From Olanrewaju Lawal Birnin Kebbi
The Kebbi State Commissioner of Information and Culture, Alhaji Yakubu Ahmed, believes that the antics of opposition politicians will only propel Governor Nasir Idris government into more actions to make life better for the people. He spoke to newsmen in an interview in Birnin Kebbi.
There are stories coming out of Kebbi State of improvement in the provision of infrastructure in key sectors, what are the issues surrounding these?
It is basically about the complete change of narrative in Kebbi within one year of Governor Nasir Idris, popularly known as Kauran Gwandu. The state has changed from one of Nigeria’s most underdeveloped state, to a state that can now compete with its peers in the area of development.
Birnin Kebbi, the state capital used to be described as a glorified local government headquarters because of dilapidation, decay in some cases and in others, total absence of the infrastructure facilities to drive the state’s economy, improve education, enhance health care delivery and empower the citizens who are to take advantage of these facilities to improve their businesses.
Kebbi is now a hub of construction activities which has never been witnessed in a very long time. New roads have started springing up, many schools have got new structures and are properly equipped. The health sector has also recorded remarkable improvement; agriculture which is the mainstay of our economy has received its greatest boost with billions of money used to purchase fertilizers, given to farmers free of charge while solar powered pumps have been also distributed at a highly subsidized rate.
The opposition party, PDP recently leveled allegations against the government of the state . They insinuated that the governor has not been handing over power to his deputy whenever he travels out. What is the truth of the matter?
This is laughable because when you have an opposition party wasting all of its time lamenting on the mundane issue of handing over power to a deputy governor, instead of taking the government to task on the fundamentals of governance, then it shows that the opposition has admitted that indeed the Kebbi State government has done well. Opposition parties are expected to articulate a position on key aspects of development but what we have in Kebbi as far as opposition parties is concerned is a display of desperation and frustration at their inability to pinpoint one single act of fundamental infraction. In the history of Kebbi, no Deputy Governor has ever been as involved in governance as the present Deputy Governor. He has confessed himself at a press briefing, in response to the childish allegation, that the governor had never allowed a vacuum even when he was leaving the state for one single day. I will like to assure you that the synergy, team work, understanding and cooperation between the governor and his deputy as well as between all the arms of government have been such that the achievements recorded so far would not have been achieved under an atmosphere of rancor.
The opposition PDP has also alleged that the APC led government of Governor Nasir Idris has been spending money on frivolous issues instead of paying attention to issues of growth. What is your response to this?
If an opposition party does not have anything to say on concrete matters, I think it will do it a lot of good if it totally abstains from making a mockery of itself. Are you telling me that spending money on building key township roads in the state capital and other towns across the state a waste? Is bridging the gap between the emoluments of doctors in state government and Federal Government hospitals to correct the rate at which doctors in state hospitals rush out of the state a waste of resources? Or are you inferring that the completion of the state secretariat complex after more than a decade of abandonment a waste of money? It is on record that what the Nasir Idris government has achieved under one year, has not been accomplished by the past governments in eight years. But if the opposition has any verifiable and provable cases of wastage, then let them come out with it rather than engaging in clumsy, wild and unsubstantiated allegations.
Kebbi used to be referred to as Nigeria’s rice basket. What has this government been doing, in specific terms to take this to the next level?
The fact is that no government in the history of Kebbi State has done as much as this government in taking decisive and concrete actions to improve rice farming. Of course, Kebbi has all the potential to become the rice hub of Nigeria and the rush by both foreign and local investors to establish rice processing plants is a pointer that Kebbi is the destination. On assumption to office a year ago, Governor Idris purchased more than 200 trucks of fertilizer and distributed them to rice farmers free of charge with a clear mindset to mitigate the effect of subsidy withdrawal on farmers capacity to stay on their farms. He also purchased thousands of solar and gas powered pumps and distributed them to rice farmers across Kebbi for them to be able to plant enough rice because of high cost of petrol. At the very beginning of his administration, the governor was confronted with his first litmus test when migratory Quelea birds, in their thousands attacked farms in virtually all the 21 local government areas of the state with the gloomy risk of eating off all the year’s yield and which pose a big risk of serious food shortage. He quickly hired an aircraft which spent hours on airborne, sprayed thousands of liters of chemicals to bring the situation under control. Many high tech rice processing investors from all over the globe are coming into Kebbi State now to take advantage of the abundance of the right and encouraging government policies to add to the number of companies already in Kebbi.
