It is no longer news that the campaign slogan upon which the All Progressives Congress (APC) rode to power in Katsina State is “Restoration Agenda”. During the campaign, Governor Aminu Bello Masari lamented the deplorable state of infrastructure, health and education facilities in the state.
For instance, in the area of education, he promised that if voted into power as governor, he would ensure that each pupil in public schools would receive an egg per day.
He also pledged to ensure that all his children would attend public schools in the state. Similarly, he promised massive recruitment of teachers and general renovation of public schools. But surprisingly, two years into his tenure, all the promises have remained a mirage.
So far, the only renovation that took place in the public schools was repainting the available structures in the ruling party’s colour. The promise of massive recruitment of teachers is yet to be fulfilled.
Although Masari, in a symbolic show, enrolled two of his children in a public school sometime last year, findings showed that his children study outside the country. Interestingly also, the public school where his children were reportedly enrolled, has more and better facilities than any other public or private school in the state.
It is surprising that the governor, in a recent town hall meeting with indigenes of Katsina State resident in Kaduna, painted a gloomy picture of the educational sector in his state. Apparently, he forgot that two years down the line, he is yet to fulfill his electoral promises on education.
Furthermore, as part of his Restoration Agenda, Masari ordered the removal of all the solar-powered streetlights from major roads and awarded the contract for the diesel generator-powered streetlights at the cost of about N1.5 billion. All over the world, the compliance is towards solar-powered electricity, but Katsina is moving towards diesel generator-powered electricity for its street- light. Investigation showed that solar-powered streetlights are almost maintenance-free while the cost of diesel and maintenance of generators cannot be determined.
There is the need for the Masari administration to also come out clean on the status of the solar panels, batteries and poles removed from the streets since there is an allegation that his cronies are the beneficiaries of the removed items, which were bought with public fund by the past administration. The public also needs to know the estimated cost of diesel to power the generators on a monthly basis. This is because there is a saying that he who goes to equity must come with clean hands. The governor should be able to give account of his stewardship.
Also, recently, the Katsina State government, in partnership with a company known as Space and Pattern Limited, created a new 40 hectares where 500 plots of land would be sold to beneficiaries to build houses of their own choice. Masari said such collaboration became imperative as a result of government’s lean financial situation, which hindered the government from providing houses for the people. By this statement, the state government is no longer in a financial position to provide affordable houses for the people.
It is disheartening that the present administration has always used the lean financial situation of the state as an excuse for the non delivery of campaign promises.
It is instructive to know that the Masari administration received about N200 billion in the last 20 months from the federation account, loans from banks and the Paris Club refund, while his immediate predecessor, Ibrahim Shehu Shema received about N140 billion in the first 20 months of his administration. Despite the disparity in allocations, the Shema administration built over 1000 affordable houses for the people, sponsored free education, including the payment of WAEC and NECO examination fees for all the students; prompt payment of workers’ salaries, total completion of all projects inherited from his predecessors, among many other projects executed within the stated period.
Lawal Hassan,
Airport Road, Kwado, Katsina
