A lawmaker representing Gummi/ Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara Sulaiman Abubakar Gumi has lauded his state governor, Alhaji Dauda Lawal, for initiating policies, programs and structural reforms that is propelling infrastructural and socio-economic development in the state.
Gumi who posited this during a media chat with newsmen in Abuja, said, “l know for sure that when you plan, you plan to succeed and that is exactly the scenario unfolding in Zamfara state. Governor Dauda Lawal is a leader that takes his time to lay down plans, policies and programs for the benefit of the people. For instance he has spent his first 100 days in office restructuring and repositioning ministries and agencies to put Zamfara State on the right path.
“Governor Dauda Lawal is not there to complain about the past but is taking concrete steps to address core issues, he has cut down waste and trimmed the number of ministries and agencies in order to reduce government spending and make them more efficient thus ensuring more responsive and credible service delivery. And with what he is doing right now in Zamfara, we are beginning to see positive changes. In terms of infrastructure, Governor Dauda Lawal is paving the way for the rapid development of the state.
“He is transforming the educational sector, building world class primary and secondary schools around the state. For instance if a student studies under a tree, he can be a good student if he has good teachers but there will be something lacking.
” There is a difference in manner or character between a student in a comfortable classroom and a student sitting under a tree. But if you combine the two you will have great students that will have good character, good manners and all round educational, social and moral development. In view of his credible performance, l will continue to support our able governor and l call on all Zamfarans to rally round him in order to achieve the laudable objectives of his administration.”
Gumi also observed that Nigeria has something to celebrate at this time but called for greater patriotism on the part of the people.
“Nigeria at 63, do we have cause to celebrate? I will say yes and no at the same time, it is a 50-50 scenario. Yes, because Nigeria has come of age, it is not a small feat to become a 63 yr old country and a multi-ethnic, multi-religious nation still together despite a bitter-sweet experience and we are still together after 63 years calls for celebration. And that our democracy has endured for over 40 years out of the 63 yrs is another cause for celebration.
“Our founding fathers planned this country in a way that we would survive as a group of people coming together from diverse backgrounds but l would say that our biggest problem is our lack of patriotism. Our national anthem and pledge all talk of patriotism; when we say ‘to serve Nigeria with all our strength and to defend her unity and uphold her honour and glory’ we are talking about patriotism. Now where is the problem? We have found ourselves in a situation where our patriotism has been diverted from national unity to sectionalism.
“Everyone is loyal to his ethnic and religious group first, everyone is patriotic to his region first before Nigeria as a whole and that is where our problem lies. What makes us human is our ability to take ourselves out of our comfort zone for the benefit of others.lf you do that, that is the basis for patriotism and that means you should be your brother’s keeper. Everything you do should be about the next person and not for your own benefit alone. And if we adopt this attitude, Nigeria will be a great place to live.
” Take for example in Japan, if you use the conveniences you must make sure it is flushed for the next user, that is as simple as it can be. If we can have that sense of patriotism, that sense of humanity, that sense of care for your neighbour, l believe everything will fall into place. That is when we ensure that competence triumphs over ethnicity or mediocrity. That is when your relative or ethnic kinsman steals money from the government and comes back and you tell him to go back that he is not needed in your community because he or she is coming back with stolen wealth which the community does not want. That is when nobody will conceal an armed robber, that is when you will not have informants in communities who will tell bandits when the security agents are coming.
” So when we are patriotic, everything will fall into place, because your concern is for the next human being. Someone is concerned about you and you are concerned about the other person. That is when you will have a very united country; tribe, region or religion will not matter when it comes to employment, appointment or assistance to others. Then we will select the right leaders who will safeguard those values and tenets that make a country great, then Nigeria will be truly great. Some people will say our problem is lack of leadership.l will agree but what is our larger problem? It is from each and every citizen, you want your kinsman to be president whether he is competent or not.
” There is no patriotism, but the right approach is that if someone is competent, he should be allowed to turn the country around irrespective of his or her ethnic or religious group. And we are lucky to be so blessed with abundant natural resources, ample human resources, fertile land, adequate rainfall and good weather. We don’t have major calamities like hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis or typhoons like in some other nations. We have occasional floods but it is mostly caused by influential people building houses that block the passage of water, rivers or canals. So with these abundant blessings from the Almighty God what we need to do is to put our act together as a people and if we choose the right leaders and give them the opportunity to serve us and take us out of this quagmire we are in, l believe that Nigeria will be one of the greatest countries on earth.”