Security too is another area that has bothered the people of Kebbi especially in the southern part of the state. What is the situation like now?
It used to be very bad. Just a year ago, attacks by bandits were a norm in that area. It was an every day occurrence with the huge loss of lives and property. But since the coming of the Governor Nasir Idris administration, the bandits have either been eliminated following decisive and proactive measures introduced by the state government or they have relocated back to where they came from. I will like the people to know that there were never breeding grounds or bandits cells in any part of Kebbi State. Kebbi only happened to be geographically boxed into a corner between two hot spots of banditry – Zamfara and Niger states. What they usually do is to come into Kebbi, hit and run away. When he came in as governor, Dr Nasir Idris changed the approach by interfacing with the highest commands of security organs where he solicited for strategic deployments to block bandits paths. He also took over payment of allowances of troops, purchased patrol vehicles, made sure there was synergy between troops and local hunters and vigilante groups to ensure efficiency and charged citizens within the flashpoint areas to cooperate and provide useful intelligence in order to root the bandits out. Now our farmers have gone back to their farms, all markets that were closed due to bandits activities have reopened while no single land of Kebbi is under the control of outlawed groups.
In some states, civil servants are at loggerheads with their government over emoluments especially prompt payment of pensions and gratuities. What is the situation in Kebbi?
I think Kebbi is one of the only two states in Nigeria that are 100 percent up to date in prompt payment of salaries to their workers. In Kebbi, it has become a tradition to pay workers’ salaries including pensions between the 20th and 23rd of every month. No single worker in Kebbi is being owed a dime in either gratuity, pension or leave grant. We are 100 percent up to date. One single remarkable case with us is that we pay salaries on specific dates even when allocation from the federation account was late in coming. I invite skeptics to come to Kebbi to find out and to also take a look and judge us by what we have claimed to have done.
We want to take you back to the role of opposition parties. Don’t you think their oversight or the watchdog role they play are critical in bringing about development?
We concede to them the right to play their constitutional obligations, guaranteed role to oppose. I agree with you that criticisms are vital in the enthronement and survival of democracy. But such criticisms should be constructive. The issue here is when opposition elements engage in destructive criticism with a clear objective to undermine democracy and bring the roof down on everybody’s head just because they have lost out in elections. The case of Kebbi is destructive. There is no way anybody will not admit that a development-driven government of Dr Nasir Idris has emerged in Kebbi. He has done what was thought to be impossible and I think a forward looking and patriotic opposition should first admit that Kebbi has indeed changed for the better. And if they must criticise, it should be on the crest of verifiable truths that would make sense to the people. We are happy that the people of Kebbi State are generally appreciative of the unprecedented achievements on ground under just a year. We call on them to continue to support government so that the progress we have seen so far will continue unabated.
With all these capital projects going on simultaneously across the state, don’t you think Governor Nasir Idris might abandon some?
One good thing about our governor is that he does not award contracts without saving money for it. Any infrastructure he intends to provide, he ensures that he makes funds for it available. One good example is the contract for the completion of the abandoned state secretariat complex. Any time he has opportunity to talk about the secretariat or any other project like the township roads, he used to assure the people that he has saved money to pay for such projects. Even the construction and rehabilitation of hundreds of schools ongoing across the state, Dr Nasir Idris gives it as a package. These includes the school structures, furniture, instructional materials, staff quarters etc and he never jokes with making sure that he has the resources to prosecute them. So, I can assure you that the infrastructural transformation taking place in Kebbi is well thought out, planned and executed with such precision that will amaze and awe even the most staunchest critic. If the governor can include taking on inherited uncompleted projects costing billions, that tells you that he is ready. When you have a leader that prioritizes transparency in his handling of resources, and is farsighted and visionary, whatever he plans to achieve is realizable. This is why we always say that Kebbi is destined to be great this time around. The election of grassroots and home based politician, a professional teacher and labor leader was deliberate to, for once, change the pattern of electing leaders who have failed in the past.