Dikko Umaru Radda is the present Chief of staff to Katsina state Governor, Aminu Bello Masari. The Masters Degree holder has served as Chairman Charanchi Local Government Area for eight years, he was also national welfare secretary of the APC, Radda in an interview with HAMIDU SABO highlights the policy direction and plans of Governor Masari administration in restoring the lost glory of the state particularly in the areas of security, education, health, water resources and agriculture amongst others.
Sir, ‘restoration’ is the agenda of Governor Masari administration. With eight months already into his governance, can you say the administration is really on the right path to restoring the lost glory of the state?
In fact with all sincerity, we have commenced the restoration agenda and we have started even earlier – even before we came into government. You know the backbone of any development or restoration is for one to study the state, ascertain the glories that we have lost and how we can restore it. The governor, even while campaigning, constituted so many committees mandated to look at the most critical sectors of the state, try to see what they were before now, how they are now and how can we make them better. For instance, we looked at education because it is the number one priority. We set out by looking at the state of education.
We asked ourselves fundamental questions like: What is happening to the education sector? What can we do to restore the lost glory of education in the state? When Nigeria came into being, Katsina state was one of the provinces in the northern region area of education. Most of the first generation leaders in northern Nigeria and even the second generation schooled in Katsina.
So, what the government started with was look at what is happening to our education especially the foundation education because what the tertiary institution are what we produced at primary school. So if we didn’t get the primary education well, we can’t get the secondary and tertiary education well because it is garbage in garbage out.
So what the government did was to inaugurate committees that event into action, schools across the state. They accessed the infrastructures, number of teachers, teaching materials and the students’ population.
We discovered that 80 percent of the schools are not in good condition, with most of the teachers are not in good condition, with most of the teachers are not qualified. We need about 23,000 teachers but we only have 14,000. 90 percent of our pupils seat on bare floor. So, what we did was to access what is needed to put these schools in order. We have conducted proper survey and began proper planning after which we have started work. In the 2016 budget, government allocated a large sum in fact about 22 billion naira to education out of the 111 billion total sum of the budget.
And as I talk to you, government has commenced work in these schools since most of them are now undergoing rehabilitation in the first phase. We have started fabricating furniture’s. So far, over five thousand have been distributed. The governor has also got some interventions from UBEC and as we talk, the UBEC is rehabilitating some schools in the state. I assure you that before the end of the year, we will have rehabilitated so many schools. And again, due to scarcity of resources, we are segmenting these things and are doing it in phases, before the end at least a success rate of eighty percent in the education.
You spoke about infrastructure upgrade in schools. What other measures are you taking to ensure capacity building for the teachers?
The issue of capacity building is also being addressed. The governor visited ABU where he had meeting with the Vice chancellor and the Director of the institute of education on how ABU can assist the state in the area of capacity building for our teachers. We know that most of the teachers we have especially in the secondary schools are not qualified. Some of them don’t know what to teach, as they are even off the track of the modern teaching is committed to building the capacity of the teachers that we have. And in fact we have started that.
As I talk to you, there is a teacher training and capacity development programmes scheduled to hold in all the old seven local governments. We are going to do more. As a matter of fact, we have written to the National Teachers Institute in Kaduna, seeking partnership on how we can build the capacity of our teachers, because it is only when a teachers knows what to teach that we can expect good product.
This government is serious about capacity building hence the decision to employ more teachers as captured in the budget. We are in the process of recruiting over two thousand teachers.
And the governor has emphasized that he won’t play politics with education because what has killed our education is the fact that leaders try to put politics in education. In this recruitment exercise, the government is going to recruit those that are qualified without recourse to any primordial consideration outside qualification and character. And we also intend to domicile even the teachers by sourcing for qualified teachers within the local government where schools are located so that they can stay within the area and teach.
What is the real position of government now, as regards the free payment of WAEC and NECO considering all the hue and cry over the matter?
The position of government is very clear and simple. I have emphasized it earlier and the governor has said repeatedly that he won’t play politics with education. The previous government played politics with education and that is why we are where we are. You paid for NECO and WAEC to students. You paid for students to pass it is so disappointing. When you pay for students to pass but the statistics of those who passed is so disappointing.
When you pay and students are not passing, what are you doing? Throwing the money of Katsina people away of course. Why should the previous government pay three billion naira for NECO and 90% of the students sit on bare floor? Why pay WAEC three billion naira while students don’t have qualified teachers and the teachers were not trained? And the year alone, over two billion was paid as exams fees and only 10% were able to secure five credit including Maths and English Language to proceed to university.
So, what the government said was let there be mock examination and those who pass the mock examinations, the government will pay for their WAEC and NECO. We are doing this for two reasons. One we are saving the states money by investing it where it is appropriate. Secondly, we are encouraging parents to monitor their children by making sure that they are serious with their studies so as to benefit from the government’s payment.
All we are saying is that the government will pay but on the condition that a student pass the mock examination so as to convenience us that we are really investigating on the future of the state and not throwing the states money into the ocean.
You see, out of his magnanimity the governor said since this future is not solely that fault of the students, let’s give a grace period of one year. For those students who passed the mock examination, we will pay their WAEC and NECO. The parents can pay for their WAEC, if they want them to sit for it. We want to make good investments more so that we have limited resources.
How do you intend to go about the task of boosting internally generated revenue in the state?
Well, government is looking inward. We are doing much but you know it has to be gradual. This thing came unexpected and those people who had the opportunity of the boom, didn’t use the resources where it was supposed to be used that is why we are where we are. We are in very difficult situation no money. But sometimes, under difficulties, a lot of initiatives come up. We are trying to see how we can reposition the internally generated revenue. We will put a lot of discipline into it and send legislation to the state assembly to see how we can strengthen and diversify our economy. The governor’s working our modalities to see how we can invite investors into the state so as to boost our economy. We are doing a lot of work and once we are done, the people will see our blueprint….
How far has the government gone in terms of recovering funds allegedly looted by the previous administration?
What the government is doing now is not probing of any administration but using what the previous government gave us in its handing over notes to ascertain whether or not those things said to be in the handing over notes are actually there. When we came in, there was a transition committee and this committee discovered a lot of abnormalities in the running of the affairs of government. But what the governor said was we are not going to probe inflation of contracts. What we are asking for is to ascertain for instance, if the previous government said it built a house, we will go and make sure that the house is built.
If it is not, we will recover our money. It is the job that is not done and the monies they took cash without any evidence of utilization that we will probe and recover. This is the money of the Katsina people and we will do everything possible to recover it. We have done all the normal processes within the law. The next line of action is to inaugurate a judicial panel of inquiry which will have a legal backing to invite whoever needs to be invited, do its findings and after that we take them to court.
There is this concern over cattle rustling, what concrete steps are being taken to curtail this disturbing phenomena?
Security is one of the key priorities of this government. As a matter of fact, you can govern and achieve success if there is no security. Katsina state has a disadvantage because about seven of our local government areas share border with the forests.
There was a time this rustlers attacked in day light, robbed people, cart away cattle, rape and kidnap women. As a matter of fact the issue got worst at some point that people had to relocate from their villages. But when this government came in, the governor sat down with relevant security agencies on how best to address this issue. In fact, the governor visited chiefs of defence, army and air staffs, in an effort to see how this issue could be addressed.
Through the effort of the governor, he was able to rally the governors of the seven states of kebbi, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, katsina, Niger and Kano. These governors were contributing one hundred million naira each every month to address this issue. A joint security operation was put in place and appreciable successes are being recorded. In fact we have recovered over eleven thousand cattle. A lot of people were arrested and some of the charged to court.
