As Gov Uba Sani steers the ship of Kaduna state through rough waters in the face of the economic and social challenges bedeviling Nigeria and Kaduna state, ABDULRAHEEM AODU writes on how the governor has impacted on the vulnerable and senior citizens who make up majority of the residents.
Over the years in Kaduna state, the rich and influential urban dwellers, who are in the minority, have often been favoured to the detriment of the poor, rural dwellers and urban poor who are the most populated, but are at the receiving end.
The rank of these hitherto underserved and vulnerable group of people have further been swelled with the addition of many urban dwellers, who have been relegated in the aftermath of reigning economic challenges such as unemployment, poverty, inflation and high cost of goods which are the result of fuel subsidy removal and free fall of naira among others.
As these people struggle to feed, clothe, afford shelter and take care of their basic needs, government is further tasked to provide them succour.
Governor Uba Sani, on assuming office in May 2023, took several measures to balance the order in line with his campaign promises to be pro-poor and cater for the poor, vulnerable and the underserved people in the state. In earnest, he went ahead to support them to ease their hardship in the throes of suffering. The governor believes governance is incomplete, if the poor are not carried along and this he has done in various ways to reduce their burden and lessen their frustration in the face of harsh economy realities.
His succour transcends across the senior citizens, women, children and the vulnerable, even as youth, who constitute the largest population of Kaduna state, are not left out.
Therefore, since inception of his administration, the governor promised to run a people-centred, all-inclusive administration that leaves no one or no part of the state behind, a promise he has kept every step on the way by paying the unpaid pensions and gratuities of senior citizens. He equally provided succour to students and extended support to women and children who suffer abuse and violence in order to help them reintegrate seamlessly into the society.
Slashed school fees of state tertiary institutions
As an activist who knows the value of education and what it portends for the future of a youthful state like Kaduna with over 70% youth population, the governor in reaction to students’ complains of inability to pay the exorbitant fees demanded of them by the state-owned institution, in August 2023, slashed the school fees of the state’s tertiary institutions to show his commitment to a people-centred administration that leaves no one behind.
“My first Executive Order was on financial inclusion. This was pursuant to the state government’s efforts to address the exclusion of about 2.1 million poor, underserved and vulnerable citizens in Kaduna state and to ensure that they benefit from the state and federal government’s social intervention programmes. Our administration has prioritised access to education for children and youths of Kaduna state.
“This is in response to the public outcry over the current fees being charged by tertiary institutions in Kaduna and its effect on school enrolment and retention. As a caring, responsive and responsible government, we have reviewed the fees downwards as follows: Kaduna State University: current fee N150,000; reduction 30%; new fee N105,000. Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic: current fee N100,000; reduction 50%; new fee N50,000. College of Education, Gidan Waya: current fee N75,000; reduction 50%; new fee N37,500.
“Shehu Idris College of Health Sciences & Technology, Makarfi: HND courses: current fee N100,000; reduction 30%; new fee N70,000. OND courses: current fee N75,000; reduction 30%; new fee N52,000. Kaduna State College of Nursing: current fee N100,000; reduction 30%; new fee N70,000.”
The tuition fees’ review has made qualitative education accessible to the people, improved retention and brought back students who dropped because of exorbitant fees.
Sheltered abused women and children
Governor Sani has built women and children shelter in Kaduna to provide accommodation, shelter and psycho-social support for women and children affected by violence in private and public spaces within the family, community and workplaces. The top-notch facility provides welfare services for abused women and children who survive Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the state.
Qatari Charity Foundation’s 500,000 low-income houses
Governor Sani, in a bid to provide cheap houses for the vulnerable and poor secured a tripartite partnership with Qatar Charity Foundation and Qatar owned Sanabil Foundation to establish Economic City and build 500,000 houses for low income earners in Millennium City, Kaduna. Work is ongoing at frenetic speed on the project whose ground breaking was performed by the Qatar Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Ali Bin Ghanem Al-Hajri.
The Economic City is expected to provide living quarters, clinics, shops, poultry farms and farmlands for rainy and dry farming for the poor and underserved in the state. The Qatari charity also pledged interventions and empowerment programmes for Kaduna’s poor and underserved.
“These include scholarships for orphans and children of the poor, distribution of sewing machines, welding machines, irrigation pumping machines, salon kits and drilling of hundreds of boreholes across the 23 local governments of Kaduna state”.
N3.1bn for retirees’ gratuity, death benefits
In a bid to provide succour for retirees and senior citizens, the governor approved payment of N3.1 billion gratuity and death benefit for families of deceased civil servants under the Defined Benefit Scheme and the Contributory Pension Scheme. This is in line with government’s commitment to ease the hardship faced by the elderly among the state’s most vulnerable. He expressed the state’s resolution in ensuring the continual release of the payments for gratuity and death benefits to beneficiaries in the state.
Resettling of Southern Kaduna IDPs
In fulfillment of his vow not to leave out any section of the state, Sani’s administration in collaboration with the military under Operation Safe Haven has commenced the resettlement of citizens displaced by banditry in Southern part of the state with a view to returning them back to their ancestral homes. According to the governor, the resettlement programme was starting with 15 communities.
It’s obvious that the first year of Gov Uba’s administration is one of fresh air tinged with policies and measures tailored for the poor, underserved and vulnerable in the society.
