History Maker: The Sule Lamido Regime, Radical Populism, and Governance in Jigawa State

By Chinedum Igbokwe

Alhaji Sule Lamido is one of the most prominent politicians in contemporary Nigeria. A dogged believer in political and economic freedom, he has faced trials and torments on his way to prominence. But he knows how to rise above all vicissitude to keep his career on an upward trajectory.
History Maker presents the story of Lamidos political journey as told by different authors. It captures his origins, struggles, achievements, and travails. The book attempts to bring out the salient virtues of consistency, determination, belief in individual abilities, faith in God, and resolve to endure hardship to fulfil a personal dream, which are the hallmarks of Lamidos political life. It provides a guide to the attitude and disposition of Lamido to life and politics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524513146

Chinedum Igbokwe

Alhaji Sule Lamido is one of the most prominent politicians in contemporary Nigeria. A dogged believer in political and economic freedom, he has faced trials and torments on his way to prominence. But he knows how to rise above all vicissitude to keep his career on an upward trajectory. History Maker presents the story of Lamido’s political journey as told by different authors. It captures his origins, struggles, achievements, and travails. The book attempts to bring out the salient virtues of consistency, determination, belief in individual abilities, faith in God, and resolve to endure hardship to fulfi l a personal dream, which are the hallmarks of Lamido’s political life. It provides a guide to the attitude and disposition of Lamido to life and politics.

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Copyright © 2017 by Chinedum Igbokwe.

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Contents

Acknowledgement

Introduction

1.   Governor Sule Lamido As History Maker

2.   Flashback

3.   Expanding Democratic Frontiers

4.   Uplifting A Failed State

5.   Confronting Unique Underdevelopment

6.   Restoration Of Jigawa State

7.   Strategic Partnership With Stakeholders

8.   The Democratic Space And Sule Lamido.

9.   Issues-Based Governance

10.   In His Own Words

Governor Sule Lamido Biography

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I give glory to God Almighty for the grace He gave me to complete this book project, despite the numerous challenges I encountered in the process. I am deeply indebted to the Director of Press, Government House, Jigawa State, Alhaji Umar Kyari, who was of immense help to me throughout the project by providing the necessary information and materials, like photographs and other relevant materials, and monitoring the production. My thanks are also due to the production team and all the editors who worked on the project, like Poet Uzo Maxim Uzoatu, who worked very hard to make sure that the book came out successfully. Last but not least, I thank Miss Ubi of Babcock University for sparing her time to go through the material for correction, and Tobi, who typed the manuscripts.

To everyone who helped to bring this idea to fruition, I say, God will reward you richly for your effort.

I want to use this opportunity to acknowledge the sources of the articles in the book from various newspaper houses, like THISDAY Newspapers, Punch, The Guardian, Leadership, The Sun, Champion Newspapers, Daily Times, The News magazine, Africa Today, Businessday, Vanguard Newspaper, Daily Independent Newspaper, Comet Newspaper, The Nation Newspaper,Daily Telegraph,Nigerian Tribune Newspapers and others who generously granted me the permition to use the articles in the book. I also recognise the authors of the articles, more especially Mr. Adagbo Onoja, who worked with Governor Sule Lamido as media adviser from the time he was appointed minister in 1999 to his first term as governor in 2007 and has done much work on Sule Lamido with intellectual dept.

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Lamido in interview session with foreign Journalist.

INTRODUCTION

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State is indeed a journalist’s delight. It’s instructive that a compilation of his press cuttings emerges largely as a celebration of Nigeria’s history, rather than a highlight of his actions in Jigawa State, where his selfless years of service stands as beacon. There is no escaping the contributions of Sule Lamido as a masses-oriented politician who has changed the political atmosphere of his state and the country at large. Sule Lamido’s engagement with Nigerian journalists is a twice-told story, which goes back to his Second Republic days when he emerged as a shining light of Mallam Aminu Kano’s Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in the House of Representatives. He is unrepentantly pro-talakawa, to wit, the common people in his political disposition. His depiction in the media eloquently highlights his ideological stance, which situates him on the progressive sphere of the country’s politics.

Long before his entry into politics, Sule Lamido had traversed almost the entire length and breadth of Nigeria. So his bold entry into politics was more or less akin to pursuing a pastime, of which he is accustomed, a master of his surroundings. He teamed up with radical compatriots to give the politics of the nation a breath of fresh air, championing egalitarian causes. This same pro-masses philosophy underpins his governance style in Jigawa State.

The challenge for a patriot like Sule Lamido in Nigerian politics is the issue of finding company within the ranks of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is largely perceived as serving a conservative ideology. The truth, as the media clearly shows, is that all the current political parties of Nigeria have conservative and progressive hues. No one party can be said to be representing the left. Faced with the perennial task of nation building, Sule Lamido had to team up with diverse forces to defeat military dictatorship before delving into the demarcations of ideological politics.

The populism of the Sule Lamido regime in Jigawa State is quite exemplary as clearly depicted in the press coverage highlighted in this volume. Way back in 2007, the Jigawa State government under the watch of Sule Lamido approved 118724.png billion for the execution of water supply projects, the purchase of hospital equipment, the empowering of women, and the boosting of education in the state. For a poor state such as Jigawa, it is fitting that the projects’ target is society’s poorest, the down-and-out rural dwellers.

Sule Lamido’s press highlights are essentially arranged in themes that reflect his epoch-making governorship, which helped turn around a failed state and expand the democratic space. The conclusions drawn are, to a large extent, shaped by interviews, perceptions, scorecard, etc.

For a leader like Sule Lamido who lets his actions and very visible achievements to speak for him, the words in the media are emblematic of well-made history. The clear message that the observer gets is that Sule Lamido is a reason to believe in the Nigerian dream. He has invested heavily in the destiny of the nation, and there is no doubt that he is clearly made for greater assignments at the national level in the future.

