George Oji
2 July 2009
analysis
Lagos — Governor Namadi Sambo of Kaduna State recently concluded tours of the 23 Local Government Areas of the state. During the tours, he commissioned some completed projects and held stakeholders' meetings in what was described as an exercise in political accountability by the governor's camp. But on the part of Sambo's political foes, the tours were nothing short of unwarranted hype for his re-election bid.
For a governor who ascended power on the promise to better the lives of the people of his state, the recent month long Local Government tours were intended as a self auditing exercise to ascertain how far he had lived up to his electoral promises. Besides, the tours were designed as response to the appeals by some Local government Councils for the governor to visit their areas and commission some of the completed projects in their constituencies. The exercise in a way was designed as part of the governor's mid-term anniversary projects commissioning intended to hype some of his major achievements in office so far. The tours therefore enabled the governor a unique opportunity to come face to face with the electorates, interacted with them, prioritise their developmental needs and design collective strategies to attain such needs within the constraints of available state resources.
Altogether, 58 projects were on the scoresheet for commissioning during the tours. Among these were dams, health clinics, police stations, roads, markets, electrification projects, school buildings, water schemes, skills acquisition centres, cottage industries and distribution of poverty alleviation materials.
Except perhaps for a few Local Government Areas like Lere and Sabon Gari, where there were reported cases of skirmishes, the tours can reasonably be described as very successful going by the enthusiasm shown by the people to welcome the governor everywhere he visited. In Lere Local Government Area, the crisis resulted from local political rivalry between two contending power camps within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) known as the "Tiger" and the "Lion" groups.
The tiger group, which is headed by Hajia Saadatu Sani, a two-time member of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the Local Government, was reported to have used the occasion of the governor's visit to the area to test their political strength and support with the rival Lion group headed by Alhaji Saleh Ramin-Kura, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Authority. Unlike the Lere case, in the Sabon Gari instance, youths from the area used the occasion of the governor's visit to protest what they described as bad leadership by the Council Chairman Alhaji Lawal Abasco.
The youths who tried to barricade the road to the Council area to prevent the governor from gaining entry into the place made it explicit that their action was not targeted at Sambo but intended to call the governor's attention to the bad leadership of the council Chairman. While addressing the irate youths, Sambo cautioned the people against taking the laws into their hands as a way of expressing their feelings on issues they feel strongly about. According to the governor in a democracy, violence is not a welcomed solution to addressing issues and urged the people to always channel their complaints through the appropriate authorities.
He cautioned the people of the state against taking the law into their hands as a way of expressing their feelings on issues they feel strongly about. Sambo said in a democracy, violence is not the solution to problems and urged the people to always channel their complaints to the appropriate channels. While at the Zango-Kataf Local Government Area, Sambo disclosed that 100 units of the proposed 1000 Housing units to be built by the state government would be built in the area as part of efforts to bring succour to civil servants and spread development to all parts of the state.
According to the governor, the location of the 100 units in the local government would give a sense of belonging to the people of the Southern Senatorial zone and also bring about more unity in the state. He added that the Luduga grazing reserve located In Kachia local government also in the Southern Senatorial zone would be rehabilitated to enable pastoralists have a place to feed their animals and also improve the economy of the people of the area.
Sambo said the 11-point agenda of his administration was conceived to transform the state into one of the most developed in the country hence the concept of spreading developmental projects across the state. Other projects commissioned at the council included the newly completed local government secretariat in Zonkwa, a Primary Health Centre at Abet and an electrification project in Fadan Kaje.
The governor was also in Jema'a and Jaba local government areas where he commissioned and flagged off some developmental projects executed by the state government in the two local government councils. In Jema'a local government, the governor commissioned many projects such as the Grains silos in Kafanchan built by the state government to ensure food security in the state.
He also commissioned medical equipment and ICAP HIV/AIDS treatment/comprehensive laboratory at the General Hospital, Kafanchan and equipment for practical and laid foundation for the construction of student's hostel at the School of Nursing, Kafanchan.
He commissioned the Kafanchan Township Stadium and Government Secondary School, Rafin Raga and many projects at the College of Education, Gidan Waya and a Health Clinic at Bedde all in the local government area. While in Jaba local government area, Sambo commissioned a solar borehole at the General Hospital, Kwoi and the local government secretariat extension in Kwoi and the Bitaro electrification project in Bitaro.
At the Sabon Gari council, Sambo commissioned the Chalk and Paint Industry, the electrification project at Hayin Bagadaza, flagged off the construction of Hayin Ojo -Shika Dam road before he met with stakeholders in the area, who commended his good works in the state over the period. He disclosed that Sabon Gari Local government has been selected as the first pilot scheme for the construction of a school for the Almajiri where both Western and Islamic education would be taught.
The governor also promised to construct 300 housing units for civil servants in the area just as he assured that the council will also benefit from the ongoing water project aimed at bringing an end to the perennial water problem in the area. He called on the people of the state to continue to be peaceful and to support his administration in order to ensure that the 11-point agenda of his administration are realised.
At the Kaduna South Local Government area,Sambo who was warmly received said the Kaduna State government has procured 150 electric transformers for distribution to various communities in the state this year. As at last year, the government had procured 78 transformers which were supplied to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) following agitations against epileptic power supply.
Some of the other projects commissioned included the Kabala Government day secondary School and the Kinkinau Development Area office, among others.
Sambo also said that his government had started the construction of a 132 KVA power sub-station that would evacuate 30 megawatts of electricity from Gurara dam to the industrial areas of the state. On education, the governor said that his administration had started a pilot programme of feeding primary school pupils to ease the burden of feeding on parents. He then enjoined parents to ensure that children of school age go to school.
Critics of the governor alleged that the tours exposed his lopsided policy of spreading and implementing development projects in the state. For instance, they claimed that the projects executed and commissioned in the southern part of the state were insignificant and did not deserve the status of their being associated with a governor. "Imagine a whole governor going to commission a two-room building in a Local government, is that not a shame?" an angry youth from Southern Kaduna thundered during the governor's tour of one of the area councils in the zone. THISDAY was however informed that most of the projects commissioned by the governor were those that were actually executed by the councils and that he was invited by the council chairmen to commission them.
Political pundits in the state believe that the tours afforded Sambo the opportunity to know who the real grassroots politicians are; those to be relied upon particularly in his quest for re-election. This is because before the tours the governor was fed with second hand information by political aides who paraded themselves as leaders of their people whereas a large proportion of them were elements who were only out to enrich themselves and misadvise the governor. The tours therefore enabled the governor to consolidate on a new political structure of his in the state instead of the past whereby he relied on structures donated to him by his political godfather and other political bigwigs in the State.
It would be recalled that upon the emergence of Sambo as the PDP gubernatorial candidate in the state in 2007 following rapproachment by some elders of the party, his political rivals in the state chapter of the party like Senator Isaiah Balat, Alhaji Suleiman Hunkuyi and Garba Madaki Ali donated their political structures to the Mutunchi Organisation, Sambo's political machinery. The gesture was in order to ensure the success of the party at the polls. Unfortunately, some of these people were later found to be mules in the administration of the governor. The tours therefore amongst many other purposes, enabled Sambo to build a reliable and formidable political structure to fall to when the time comes for his re-election for a second term.
Another fall-out of the tours was that the visits provided Sambo the chance to nip in the bud the various political rivalries that existed in PDP in the state. Thus, the governor used the opportunity of the stakeholders meetings in each of the Local government visited to thrash out all grey areas where they existed. Feelers indicated that this approach actually paid off handsomely as the governor has been able to unite virtually all the rival political groups in the party in the state.
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