SO FAR, SO HOPEFUL
Governor Namadi is leveraging his experience in the private sector and government to hit the ground running, reckons BASHIR IBRAHIM HASSAN
Nigeria is full of people of insatiable ambition but whom, when presented with power and authority, they look vacant in terms of both ideas and the resolve to deliver on campaign promises.
One state where everyone seems pleased with the choice they have made is Abia, where banker-turned Governor Alex Otti is turning things around for the better. Up north, it’s in Jigawa State. Jigawa, one of the safest places in Nigeria to live is, indeed, bubbling with good ideas under its brand new Governor, Umar Namadi.
There’s something about Umar Namadi WKDW HYLQFHV VHOI FRQÀGHQFH 7KH OHYHO RI KLV FRQÀGHQFH ZDV VR KLJK WKDW WKH FKDUWHUHG accountant who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, could quit the position of Group Financial Controller at Dangote Industry to go into his own private business and the risky terrain of partisan politics.
7KH FRQÀGHQFH ZDV DOVR LQ HYLGHQFH ZKHQ his All-Progressives Congress (APC) party wrestled power from the stranglehold of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015. Instead of aspiring to, or lobbying for, a political appointment, he recalls: “I was in Abuja when my name was submitted as Commissioner to the Jigawa State Assembly for screening. To be fair to the Governor, he never contacted me. Maybe he knew that if he had contacted me, I would reject it and he knew that was what I would do. But because he took me by surprise, it would have been an embarrassment for me to say ‘No, I don’t want it.’ So, that was how I became the Commissioner.”
Indeed, that was how he also became a running mate to Gov. Mohammed Badaru Abubakar and Deputy Governor from 2019 to May 2023. A similar scenario would also unfold preceding his emergence as Governor. +H VD\V KH ZDV VLPLODUO\ LQ $EXMD RQ DQ RFLDO assignment, “when he asked me to go get the form for Governorship. I never believed that I would become the Governor. Because he is my boss, I could not tell him no.”
So much is for another “accidental public servant” for the easy ride of Umar Namadi to the throne in Jigawa State. The challenge is now WR GHOLYHU RQ WKH FRQÀGHQFH VHULDOO\ LPSRVHG RQ him by Gov. Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, on the one hand, and by the people of Jigawa State on the other.
Gov. Namadi was well prepared for the job. He has enunciated a 12-point agenda that straddles education, health, water resources, agriculture, environment, ICT, and other equally critical spheres of human endeavor. To show his intent, he has set up a 16-member State Executive Council of “people appointed based on their competencies, their reputations and their exceptional capabilities. Our vision is to simply take Jigawa to the next level in development terms,” he emphasized.
He elaborates on the criteria he used to make his selection: “The strategy is to get the right people in the right places. In addition to the right people as commissioners, we also have a veteran administrator as Secretary to the State Government (SSG). Also, in the next few days, we will announce the appointment of seven technical advisers who are professionals as technical adviser on health, basic education, higher education, ICT, energy, environment and agriculture. In addition to these, the Civil Service, being the critical engine room that will drive government policies, will be rejuvenated through training, retraining, and discipline and enhanced welfare.”
At the recent CEO conference hosted by BusinessDay, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi $GHVLQD ZDV HͿXVLYH LQ SUDLVH RI WKH ULFH factory Governor Namadi established in the state before he even joined politics, noting its high quality, at the time he (Adesina) was Minister of Agriculture. This, Adesina, did while standing on a podium before the high caliber local and international dignitaries at the conference.
Expectedly, Namadi has resolved to develop the entire agricultural value chain. “We will also review the agricultural policies to ensure that they meet our expectations. In addition to these, we will try to expand our cluster system of farming, a system introduced in 2016 that has really boosted agriculture in Jigawa State. We will boost dry season and rainy season farming.” He will continue the cluster farming scheme in the state, in which land and inputs, as well as extension services, are given to farmers as loan and, at the end of the harvest, they pay back in cash based on prevailing market price.
His administration will expand irrigation facilities to enable about three sessions of farming every year; encourage investors in out-grower schemes; as well as establish processing factories. “With that, more people will be involved and we will be able to expand production. We are focusing on rice, sesame, hibiscus, wheat, groundnuts and millets. We will improve the varieties and provide extension services to them,” he assures.
Although the IGR rate is low, Gov. Namadi is quite careful not to heap more burden on the people. “Before you introduce tax, you should be able to know if the economy can absorb the shock that its introduction will EULQJ WR WKH IDPLO\ µ +H SUHIHUV WR ÀUVW EXLOG the economy. Meanwhile, he’s hoping to, ZLWKLQ WKH ÀUVW WZR \HDUV UDLVH LQWHUQDOO\ generated revenues, at least by at least 49% of what is coming from the Federation Account. Meanwhile, he’s reorganizing the board of internal revenue to explore several other options for increasing our IGR without necessarily creating a burden on the people.
An important focus of the 12-point agenda is youth empowerment and education. He has broken the Ministry of Education into two — Basic and Higher Education. Also on Youth empowerment, we have created the Jigawa State Agency for Youth Empowerment and Employment, headed by a seasoned administrator, as the Executive Secretary. Currently, the agency has a portal that will take a census of all