Scoring the Sule Lamido regime drew largely from diverse forces in labour, media, international voluntary agencies, non-governmental organizations, gender, and so on. The total picture is that of an independent assessment of the work done by a committed leader and inspirer of his people. The personable governor is far too sophisticated to indulge in time-serving self-promotion. The critical perspectives showcased here represent the broad spectrum of how the wider world assesses the governance of Sule Lamido. Surely, given a remarkable tour of duty in Jigawa State, it is obvious that Nigeria will hear more of Sule Lamido.

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Aerial view of Dutse, capital of Jigawa State.

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The first plane to fly into Dutse International Airport

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Rasheed Shokoni Specialist Hospital Dutse.

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Mallam Aminu Kano Triangle Dutse

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Sawaba Monument

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Jigawa State Broadcasting House Built by Sule Lamido Administration.

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Jigawa State High Court

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New Dutse Roundabout built by Lamido’s government

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New Jubilee Roundabout in Dutse

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CHAPTER 1

Governor Sule Lamido as History Maker

Jigawa State can never be the same again after the immense gains of the eight-year tenure of the history maker Governor Sule Lamido. The Jigawa State that Lamido met in 2007 was akin to a rural backwater, but the terrain has been totally transformed in eight years of action, application, and modernisation. As his tenure of office expires on May 28, 2015, Sule Lamido can look back with great happiness on the landmark feats he left behind.

When, in 1999, the military transferred power to civilians, there was so much hope that Saminu Turaki, who was elected as governor of Jigawa State, would lead the charge of turning around the fortunes of the state adjudged in many quarters as the poorest in Nigeria. The hopes were largely dashed until the coming to power of Lamido, who won the 2007 gubernatorial election. Lamido started out with the bold pledge that the state would, through his leadership, be put on the path of favourable competition with its peers.

The passion that Lamido has for the development of his people is indeed nonpareil. Lamido saw the mandate bequeathed to him by his beloved people as sacred, and he swore never to betray the masses. He had, from the very beginning, the fervent belief that the civil service is the bedrock of governance. This firm belief in the civil service inspired him to adopt a strategy to make the state attractive to civil servants. The civil servants of Jigawa State had, over the years, carved a niche for themselves as very dedicated, honest, hardworking, and quite professional even while still in the employment of the old Kano State civil service. Lamido ensured that these noble qualities were fully realised and made manifestly applicable in Jigawa to the eternal benefit of the state.

As governor, Lamido had to start from scratch, as there was barely any foundation to build on. His predecessor literally left him a blank land to build on. He took up the daunting challenge with redoubled efforts. Undeterred, he summoned his people to action with single-minded resolve to take Jigawa State out of the woods of underdevelopment. The one thing going for him was that he was well acquainted with the challenges lying ahead of him. For him, it was the call of leadership to meet head-on with challenges instead of sitting back to just enjoy the perks of office. Not even the taxing demands of his office would stop him from visiting with the people in their individual homes regularly.

Even his greatest critic would readily admit that the level of physical development in the Sule Lamido years is unprecedented since the creation of the state. The well-planned development is prominent and visible across the zones and sections of the state. The buildings are all over the place, spanning ultra-modern government offices, sparkling schools, well-equipped hospitals, and tarred roads.

Dutse, the state capital, used to be referred to as the most rural capital in Nigeria. For instance, Kundila Housing Estate by Gyadi-Gyadi Roundabout in Kano used to serve as a parking lot for the teeming Jigawa State civil servants who hardly ever spent a night in Dutse. In those old bad days before the advent of Sule Lamido, the Jigawa workers had to make do with commuting from their various local governments to Dutse. That was the case then and could be excused because the state lacked the basic and minimal infrastructure to accommodate its teeming workforce.

It is a different story after Sule Lamido stepped in. Everything has literally changed. In the course of the tenure of Sule Lamido, the state capital can now take pride in accommodating a three arms zone housing the civil service, judiciary, and legislature. The civil servants have put a stop to their daily routine of commuting from Kano and other places. In the manner of a sweeping revolution, Dutse has witnessed the development of massive housing estates such as New Legislators quarters, Fattara, Godiya Miyetti, and Danmasara.

A pivotal achievement in public service delivery is the Manpower Development Institute, which Lamido positioned as the engine room of capacity building for civil servants. The Jigawa State civil servant is today well trained and retrained, and can compete favourably with his peers anywhere.

In the drive to give the education sector a new lease of life, the Lamido administration constructed and renovated schools across the tiers and equipped them with the needed facilities to function effectively and efficiently. The government went further by improving the capacity of teachers through capacity building and improved packages. A landmark achievement in this sector is the celebrated establishment of the state university in Kafin-Hausa. It needs to be observed that locating the university in Kafin-Hausa clearly showed that Lamido sees every part of the state as his home. The high-minded appointment of a non-indigene, Professor Abdullahi Ribadu, as the pioneer vice chancellor was a manifest demonstration of Lamido’s sincere wish to see the smooth take-off of the university without any bickering along emirate interests.

Sule Lamido broke bold ground in the health sector. The healthcare delivery stands out as a refreshing story of change across the state. In the great spirit of health is wealth, general hospitals were dutifully remodeled and equipped with modern facilities. It is against this background that many indigent residents of other parts of the country troop to Jigawa State to enjoy the benefits of the free and qualitative services the sector offers. The enhanced welfare package championed by Lamido has equally attracted qualified workforce to the sector. In truth, the Rasheed Shekoni Specialist Hospital is comparable to some state’s university teaching hospitals in the country.

Sule Lamido, being a man of the people, gave needed stimulus to employment generation. The Jigawa State Economic and Investment Summit crucially attracted the activities of major private sector players to the investment opportunities beckoning in the state. The organs of employment from the Maigatari Free Zone, the sugar factory in Hadejia, and the cassava-processing plants in Kila are testaments to great promise. The investment in agriculture which has the capacity to greatly impact unemployment, income generation, and poverty reduction cannot be gainsaid. The initiation of policies and programmes that will attract agro-allied industries to the state point to a great future for Jigawa State. Incidentally, the majority of Jigawa people are farmers. Indeed the skill-acquisition programmes of the Sule Lamido regime are first-rate.

