Why Niger must consolidate its many gains
On Monday, December 17, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State and the campaign organization of its standard bearer, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello organised a forum where the candidate brief party’s stakeholders and supporters on what he has been able to do with the mandate given to him by the electorates in 2015. […]
On Monday, December 17, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State and the campaign organization of its standard bearer, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello organised a forum where the candidate brief party’s stakeholders and supporters on what he has been able to do with the mandate given to him by the electorates in 2015.
Key commissioners briefed the audience on the daunting challenges they have to confront in the restoration journey within the last four years. It was a thought provoking moment no doubt and Governor Bello must be commended for supporting a forum where his activities would be subjected to interrogation by the masses on whose shoulders he rode to power. The gesture demonstrated his openness and believes that governance is but a call to service.
In his speech at the occasion and the various presentations made by his cabinet members, there was no doubt that he has been able to justify the confidence reposed on him by Nigerlites and therefore deserves our support to be able to consolidate on the many gains recorded within the last few years.
It bears reminding that Bello took over at a time when the state was virtually on its knees, with existing infrastructure in comatose in all the sectors, with the state economy which was supposed to be driven by agriculture at its lowest ebb; and the poverty at its highest echelon.
It was this dire state of affairs that Nigerlites rose up against when the stage was set for a change of government back then during the 2015 general elections when they massively voted out the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which had held the state by the jugular for 16 years.
After taking over the mantle of leadership and books were open and perused Bello was shocked with what he met on ground. The criminal pillage of the state’s resources was unprecedented. The debt profile was hitting the roof top; the retirees – men and women who devoted their entire lives in the service of their state were denied their sweat and had called out their surviving members on strike against a repressive government. The civil servants under the state and local government employment were also spoiling for war over arrears of allowances and the inability of the PDP-led government to match its promise of salary increment with action. The state was virtually shut down before the incumbent open up the doors and gradually builds confidence through focus leadership in the implementation of a development paradigm articulated in the blueprint he referred to as the “Restoration Agenda”.
The pension issue for instance was a bobby trap with the state government initially at cross roads on how to navigate through the anomaly. There were three segments to the problem-the retirees who fell within the old scheme; those in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and gratuities, each of the segments with its peculiar complexity compounded by massive irregularities which was hitherto the norm.
However, the state government through the able leadership of the Director General of the Pension Board UsmanTinau Mohammed was able to navigate through the complex webs by working out a tentative benchmark which it has been implementing till today. Infact when the board under the leadership of Tinau Mohammed settled down to work in 2016, it learnt that a staggering liability of N4.3 billion was due to retirees. However it discovered obvious shady deals and under dealings in the past transitions. It was to arrive at a final figure of N2.06 billion after a careful analysis and perusal of the books representing N1.2billion for the state and N795 million for the local governments under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).
As at September this year, about N1.28billion was paid as gratuity to 456 retired workers in batches from the state and another N1.6billion to 1,143 beneficiaries from the local government as well as 50 Judges and Grand Khadis, and 42 permanent secretaries who retired long ago.
However, it is the CPS that threw up even bigger challenges especially that its handling by previous administration had triggered misconception where for instance the remittance of the contribution of local government staff was stopped by the previous administration at a time. But the state government like the old pension scheme, has been able to also navigate through the challenges posed by the CPS and had beneficiaries captured with their respective Pension Fund Administration with the payment already commenced.
Like the pension crisis the state government has also been able to intervene to build confidence within the civil service, even as massive transformation is ongoing all the sectors. In the education sector, Bello’s Whole-School-Approach has led to renovations and outright construction of about 275 schools, with estimated 5,065 classrooms and 2,096 toilets built across the three senatorial districts of the state within the first and second phase. The renovation and construction went on alongside with the provision of furniture and science equipments in the ongoing effort to making the school environment conducive for teaching and learning.
Beyond the intervention in schools, Bello has also come up with a deliberate policy aimed at enhancing the standard of education in the state by ensuring the development of the teaching profession itself. To this end there is the proposition for the establishment of three teachers’ professional institute in all the zones. Already, activities have since commenced in one of the institutes located in Mararaba Dan Daudu in Niger East senatorial district.
This Institute is the first of its kind in Nigeria is well appreciated and received the nod of Teachers Registration Council (TRC), National Education Research Council (NERC), United Kingdom Agency for International Development (UKAID) and Reading and Numeracy Activity (RANA). Already the government of Bauchi state had undertook a study visits to the Institute to replicate same in their state. Plans are on to commence works on the other centres in the remaining two geopolitical zones of the state amongst other interventions in the educational sector.
The same attention is also been given the health sector where the state is rated as one of the best in the country, with its commissioner of health, Dr Mustapha Jibril emerging as chairman of health commissioners in the country. The state owned neo-natal and maternity hospital has the best of facility in the country. Addressing journalists recently, Dr Jibril disclosed that the state government has so far spent over N3 billion for the completion and monthly sustenance of the hospital within the last three years.
The state has also been able to record massive transformation in the water sector with the resuscitation of Minna, Suleja, Kontagora and Bida water works which ensure the constant flow of water in the areas, even as the hitherto dilapidated road networks across the state are wearing new look. Perhaps the major achievement in the road sector, is the ongoing rehabilitation of Suleja-Minna road, a federal road which its deplorable condition has result in loss many lives over the years.
Mohammed wrote this piece from Minna, Niger state.