On the insecurity situation plaquing some parts of the country, Hon Gumi called for a different approach to tackling banditry and insurgency in order to bring lasting peace accross the nation.
“They say when you try one approach and you don’t get results and you continue trying that same approach over and over again, you are simply a fool. We cannot be adopting the same ineffective approach over and over again and expect to achieve results, that will not work.
” The army will form an Operation Zaki or Operation Damisa Task Force to solve one particular problem when the bigger problem is ignored. They position their forces and push out the bandits from a particular area or location and return back to their base. Then the bandits return back and inflict more carnage and mayhem on those areas once again. The next time Operation Zaki or Damisa goes back again to the same area, strike the bandits and return back to base and the bandits go back again to commit more atrocities on innocent people.
“This approach cannot work and is not working. We need a holistic and all-ecompassing approach to tackling this menace. You cannot concentrate only on one location, say in Zamfara because the bandits will flee to Sokoto and hide there. One of the things that gives insurgents, bandits and other non-state actors the ability to strike is the existence of sanctuaries. Once you remove those sanctuaries, their rebellion or insurrection will quickly collapse.
” Look at Zamfara State, their sanctuary is the deep forests around the state and other neighborhouring states. Bandits can move freely from Sokoto to Zamfara,if you block the Kebbi route, they will change their route and come to Zamfara from Birnin Gwari, Kaduna State. So if you say you want to operate in Zamfara alone, then the bandits will move to neighbouring states to hide until things calm down and then come back to terrorise people. And they have their informants within the community because of our lack of patriotism.
“So if we want to solve the bandit scourge, we have to adopt a regional or even national approach. As most of the arms and ammunition used by the bandits come from the Southeast and South-south zones, if the movement of arms from those areas are blocked, then the bandits will be starved of weapons and their movement will automatically collapse. Also we should open the window to those repentant bandits to lay down their arms and surrender on our terms and not on their terms.
“The amnesty must be based at the point of their weakness and our strength but we must keep the door open for those ones who are repentant because you cannot just wipe out a whole ethnic group in the name of fighting terrorism. Other means must also be explored and l believe the military knows what to do but they are not doing what they are supposed to do. Even as a civilian, l have some ideas on what to do, how much more the military but they don’t want to do it. It seems they don’t want the banditry problem to end anytime soon.”
On his legislative agenda, Hon Sulaiman Gumi revealed that his main focus is on ensuring greater access to education for his constituents including the womenfolk.
He said: ‘l began my first term with the objective to change the status of education in my constituency and we thank the Almighty God that our state governor is also thinking in that direction. I started by building schools to enable our children to attend tertiary education without going outside their locality. When l assumed office in 2019, l found out that almost 70% of of our secondary school graduates don’t further their education because of the distance and expenses they will incur to attend tertiary Institutions and we don’t have them located within our constituency.
“So the first thing l did was to bring tertiary education closer to our people. And as a result over 200 students have graduated from tertiary schools and some have even gained employment with their qualifications. I also brought in the Nigerian Teachers lnstitute (NTI) and the idea is to make sure that every teacher in our secondary schools is a graduate and if we can achieve that it means that our students will be better educated and by extension become better citizens of our country. That is a positive way forward.
“In my first term l stopped at a particular point due to budgetary constraints and now the Almighty God has given me another opportunity to complete my educational agenda. And l hope by the next admission year those two tertiary schools will be situated in the brand new classrooms we are constructing. And l want to repeat the same feat in Bukkuyum, my second local government so that every student will have access to tertiary education. And with schools closer to their locality they can go to school and come back to go to their farms or markets when they return . A lot of women are being enrolled as a result of the schools being close to their homes.
” Traditionally, women don’t normally go out after marriage but if the schools are close by, they can go to school, come back from school and carry out their domestic chores. So a lot of the womenfolk are happy to go to school and come back to carry out their domestic chores. And if we can repeat this feat in Bukkuyum LGA it will be a major achievement of my legislative tenure. As they say if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.”