The Jigawa airport built by Lamido ranks among the best airports in the country. Apart from serving the needs of the airlift of pilgrims to Mecca, the take-off of commercial flights will make Dutse a hub, in view of the nature of economic activities in the buzzing rebuilt state.

The great economic potential of the tourism sector received a requisite boost from the Lamido administration. It is a pointer that Baturiya Sanctuary and numerous rocky landscapes can make Jigawa State a tourist haven. The proposed amusement park opposite the Jigawa Broadcasting Corporation is a facility on the drawing board that should ginger up Lamido’s successor. Lamido has shown that tourism is a great potential in the drive to diversify the economy from oil.

Lamido left the legacy of a newly constructed, state-of-the-art, multimillion-naira Jigawa Broadcasting Corporation. This highly commendable feat will of course be utilised to showcase the great economic potentials of the state to interested investors.

In the Lamido years, Jigawa State remarkably enjoyed widespread peace and stability, the necessary ingredients to ensure sustainable development.

Being the text of inaugural address to the people of Jigawa State by His Excellency Sule Lamido on the occasion of his swearing-in as the governor on May 29, 2007.

I begin this speech with gratitude to Allah, the true and real giver of power. Events of the past few months, climaxing with the elections as peacefully and free as it took place in Jigawa, has given us cause to give such gratitude to Him. But it is not only because there had been elections and a new government is being sworn in, but more importantly, the swearing-in ceremony in our state is being witnessed by people who have come from far and near and for whom the welfare of talakawa has been their lifetime concern, passion, burden and identity in Nigerian politics. These are men and women who have been the thinkers, ideologues, party workers, and political conveyor belts of the unique stream of consciousness articulated by people like the late Aminu Kano and which has since been the propelling force behind politics especially in the present Kano-Jigawa axis.

It is, therefore, both a matter of pride and humility for us all that the government in Jigawa today is only one led by political leaders produced by such a strong tradition of politics, whatever the aberrations, distortions, internal squabbles and transformations there might have been in that tendency. Those splits and squabbles are not only typical of radical populism everywhere in the world; they are also part of the dialectics of political progress.

It is, thus important that we celebrate our achievements at an occasion like this even as we also reflect deeply on the situation of our people in Jigawa, the direction of the world and our place in it as black people.

RECOGNISING OUR PIONEERS

I therefore, crave your indulgence to recognize our pioneers, leaders and distinguished legatees of this radical tradition: the Mudi Sipikins, the M.D. Dangalans, the Ammani Inuwas, the Lili Gabaris, the Sani Gules, M.D. Yusufs, the Tanko Yakasais, the Asabe Razors, Aminu Kano, M.D. Yusuf, Balarabe Musa, Gambo Sawaba, the Bola Ogunbos (Aminu Kano’s running mate in the 1983 presidential election), the Uche Chukwumerijes, the Lekan Baloguns, the Ahmadu Jalingos, the Najatu Mohammeds, the members of the Yusuf, Bala Usman and Bala Mohammed Memorial Committees, and of course, our luminaries, Abba Musa Rimi, Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa and Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi.

These men and women are distinguished by their membership of the political party most committed to national independence and emancipation of the downtrodden rather than any parochial identity. It is true that many people never agree with them. It is, nevertheless, correct to say that their intervention in any issue at anytime automatically becomes the threshold and the take-off point for others, either in agreement or disagreement.

Therefore, the process of a new beginning in Nigeria should reckon with people who have been playing such a role consistently over time. In this wise, we in Jigawa State would not wait for history to celebrate them, we will beat history to it. We would celebrate them now. We would celebrate them while alive and urge them to reorganize and do more. They are the most appropriate individuals collective to begin a repoliticization Nigerians on the imperative of national independence and the emancipation of the talakawa. Their individual and collective profile in Nigeria means that they can provide that leadership and accomplish so much within the shortest possible time.

This is a task that will rekindle the ideals of our departed leaders, inspirers and comrades like Mallam Aminu Kano, Sa’ad Zungur, Lawal Danbazau, Gambo Sawaba, Bello Ijimu, Bala Usman, Bala Mohammed and the labour of these our heroes shall never be in vain. It is, therefore, with deep humility and sense of privilege that I once again welcome you all to Jigawa.

A CASE OF AN UNUSUAL UNDERDEVELOPMENT

As you all might be aware, our state manifests the worst indices of underdevelopment. I was born and raised here and have spent the most part of my adult life in the state. I have also been actively involved in the affairs of the state since my PRP days. Nevertheless, it was the recent electioneering campaign tour that exposed me to the problems of our people in that most pathetic degree. In summary, the campaign tour brought me face to face with the uniquely unmitigated case of underdevelopment called Jigawa State. This reality was worsened for me by the outpouring of emotions from the elderly, men, women, and youths, some of them weeping in many cases. This is something I interpreted as a subtle reminder to me of the material and social hopelessness of their lives. How they came to the conclusion that I can make a difference in their lives baffles me! But I accept it as an invitation and an expression of their belief that, somehow, I can make the difference that together, we can fight poverty!

Let me, therefore, at this juncture, state the ideological background of the leadership of this new government. It is firmly anchored on the antecedent of democratic humanism as defined and epitomised by its chief exponent, Mallam Aminu Kano. That is the only ideological framework by which this government can satisfy the yearning of the vast majority of our people whom poverty and misery have reduced to conditions unworthy of human beings. These are the people for whom life has, in the words of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), been a sad chronicle of unfulfilled promises, dashed hopes and unrealised expectations.

It is about time government and governance in Nigeria concentrates on eliminating some of the historical nightmares of the talakawa. That would be the only adequate tribute to the memory of Mallam Aminu Kano for whom democracy is the rule of the common people, the poor and illiterate.

SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THIS CONTEXT

Our research has shown the utter difficulty of deciding which of the many nightmares of the common people can be consigned into the dustbin of history at a sustainable financial cost. In resolving this puzzle, one has taken note of the grim existential reality of those who, in addition to the general material poverty of the majority of our people, are physically challenged. Needless pointing out the degrading extent to which these people go to barely keep body and soul together, such as begging.

The moment of truth should, therefore, start with these people. The government of Jigawa hereby announces an automatic monthly survival allowance of N7000 for every physically challenged indigene of the state. A draft bill to this effect will soon be forwarded to the State Assembly. An immediate stocktaking of those who fall within this social category will also commence and be concluded this week.

This documentation, which will form the basis of the legislative and budgetary framework of this policy, will involve the active participation of institutions, such as the traditional authority, the Council of Ulama, the Ministry of Social Welfare as well as the leaders of the various physically challenged groups including the lepers, the crippled, and the blind.

It is expected that after one year, there will be no beggars in Jigawa State. This stipend and the programme of inclusion of physically challenged persons in the impending industrial regeneration will take care of that. The essence is to make Jigawa a model of the prospects and possibilities of the theory and practice of fair trade. Fair trade in this context, refers to the repositioning of poor people in such a way that they can produce and such products will be bought in an international market arrangement at a price advantageous to them. Jigawa State Government will pursue this with all the energy at its disposal.

In fact, the implementation of the inclusion of the poorest of poor will be the first task for the Jigawa Development Delivery and Intervention Corps (JIDDIC), a volunteer’s scheme that will be put in place immediately under the personal supervision of the governor to facilitate delivery of services on a rapid response basis. The imperative for this scheme resides in our recognition that a fundamental problem of governance has been the gap between promises to deliver and the delivery of promises, particularly to those who need the benefits most. There must be many reasons for this sad gap.

One of such reason is the institutional mechanism for translating policies into benefits. While I endorse the civil service as an irreplaceable vehicle for governance, I am tempted to accept that our present situation justifies an additional development, which can execute a rapid response approach to delivering development to people who have been taken for a ride for too long.

Additionally, the culture of a volunteer scheme is necessarily a great investment in leadership in the sense that volunteers are young people who would acquire the nobility of service to community at very little cost to the government.

In the next one year, the FOUR most urgent and life-saving services that government must deliver in line with irreducible minimum declared by PDP will be handled by this scheme. These services include the deliberate and urgent mobilisation of critical sections of our society, particularly women and children, against certain attitudes towards personal and environmental hygiene, maternal and child healthcare, girl education, and agricultural productivity techniques, among others.

Mobile medical emergency services for immunisation, maternal and child healthcare, afflictions like TB, blindness, etc., comprehensive rehabilitation of primary and secondary schools, clinics, and hospitals that must be undertaken immediately. Our traditional Islamic schools will also be part of this programme. We shall consult the Council of Ulama on how best to go about this.

Massive reforestation and tree-planting campaign aimed at restoration of nature throughout Jigawa State. This particular programme would enable us to use our youths to restore our natural green environment. It will also enable our children to grow with green such that the environment forms part of their being again.

In this connection, the state government intends to invite the Nobel laureate, Professor Wangari Maathai, with a view to benefiting from her expertise, thereby giving our own programme here a comparative African breath.

The design and coordination of these programmes will still reside with the respective ministries and agencies traditionally responsible for them, but JIDDIC would be the implementing body.

The emphasis on a rapid, mobile minimal healthcare delivery component of the irreducible minimum of our party is such that the state government must quickly organise a crash programme for community health workers. A special meeting of the relevant agencies of government, which would work out the details of this crash programme, will hold immediately to put this into action.

While the strategy of an immediate stipend to physically challenged persons and direct development delivery system are adequate interim responses to the most severe cases of poverty in our society, they do not sufficiently attack the system that reproduces poverty on such a pervasive scale. To address that system, we must look at both the structural foundation and the many layers of differences it produces. In our society here, one of the most observable layers of such difference is the exclusion of women. Believing that it is about time to begin to reverse some of such elements of the system, it is important to address the question of girl education. One way and the best way that this has been done elsewhere and must be done here is to use state power to create and widen access to education, for example, for our future mothers. The strategic role of women in the society demands no less. The government of Jigawa is, therefore, conducting an immediate, special review of the situation with a view to providing free and automatic education for all girls of school-going age in the state at all levels of education.

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First set of girls to benefit from

free education for girls under lamido regime.

It should be possible to commence the implementation of this policy by next October when a new school calendar begins.

The next key issue in the social group positioning is how to recover our artisans. In those days gone, the society had well-trained, qualitative, and dignified artisans in terms of plumbers, electricians, mechanics, bricklayers, masons, blacksmiths, and a host of them.

Today, that is not the case as the society has lost its soul and stopped emphasising the functional essence of education. There is the absolute need to recover the artisans because there is a gap they alone can fill in our ambition to industrialize. Towards this end, the Jigawa State government is equally conducting a special review of the situation with a view to re-equipping selected vocational training institutions or opening new ones to provide this unfortunate missing link as from next October.

Closely tied to that is the crisis of agricultural production as they relate to food security and income stability in the rural economy. All the statistics show conclusively that more than 70 per cent of the population is engaged in subsistence farming. Hunger, either at the level of the quantity of food produced or the quality of food, particularly protein intake, has been a permanent feature.

The application of fertiliser which could have mitigated this has, ironically, been turned into an annual nightmare in terms of access to it by this category of farmers. Once again, something must be done, both from the point of view of social justice and collective survival. In this wise, the government hereby declares an agricultural emergency whose core is a massive subsidy on fertiliser and direct access to it by every active farmer in the state.

The exact amount of the subsidy is already being worked out, but the cost of a bag of fertiliser will be affordable in the real sense of the word, even by the poorest of the poor, and this is with effect from this farming season, which is very much at hand.

