As Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state marks first year anniversary at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, ABDULRAHEEM AODU looks at his achievements amidst series of opposition and challenges.
Oppositions
Since he made known his intention to contest in the Kaduna state gubernatorial election, Malam Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai has courted oppositions; from within his party, the All Progressives Congress and the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
The opposition included the APC members, who saw him as impediment to their aspirations, the PDP members and chieftains who saw him as a major obstacle to PDP’s continuous grip on the Kaduna state political landscape, as well as indigenes of the state who are not comfortable with his antecedents, especially as FCT minister.
His eventual choice as the APC standard bearer attracted to him more foes than friends. The muted opposition became active as the elections approached and even after the elections, thus becoming a case of ‘let us see how you will achieve your promises.’
Challenges
Apart from the opposition from within and outside his party, the coveted position also came with its challenges. El-Rufai soon found out that the state is a complex one to rule, particularly with the dwindling federal allocation and paucity of funds caused by the fall in global crude oil price, in the face of massive unemployment, dying local industries amidst poor and failing infrastructural facilities.
He was confronted with over six million people mostly segregated along religious and ethnic lines, pockets of incessant killings and attacks by gunmen in Southern Kaduna, Brinin-Gwari and Giwa axis, including cattle rustling by herdsmen, education and health sectors, among others, that needed government’s intervention.
Not one to shy away from challenges, and being a person said to thrive in controversy, the petit but tough-talking governor swung headlong into the challenges, declaring reduction by half in his salary and that of his deputy, Arch. Barnabas Bala Bantex. He soon pruned the state ministries from 19 to 13, thereafter appointing 13 commissioners in place of the previous 24. Similarly, he announced the slashing of executive overhead by 40 percent.
Living up to the expectation of some people as a lover of controversy, the trained surveyor soon commenced demolition of houses built on state owned schools at Alhudahuda College, Zaria, Rimi College Kaduna, LEA Primary and Secondary schools in Muri road/Lokoja road/Lagos street, as well as LEA primary school, Maiduguri road.
Several other houses and businesses have also been earmarked for demolition in New Millennium City, Gwamna road and Gbagyi Villa, said to belong to Kaduna Polytechnic among others, causing much uproar and furore in the state.
At the APC front
The challenge within the party became a source of disunity as the governor was accused of hijacking the APC , allegedly making it an extension of Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, while some members who were disappointed for not being appointed into government showed their grievances.
The inability of the APC to convene a state convention for the election of new state executive council members to replace erstwhile chairman of the party, now deputy governor, and others appointed into the state executive council, only exposed the party to further crisis.
The reported rift between the governor and Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central Senatorial Zone, linked to 2019 gubernatorial race, has also caused friction in the party, and threatening to spread to the national level.
Preaching Bill
More than any other one, the noise generated by the Religious Preaching Bill sent to the State House of Assembly by the executive, again, is another source of concern. For instance, the Bill is seen by many Christians as a ploy to clamp down on them and their religious practice. So disturbed are the Christian folks that Apostle Johnson Suleiman of Omega Fire Ministries Auchi, Edo state, threatened that Governor El-Rufai would die if he continues with the bill, just as the governor asked Suleiman to state the date of his (el-Rufai’s) death if he is sure of his assertions.
Achievements
Despite these challenges, the el-Rufai administration has taken critical steps to make the state great again. In the area of education for instance, government has embarked on a free basic education for primary and junior secondary school, school feeding for 1.5 million primary school pupils every school day, improved standard of feeding in boarding secondary schools and provision of free uniforms in secondary schools.
The abolition of school fees saves for the parents N3billion every year, while the school feeding programme costs the government N1.6 billion every month. Further to this, government also prohibited the sale of forms to students seeking admission into public schools.
The government also embarked on school rehabilitation to repair classrooms in the 4,254 public primary schools in the state, also recruited 2, 000 teachers in core subject areas like English, mathematics, sciences and information technology to boost teaching and learning.
Governance reform
The state also has its own fair deal of governance reform, especially in the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, which revealed some rots within its fiscal system. In three weeks of its inauguration, the administration notified commercial banks to close all state government accounts and transfer the balances to CBN on 5 August 2015, and by 1st September 2015, TSA was operational.
The implication therefore is that all payments to government be made to banks or by electronic means such as POS and internet banking, thus plugging all leakages. And on budgeting, the administration settled for zero-based budgeting in its 2016 Appropriation Act. By this, it means every item is to be justified based on need and availability of resources, before it can be included in the budget. The state embarked on verification of civil servants and pensioners that forced out ghost workers and saved the state N500 million in wages and salaries.
Codification and consolidation of taxes: all taxes and levies payable in Kaduna state are listed in one law, which also appoints only one agency to collect all the taxes and revenues.
Health
Recognising the importance of health and healthy living, Kaduna state has passed a law to concentrate primary healthcare under one roof, while moving PHC workers from local government service to state civil service for better service delivery, among others.
El-Rufai’s government has awarded a contract to GE to modernise and equip 255 Primary Health Centres, one in each ward, while the firm will also equip 23 secondary health centres, one in each local government. General hospitals are to be equipped with laboratories that can screen even unborn children to determine their genotypes, among others.
Security
In the area of security, the administration launched and executed operations against cattle rustling and criminal gangs in the forest ranges around Birnin-Gwari, in collaboration with neighbouring states and with the support of the military, the police and the Department of State Service.
The state set up the Agwai Committee into the insecurity in Southern Kaduna, the processes and recommendations of that committee have reduced the intensity and frequency of the killings.
Job opportunities
Seeing unemployment as a major challenge, Governor el-Rufai has made several efforts in creating job opportunities, especially in the informal sector to employ the teeming youth and steer them away from a life of crime. On its own, the school feeding programme has employed 17,000 catering vendors, each of whom also employed between four to five people. Not less than 4,000 tailors across the state are employed in sewing school uniform for secondary school students. Waste collection currently engages about 6,500 youths.
Besides, the Kaduna State Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (KADSTEP), is mandated to train 5,000 entrepreneurs in business skills and assist them to develop business plans that can be funded by the Bank of Industry.
And having abolished the fertiliser racket, the administration said it is set to establish a price guaranty system for farmers, once storage capacity is expanded through new silos. And flowing from the two-day investment summit in April, which helped in no small measure in putting the state on the map as an investment destination, Kaduna has attracted new investments in the agricultural and mining sectors.
Infrastructure
Township roads are being constructed, while solar powered streetlights are being installed on major roads. The state government has so far spent N11.4billion on Zaria waterworks and other water and dam projects across the state.
With one year in office, El-Rufai has clearly demonstrated where he stays in terms of governing the liberal state. But can the administration sustain the tempo?
