By Mohammed B. Musa
It was during the great depression of the 1930s that the United States of America and most other advanced nations economies were in a perilous state and at the verge of collapsing with the stock markets crashing, thousands of banks going under, millions of citizens unemployment with an attendant threat of hunger and starvation prevalent everywhere.
Consequently, there was talk of revolution to replace the capitalist democracies with communist or socialist dictatorship of the proletariat. And even in the armed forces, many questioned the doctrine of civilian supremacy over the military.
In the United States, fortunately, the Herbert Hoover government was replaced by that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who promised to lift the people from their despondency and introduce fresh and new ideas that would re-invigorate the economy and get it back on track.
Th e introduction of FDR’s New Deal program together with the advent of the second world war which witnessed the massive production of goods and armaments managed to get industrial production back on its feet and the economy bounced back, thus ushering in a new era of prosperity and renewal.
Along these lines, it can be seen that creative and innovative ideas coupled with sound fi scal and economic policies can bring renewed vigor and vibrancy to a nation or state’s socio-economic and political arena for the ultimate benefi t of the populace. And that is what is presently being replicated under the astute leadership of Barrister Atiku Bagudu, Governor of Kebbi State, who is leaving no stone unturned in his determination to take Kebbi’s developmental dynamics to the next level in all material particular.
In the course of the 2015 general elections campaigns, Barrister Atiku Bagudu did not make all manner of outlandish and stupendous promises that is the stuff of the nation’s mainstream politicians.
Th e erudite governor did not promise heaven or earth but rather made it clear to Kebbians that he was there to take note of the numerous challenges faced by the Kebbi people as well as evolving creative solutions to those nagging problems and prevailing under developmental issues.
He preferred to conceal his agenda as he believed and decided that he could not unfold an agenda when he had not carefully studied the problems as well as fashioning out the solutions to those problems. In the interim of the gubernatorial campaigns transversals of ever determined Governor Atiku Bagudu, he was actually on an assessment tour of Kebbi state to get fi rst-hand knowledge of the challenges facing the state as well as crafting solutions that were not just fanciful but concrete ones that would stand the test of time.
And at the same time, as forward looking as he is, he was also busy assembling a crack team of technocrats, administrators, professionals and public policy experts who would be thoroughly engaged in fashioning out an enduring blueprint that would cover all the critical sectors of the state’s economy.
Th ese areas include education, agriculture, power, health, water provision, rural infrastructure, security, manpower development and women and youth empowerment.
Certainly, one key issue that dominated the deliberations of Governor Atiku Bagudu’s venerable think tank was his discouragement of excessive bureaucracy, and over centralization of duties, power and functions of the government. He therefore felt that, undue time and resources were wasted where power was centralized or revolved around few persons, meaning that if they were not available then nothing would work and that was bad for business and governance. Armed with high level of preparedness, no doubt, Bagudu was ready from day one of his election to govern Kebbi state. And one of his fi rst actions on assuming power was the appointment of key aides and commissioners charged with taking governance to the grassroots rather than operating an elitist form of administration that had no bearing to the people’s wishes and aspirations.
Th erefore, today in Kebbi State a lot has been done from road construction, affordable healthcare service delivery, educational development, job creation and above all is the giant stride in agicultural intervention where farming as an alternative to oil is being practically exploited.
Th e hitherto over dependency on government and redundancy by the citizens is nowa thing of the past under the stewarship of governor Bagudu.
One can be either a civil servant, businessman or a farmer where the government has through its various partnership programmes granted those willing to transform thier lives from unemployed and jobless to an entrepreneur who employs labour. No wonder, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bank of Industry (BoI) through their Anchor Programmes, have focused their attention in addressing the rice production scheme.
And it will interest one to know that the programme has succesfully yeilded positive results by producing local rice suffi ciently going beyond the subsistence need to a commercial scale with many stakeholders taking advantage to patronize the rice produce. Th is is a further indication that with Governor Ibrahim Bagudu at the helm of aff airs, there will be greater and economically stronger Kebbi State. Musa wrote from Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi stat