AGRO-INDUSTRIAL TRANSFORMATION

The real challenge, even in the short run, is transforming the economy into a modem one. The only way to do this is through industries which, in turn, mean bringing in investors.

Jigawa State is clearly a gold mine in goat farming and the leather products there from, salt mining, gum arabic, and dairies. The issue is the lack of industries that would process these into industrial goods, thereby guaranteeing employment, income stability, foreign exchange earnings, food and human security, all at once.

The state government has scheduled a series of meetings and discussions with potential investors and other stakeholders in this endeavour. This is a clarion call to all investors; all roads should lead to Jigawa where the state government is prepared to grant real concessions in this regard.

This same strategy will apply in the case of investors in mass housing units at the fastest speed. This also includes investors in the hospitality industry to come to Jigawa and do so. Dutse, for example, is already a natural tourist attraction with its spectacular scenery. This can be enhanced with functional hotels which could make many to bring their meetings, conferences and other social activities from other places to Dutse, our state capital.

IMPERATIVE OF CO-OPERATION

Being only a state in a federal republic of thirty-five others and a federal capital, there is very little we can do. But as a people with a deep consciousness of their progressive and forward-looking orientation, there is so much we can do with whatever we get from federal allocations. We can still rapidly transform our society given the availability of land, the good climate and abundance of highly educated and capable human resources. The key requirement is being able to carry everyone along.

Carrying everyone along means that there must be co-operation between those in government and those outside of government. Without such co-operation, progress would be slow, clumsy and perhaps antagonistic.

But I do not ask you to co-operate with the government blindly. Rather, I ask you to co-operate based on your appraisal of the situation in which we are in. That situation is one in which a lot of changes are taking place. Our people must understand some of the changes very deeply before deciding whether to reject or embrace some of them. Even when we decide either to embrace or reject, we need moderation because absolutism in any form is simply repugnant to democracy and progress.

MY PLEDGES

On my part, I have already said that I do not see my governorship as a personal victory but as a trust and an opportunity to bring about the system which our people have struggled against many odds in the past to achieve. Our programmes, pronouncements and actions will bear the unmistakable stamp of the moral and ideological character of the political background we come from. This government will not be wicked to any group or creed or race or class. Although it will be firm against sloth, brigandage, and acts capable of threatening order and peaceful co-existence, it would be fair, firm, and just in doing that. Nobody or groups would need to lobby to get social, redistributive, or locative justice. I made this categorically clear while inaugurating the transition committee that heralded this regime that this administration would be strictly guided by the tradition of identifying and selecting into public office people with proven faith and commitment to serving their own people without making noise about it as a subtle way of lobbying. This is because we reckon with such people to be decent and cultured and as people whose anonymity is an expression of belief in them and in the idea of being advertised only by the culture of hard work.

I would strive every day as long as I am the chief executive of the state to be the chief advocate, agitator, and defender of the weakest groups in the social chain here. Already, there has been designed a scorecard by which the government would be told the truth unsullied by protocol and bureaucratic red tapism. The whole essence of this is to guard against degeneracy in power and deviation from the guarantee of social justice, including on my own part. I assure you that where relative inadequacy of resources threatens redistributive and locative justice, the poorest and the weakest will get their own share before any other set of people in this state.

So help us God.

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Vanguard, Tuesday, April 28, 2009 Pg.48

Beginning of a New Journey for Jigawa?

By Adagbo Onoja

THE people are the salt of the earth (Jama’a sune Ginshikin Rayuwa), proclaimed the Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, on the day of his inauguration on May 29th, 2007. With that declaration, all important actors in Nigeria’s politics of development took note of the government and its leadership. The reason for this is in the belief that the starting point in the politics of development is the ability of a government to reduce its developmental ideology to a meaningful phrase or it is still a nonstarter. Action Group’s Freedom For All, Life More Abundant has been cited as a case in point but the culture of summing up a government’s developmental essence in a meaningful phrase has progressively been declining in Nigeria since the end of the First Republic. Imprecise and lousy phrases such as Budget of Hope, Budget of Consolidation have taken over from holistic phases.

It is in the context of the developmental ideology that proclaims the people as the salt of the earth that the April 30th, 2009, high-profile commissioning of a massive, ultramodern housing estate, a complex network of roads and an assembly plant of a specially designed tricycle car in Nigeria’s most agrarian/poorest state of Jigawa speaks to all of us. This is in terms of what is development, development for whom, what is the fastest way of bringing about development and by whom (public or private initiative)? For, in Jigawa State, the import of these projects is not in the quantity but what they each indicate in the debate on possibility of development itself.

In a state where the possibility of governance as a development mechanism has not been the reality, the significance of these projects, individually and collectively, is beyond the fanfare of the commissioning into the realm of the spirit of man. The spirit of man is the spirit of struggle from pain, from decay, from turmoil or anarchy and from helplessness to a theoretical state of being characterized by order and stability.

The question of what constitutes order and stability has been dominated by what someone calls Caucasian metaphysics, and it’s Western Multinational Otherness Industry which generates hostility from the non-Anglo-American universe. But even then, western capitalism has, indeed created a majestic civilization which has an infrastructural foundation super high ways, electrical energy, credible public transportation, food and health security for a large bracket of its humanity. The brackets of western humanity not covered by this prosperity are somehow systematically entrusted via series of affirmative actions so as to avoid what scholars like David Easton call system overload.

Ruling class politics in the western world is also such that the men who sleep in slums and shanty towns believe that somehow, they too can move up the ladder of prosperity if they work hard. In this way, the western system is never overloaded to a bursting point of useless and infantile conflicts as predominates in rich but poverty-ridden Africa.

There is, therefore a message in the commissioning of the above named projects in the most agrarian and the poorest state in Nigeria. It is both the message of how far and how fast a society can go if it has a politically educated leader or leadership.

