long ambitions. Alhamdu Lillah, today, I am an Associate Professor of Development Economics, courtesy of that partial scholarship.
His dynamism was attested to by his ability to work with individuals and groups that though opposed to the PRP ideals openly or secretly, but who were capable of contributing to the development of Kano. It was a well-known fact that some of his commissioners were National Party of Nigeria ideologues, but he refused to sack them for the greater interest of the state as they were performers. Performance and team work were the key features of the PRP administration in the old Kano state such that, we became a role model for others as earlier enunciated with the innovative development programmes and interventions he introduced and sustained.
It was also due to his foresight that the Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency (WRECA), later renamed Kano State Water Board, was strategically equipped with modern equipment to engage in massive water projects, hence quality water supply was never a problem in Kano in those days. Indeed, its success at home prompted other states to start awarding contracts to the agency for construction of small and medium scale dams, boreholes, water reticulation and other water infrastructure-based projects.
I was very young when Rimi led old Kano state, but the inspiration I derived from his charismatic leadership, focused and purposeful development projects and his confidence while speaking in public, in no small measure shaped my thinking and true understanding of what public service should be. I am celebrating a hero that is dead, but who was born today, though he is dead, he is still very alive with me and us. Indeed, many people die but remain alive for the good work they did and inspiration they provide to others, Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi is one of them. As we remember his birthday today, I pray to Allah, Subhanahu Wataala, to grant him the highest Paradise (Jannatil Firdausi) and uplift his family for his uncommon determination, courage, hard-work, patience, perseverance, futuristic outlook and his pure and undiluted love for the people of Kano that are still benefiting from his projects and programmes.
Darma teaches Economics at the University of Abuja and can be reached on [email protected]