Governor Namadi says his 12-point agenda aims to make Jigawa a particular state that works for everyone by creating an enabling environment for opportunities for residents.
Abubakar Garba was about to go out for his routine activities under the morning scorching sun last October when he saw a convoy of vehicles drive into his village.
Mr Garba, who is the village head of Musarin-Fulani in Kaugama Local Government Area of Jigawa State, soon realised that the visitors were officials of the state government.
The community rarely received such visitors, so he was excited when they told him they were around to select people in the village to benefit from an agricultural empowerment programme of the government.
"It was a surprise visit.The residents were asked to pick from papers on which each was written 'Yes' or 'No'. Those who picked 'Yes' were selected for the programme," Mr Garba told PREMIUM TIMES in February."The process was transparent, it was carried out at the village square. That saved us (the community leaders) from accusations of partiality in the selection of the beneficiaries. We are grateful to Governor Danmodi (Umar Namadi) for introducing the selection model and for choosing beneficiaries from our community because we had always been neglected by government.
"We are in a remote area, the government has come for the first time to assist us. Those who picked 'Yes' were given items such as water pumping machines, grinding machines, goats, sheep and bags of fertiliser, depending on their needs," Mr Garba said.
New approach for empowerment
To avoid the hitches that the state government noted in September 2022 in the implementation of a N1.7 billion COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus programme, new Governor Namadi initiated a new model for empowerment programmes in the state.
According to a document seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the government adopted scientific methods for selecting communities and individual beneficiaries.
The methods used are dubbed the Generic Operation (GOM), Jigawa Poverty and Vulnerability Community Ranking, and simple random selection technique.
Mr Garba's Musarin Fulani village is among the 120 communities selected from across the 27 local government areas, with a total of 1,950 individual beneficiaries. During the distribution of the empowerment packages on 17 January, under the second phase of the COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus programme, the governor said the beneficiaries reflect a gender distribution of 59 per cent males and 41 per cent females.
Mr Namadi said the second phase of the selection will reach 1,950 beneficiaries across nine enterprises, including rice production, maize production, millet production, Sorghum production, and day-old chicks for poultry farmers as agricultural input.
"890 beneficiaries will benefit under the Agricultural Asset, including 1,060 beneficiaries provided with 200 grinding machines, 360 water pumps, 390 goats, and 110 sheep as assets. The beneficiaries consisted of 1,150 males (59%) and 800 females (41%)," the governor said."The initiative 'visioned' towards reducing poverty, increasing food security, and improving the livelihoods of the citizens, regardless of political affiliations, " Mr Namadi said.
Isah Abubakar, a beneficiary, is from Ringim Local Government Area. His community is situated at the northern fringe of the LGA. Mr Abubakar described it as agriculturally disadvantaged due to its difficult farming terrain and lack of access to irrigation facilities.
"I hope the governor will continue to look at the vulnerable communities, especially those of us at Northern Ringim where we have no access to irrigation facilities. This has made us one of the poorest communities in Ringim LGA."Mr Abubakar is understandably happy for the programme and its implementation. "This empowerment will go a long way in mitigating our suffering," he tells PREMIUM TIMES. "We that got the empowerment packages are happy and we hope that the government will sustain the programme to include more beneficiaries in our localities."
Maduwa Dankargo from Maigatari Local Government Area was effusive in her appreciation of the package she got. Mrs Dankargo's co-beneficiary, Hadiza Adamu, was in the same mood.
Budget line created to address poverty
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its multidimensional poverty report for 2022 placed Jigawa as the third poorest state in Nigeria.
Nationally, the report put Nigeria's poverty index at 0.257, with about 133 million people said to be multi-dimensionally poor.
After former Governor Muhammad Badaru assumed office in 2015, the state witnessed a little improvement in its poverty headcount ratio of 84.3 per cent, lifting it marginally to the third poorest state in the country from the second position.
Factors such as poor access to healthcare, food, education, nutrition and cooking fuel contributed the most to the national poverty index. According to the NBS, over half of the Nigerian population are deprived of cooking fuel.
It appears that the Jigawa government is making deliberate efforts to address the problems. Policies and programmes are being formulated and a budget line and a dedicated agency were created targeting the vulnerable communities and people.
The state's commissioner for Budget, Babangida Umar, said that in the 2024 budget, the state earmarked over 10 per cent of its total budget to social protection programmes.
It also developed a policy that mandates a contribution of five per cent of total contract sums by contractors in the state, as social responsibility to the Empowerment Agency, for financing youth empowerment towards reducing the poverty rate.
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Unusual empowerment drive
At least, 250 youth trained in hand pump installation and repair on 30 January got tools and a new motorcycle each to enable them reach remote communities across the state. This particular empowerment drive is unique in the state in human capital investment in recent years, Habibu Ubale, the head of the state's Youth Empowerment Agency, said.
The lone female trained among the 250 youth will be empowered with a shop stocked with millions of naira worth of water equipment as a start-up grant, the governor said at the event to a thunderous applause.
Policies targeting the people
From its inception on 29 May, 2023, the government has formulated policies and encapsulated them in its 12-point goals to create wealth and empower the people, said Hamisu Gumel, the Chief Press Secretary to Jigawa governor.
"The government deliberately came out with policies after carefully analysing the challenges being faced in the state. We believe that policies must reflect the reality on ground and the government is working toward a common goal, using a thoughtfully-designed blueprint with a 12-point agenda guiding us.
"The ultimate goal of the agenda is to make Jigawa a particular state that works for everyone by creating an enabling environment for opportunities, targeting the residents," Mr Gumel said.