For who would have thought of Jigawa in terms of well-laid road networks, a car assembly plant, and giant housing estates three years ago? Not only are these things on ground, they have been designed towards benchmarking human dignity, to quote Sule Lamido.

What all these suggest is a countdown to the beginning of the development journey of Jigawa from where it is today to where it can be. Where it is today is where CBN Economists say it is the state with the highest incidence of poverty. Responding to this classification of the state in February 2007, Lamido, then a candidate, said that whatever indices or statistics might have been used, it should be regarded as a wake-up call on the state.

Three months later, he assumed power as the governor of the state. But with only the Government House, Jigawa, the Jigawa Hotel, and the Commissioners’ Quarters as the only indicators of modernity in the state capital, Lamido could not really confront social transformation just yet. Not with what, in his own words, were the cowsheds called offices or the footpaths that served as roads in my village capital as he bitterly told every imaginable visitor to the state and whom he insisted on taking him around to see things for themselves.

That was in those days. Now, Dutse is a beehive of giant construction works, from ultramodern supermarkets to a giant public square, an Abuja-type three-arm zone, a massive state secretariat, the expansion and reconstruction of the fully built but abandoned Dutse General Hospital ten years ago and what have you.

Beyond Dutse, every local government area has a minimum set of tasks, among them a minimum of five blocks of flats and the renovation of the secretariat to taste. There is, of course, the statewide renovation of schools.

Understandably, laying the infrastructural foundation of modernity has considerably subsumed the social transformation task the regime set for itself on inauguration day. Not quite so if one considered the assembly plants, the social welfarism that defines the regime and the anti-poverty offensives which climaxed in the historic Talakawa Summit of last October.

But there are still problems. Maternal mortality is unacceptably high. Malaria is a killer disease. A lot of money has been sunk into renovation of public schools, retraining of teachers and recruitment of new ones, but we do not know if the quality of education now is such that produces or would soon produce pupils/students who are competitive, even by Nigerian standards.

The mass of the population live in corn stock or mud houses which cannot provide the shelter shield against the vagaries of nature. Every day, the governor agonises about this, including taking it out on federal officials from the emergency relief agency. Portable water is a problem. The environment is a threat to life. And so on and so forth.

Agriculture which is the best bet of the state is imprisoned in subsistence farming. This is beside the international conspiracy which denied the Hadejia-Kirikasamma-Guri-Birniwa contiguous zone the benefits of modernized agriculture, especially wheat farming in which the Hadejia-Jama’are River Basin and the associated flood plain in its sweep into the Lake Chad stood to be the zone of highest yield in Nigeria. This was smashed by those who saw the zone as thus a threat to their wheat market interests in Nigeria.

Still, it is a zone of all-year-round fishing and farming because it is a waterlogged area. Within 9 meters of digging, you strike water in the case of borehole or hand pump. So it is possible for Gari Local Government Area, considered the poorest of them all in the zone, to sell no less than 10 million naira worth of fish, frogs, onions, peppers, rice, maize, and all sorts of vegetables daily. LGC and Road Transport Union’s statistics show that a minimum of 10 trailer loads of these items depart this area daily, excluding no less than 30 smaller vehicles such as the Hiace Buses and Pick-Up vans.

It is understood that with the ongoing dredging of Guri River, outputs, especially of maize, would triple. This is because all the farmers who migrated to big urban centres such as Abuja, Kano, Lagos, Ibadan, and Port Harcourt and so on are coming back to the area to farm. Beyond fish, frogs, and onions, the rice produced here is not ordinary carbohydrate rice but the naturally processed rice which is not based on fertilizer because the soil is adequate in itself.

The soil endowment and productivity of this zone is well known but the people remain poor simply because they remain subsistent fish farmers, selling in a buyers’ market. Hadejia, the most ancient of the towns in the state, serve as the buying centre although things have developed to where many traders from other parts of the country go as deep as Guri to book production ahead. Otherwise, the poor farmers have to take whole lot of trouble to make their way to Hadejia or Kano where Chinese restaurants patronize the frogs, either brought alive inside water or dried like fish. But until recently when the Jigawa State Government awarded the contract for the Nguru Junction–Guri Road, it had no good road linking the area with either Hadejia or Kano.

Above all, Guri is invaded by typha grass. Typha grass is a good-for-nothing but rapid-growing and invasive green grass. It does not allow fishing or farming even though it is not useful for anything at all, not even to cattles which herdsmen carry about. Yet everywhere in Guri, one sees vast stretches of land covered by typha grass. Nobody appears to know how to deal with it except some UNIDO officials within the UN system in Nigeria who have asked some questions when Governor Lamido presented the problem there last year.

To these problems may be added the fact that the farmers in Guri have no regular public enlightenment service from the local, state, or federal government. And there is no school of fishery to teach any specialized skills in respect of catching, preserving and marketing the bounties of water.

If we move from Guri and the Hadejia Zone to the Kazaure/Roni, Gwiwa and Yankwashi contiguous agricultural zone in the state, the story is the same, but this time, the specialization changes. Around this axis, you see a water point in almost every fifteen kilometers. That is why they can produce a lot of tomatoes, onions, and pepper. But there is no agro-industrial capacity to add value to these. So problems of preservation/storage stare them in the face.

In Dutse/Gwaram zone, that is the third senatorial district in Jigawa, it is still the same story. The Fulanis around this axis produce considerable diaries. Much of what they produce perishes because, like other farmers throughout Nigeria, their problem is preserving the product. Unlike the cotton farmers in the 1960s in the North, present-day primary producers have no commodity boards to intervene and lessen the vagaries of Third World farming in Nigeria anymore. All that is gone with SAP or market reform or whatever it is called now.

All these raise the question of what Nigeria wants to do with itself because the Jigawa story of historical disconnection between natural endowment and pace of development is also the story of Nigeria. Land everywhere, sufficient water too, and cheap though unskilled labour but which the various levels of government cannot mobilise into an agro-industrial leap. Is this the problem of a money-chasing, unthinking elite or of international conspiracy against industrialization in Nigeria or both?

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Daily Independent, Monday, March 10, 2008 Pg.IV

Jigawa: In Quest of a Befitting State Capital

By Abubakar Sharada,

Dutse

The development of Jigawa State is the priority project of this administration. Our commitment to this is total and unequivocal. Our bearings are clear. We acknowledge all past efforts to salvage our state by well-meaning leaders who have done their very best to bring us to where we are today.

We, however, see room for improvement and know quite well that what we provide today would only further improve our lives. But even then, it would be a matter for raising standards; not the end of it all. The development process is always on -going.

The statement above was part of the opening remarks Governor Lamido made at the flagging off of the construction of Dutse metropolitan network of roads on Thursday, February 28, 2008. It is the road leading to the Government House.

Anyone conversant with the administrative antecedents of Governor Sule Lamido since he assumed the mantle of leadership in May, 2007 would come to appreciate the fact that a new revolutionary tide is in the offing and the set objectives have clearly been identified. For the benefit of hindsight, it could vividly be recalled that there was a stunning degree of appreciation among citizens of Jigawa State that Dutse, the state capital, is without appreciable glamour as a result of what many dubbed as a gross negligence and absolute lack of willpower on the immediate past Governor of the state, Alhaji Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, who had failed to march his words with actions to make the state capital tick.

Part of the former administration’s failure was inability to repair major roads in Dutse to the point of convincing doubting Thomases that Dutse has all that it takes to be given such a shining toga of a state capital. Eminent visitors to the state were at a loss to uncover what was really amiss as far as transforming the state into a befitting capital was concerned, as it had also remained a place where many tourists were not willing to visit due to glaring inadequacies. Despite the fact that there is a symbolic existence of Dutse Capital Development Authority, the outfit was only allowed to wallow in abject neglect and left with no responsibility to carry out, making the prospect of having a befitting state capital impossible. Even though Governor Turaki was acknowledged to have achieved a discernible feat on roads construction, many believed his effort was an exercise in futility since the roads were said to be substandard.

But Lamido has taken the bull by the horn in giving the Dutse Capital Development Authority (DCDA) a substantial facelift and a considerable leverage to enable the outfit to perform its functions without hindrance. DCDA under the leadership of Alhaji Bashari Aminu is on a promising path to greatness since he is able to command considerable clout as the man at the helm of affairs. Without the considerable support and cooperation he is getting from Governor Lamido, his burning quest to transform the outfit into a role model of excellence will remain elusive.

The flagging off of the road networks within Dutse metropolis, according to the governor, is not cosmetic surgery, rather it is done for real to get effect to enhance the beauty of the environment so that minds and bodies go towards the more complicated issues of growth, development and progress in all facets of life.

The way we live must change, we will beautify our environment, ensure its cleanliness, develop its flora and fauna and by so doing ensure order, security and progress in the state, he remarked.

"Dutse is fast attracting all of us, and I know soon we will be coming to build our houses, supermarkets, shopping malls, and all other pieces of edifices because the setting is right. I have, in all we do, gone for the reputable service providers, so as to get lasting results that would be adjudged as of international standard—standard that will stand the test of time.

This is our philosophy, and for it to be sustainable, we must aspire for excellence, have work discipline and dedication qualities, which seen around us when they are translated into good roads, good houses, good hospitals, and a good and healthy environment. We must not fail, he said.

The thought-provoking speech has undoubtedly elicited wide and divergent reactions from reputable pundits, who have expressed high hopes and optimism that Governor Lamido is full of ambition and is one who has the flair for productivity and excellence, knowing fully well that the state is in need of urgent surgical operation.

A concerned indigene of the state, Mallam Abdullahi Hadejia, told Daily Independent that Governor Lamido is an intrepid revolutionary who, within a short time, has injected some semblance of sanity into the governance of the Jigawa State. According to Hadejia, giving a facelift to Dutse metropolis is a pointer to the fact that Lamido is bent on transforming the state into a befitting centre of attraction where tourists and other eminent personalities would love to visit. I am fully convinced that Governor Lamido is stedfast. He is one where he stands on every issue is clear. Make no mistake, he will, by the grace of God, live up to his billing, he remarked. He took a swipe at the despicable manner the future of the young state was toyed with impunity by the past administration, saying gone are the days when people of shameless disposition will be allowed to betray the trust of their people. What we are presently witnessing is a promising revolutionary tide that seeks to change the fortunes of the young state for better. This is a man I believe will never behave like a bull in China shop as he is ready to get things tidy. He called on the people of the state to support Lamido’s administration, saying with the apologists of glib talks on the offensive, nothing can be achieved easily. The bottom line, however, according pundits, is for the construction firm handling the contract to live up to expectation, as Governor Lamido will not fold his arms and give room for poor job.

Dantata and Swore, the firm handling the contract, is a construction outfit known for professional excellence and productivity as such, it should endeavour to see that lives up to expectation, as Lamido’s ambition to build a befitting state capital is certain to reach fruition, with the launching of the roads’ construction.

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ThisDay, Newspaper, May 4, 2008, Pg. 117

Why Jigawa Lawmakers Need Constituency Offices

The actual interaction between the legislators and the representatives of Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) in the state lasted a little over one hour. But the interaction, the first of its kind in the state, was a rewarding one, writes Taiwo Olawale.

It provided the first major challenge to the state’s legislature as the interaction concluded that each lawmaker must have a Constituency Office if he is to carry out the legislative duties properly and correctly. The venue was the austere auditorium of the Jigawa State Three-Star Hotel, and the occasion was a one-day capacity-building workshop organized for legislators and civil societies organisations (CSOs) by a non-governmental Organisation (NGO), the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).

The workshop sought to build the capacity of lawmakers in the state to function properly as legislators and representatives of the people as well as improve the capacities of CSOs and CBOs to interface effectively with the legislature to ensure proper and fruitful legislations. In essence, the workshop’s aim was to help the Assemblymen in Jigawa become better lawmakers and not mere rubber stamps while at the same time creating a community that understands its rights and works to make the legislature deliver on those rights.

To properly background the theme of the workshop, the day started with an historical overview of the legislature as an arm of government. In a paper titled ‘Nigeria’s Legislature: History and Challenges’, Rima Kwewum traced the history of the legislature from the first in 1960 to the present. He submitted that as a nation, an independent legislature has not really operated in Nigeria before now.

According to Kwewum, right from the colonial times up until recently, the legislature had been rubber stamps, whose existence merely decorated the system. He gave several reasons for this seeming lack of authority and independence, and one of the most poignant ones is the fact that the legislature possesses the least capacity to perform its functions in terms of resources and precedence.

He also posited that the challenge of the legislature is the establishment of legitimacy among the people. The connection between the legislature and the `people is only reason, over the years, it has acquired more power than other arms of government. He therefore challenged the people to improve the quality of representation by demanding same. He said the establishment of constituency offices must be encouraged and enforced as a way of improving representation.

The Civil Society groups are an important link in the chain between the legislature and the people. The civil societies need to empower the constituents to ensure that constituency offices are openedand are functional all year round. The legislature needs the civil society groups to disseminate information on its activities among vocal members of the society, he submitted.

With his presentation, Kwewum set the tone for the remainder of the day as the major challenge throughout the day was how the link between the legislature and the people could be strengthened. And, for most speakers after Kwewum and the majority of the participants, one sure way of starting this all-important relationship was the establishment of constituency offices by all the members of the Jigawa State House of Assembly.

Next was a paper on the roles of representatives. The paper which was prepared by Honourable Idris Yahuza, the former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee Rules and Business, discussed the roles of a representative, the legislative process, developing expertise and the oversight roles of the legislature. The paper offered lucid insights into the workings of the Nigerian legislature. It then went on to discuss Advocacy/Lobbying within and outside the parliament as an integral part of democracy.

Yahuza noted that Advocacy/Lobbying provide a platform for partnership between civil society organisations and parliament, either behind the scenes or during public hearings. He however cautioned that applying the right skills and strategies is crucial to the effectiveness and success of lobbying.

It was here that the drama began as participants began an intense discussion on the most effective ways to lobby their representatives. First, several keys to effective lobbying were identified. The first key was that CBOs and CSOs must know their legislators and their staff personally. Then, the organisations must be sources of reliable information for the lawmakers. Here, it was agreed that information must be provided in such a way that the lawmaker becomes an expert on the subject of interest. Finally, the organisations must understand the legislative process so that they can lobby effectively; and they must ask how the lawmakers would vote and hold them accountable.

After identifying the keys to effective lobbying, the workshop went on to discuss tactics and strategies for effective lobbying. It was while discussing the tactics and strategies of lobbying that the overriding need for lawmakers to open constituency offices resurfaced. The first of the strategies discussed brought out this need. The strategy urged CSOs to draft bills and look for legislators to sponsor them. And the question was how do you meet and convince a lawmaker to sponsor a bill if the lawmaker does not have an office.

You cannot go to the Assembly to discuss such a weighty issue with a lawmaker. A single visit would not get lawmaker to sponsor a bill. One should be able to meet such a lawmaker inside his constituency office as many times as necessary to discuss. Besides, it is only when you meet in a constituency office that you can properly place your discussion within a correct context, one of the participants opined.

Several other tactics including writing to lawmakers, mobilizing grass roots and the media to pressure lawmakers, testifying at public hearings staging protests/demonstrations and analysing bills were discussed. The bottom line though was the need for lawmakers to have offices as contact points for fruitful interactions with their constituents. Almost all the participants agreed that the only way to have an effective legislature was for members to make members laws which are beneficial to the people they represent. And they concluded that the only way to achieve such was for lawmakers to remain in contact with their constituents through their constituency offices.

When you ask them, most of these lawmakers would tell you that they have constituency offices. But in essence, what they do is convert their campaign offices to constituency offices. So instead of having competent staff in place, you only see political thugs and jobbers loitering in such offices. They do not function as offices in any sense of the word.

It was at this point that the Speaker of the state assembly, Alhaji Adamu Ahmed and his colleagues from the assembly joined the workshop. The timing was auspicious as the next session chaired by the Speaker handed down what turned out to be the main item on the workshop’s communiqué. The Speaker was urged to, as a matter of utmost urgency, establish a Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) liaison office in the state assembly to boost interaction between the assembly and CSOs.

The workshop noted that CSOs and other stakeholders find it difficult to access the legislature because there is no liaison office to facilitate such access. It further noted that mutual suspicions are fanned by these difficulties, hence the need to create an official avenue for the CSOs and the Assembly to regularly interact.

In addition to a liaison office, however, the workshop also noted that most legislators are yet to open constituency offices, making interaction between the elected representatives and the electorate practically impossible. It therefore recommended that all members of the Jigawa State House of Assembly should establish their constituency offices to ensure easy contact with the electorate.

One of the participants who spoke with THISDAY at the end of the workshop said the state assembly has been up and doing since it was proclaimed by Governor Sule Lamido in 2007. He however declared that it has remained a mere rubber stamp because it has not risen above average since inception.

"He said, Apart from the notions on issues affecting some of the constituencies,this Assembly has not introduced a single bill of its own. All the bills so far debated on the floor of the house have been sponsored by the executive. None of them has gotten down to doing serious legislative business. What they do is commute to Dutse every day to attend plenary. As soon as the sessions are over,they are on their way back. They neither have offices nor reach out to their constituents.

"The excuse most of them give for not keeping a standard office is that their constituents harass them for money and other gifts. But this problem can be solved easily if they employ competent staff. Once the so-called beggars see that the office is strictly for business,they would stop going there to beg. So,apart from getting staff to carry out researches and support their offices,constituency offices would make the lawmakers better legislators.