By
Anas Sani Anka
I am writing this piece in my personal capacity as citizen of Zamfara and also a social and political affairs observer/commentator and the purpose of this article is to give a mapping of my understanding of the way government is being run in Zamfara state under Governor Dauda Lawal.
One year for me is a good entry point that may allow someone to have a good reflection and personal conviction of how a political journey started and even make certain predictions on what the future may look like using visible indicators that are available on the public space.
My perception of the government of Dauda Lawal as a citizen may be wrong simply because may be there are certain strategic information that are supposed to be made available to us as citizens but may be for some strategic corporate reasons the information managers as well the concern stakeholders do not see reasons why they should relate such information to citizens for the purpose of clarity.
But to begin the discussion, I will boldly say the beginning of the journey of the Dauda administration from May 29th 2023 to date is a promising one and regardless of how people may see this statement what the government has putting on ground so far has provided a realistic platform for people to develop more hope and confidence that things may improve better as the journey continues.
In the area of modernization of Gusau as the capital city of the state (URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT“ no one is in doubt that what Governor Dauda Lawal is doing is long overdue because one thing for sure Gusau as the capital city represents a symbol of “UNITED ZAMFARA” and every citizen of Zamfara has a share of inheritance on the capital city Gusau regardless of where he comes from within the state.
Not only that, there is a popular hausa adage which says, “the image you presented to the public will be used to define who you are”.
In my candid view, beyond the internal road spread all over Gusau town the Governor should see reason to provide additional bye-pass road possibly to start from Kwatarkwashi town and exit around Furfuri so that the internal roads he has spent billions to reconstruct can be secured to last for many years while heavy trucks passing through Gusau to other destinations should be banned from entering Gusau except those that are uploading their goods within the city.
If the Governor wishes, he can enforce the payment of tollgates to those truck drivers and other commuters passing through the bye-pass road so that more revenues can be generated
Beyond that, if the resource can be sufficiently enough the Governor should create either a ring road just the way former Governor Ibrahim Shema does to the Katrina people or in alternative expand and create new layouts so that there would be interconnections of new developed areas to the central cities.
This initiative allows for expansion of Gusau metropolis, emergence of new settlements (Anguwanne) and rapid urban development.
To say my last remarks on the urban renewal initiative which started in Gusau and hope to be expanded to other strategic local governments, I described it as a “most demanding initiative” which Zamfara people required and the Governor in my opinion should ignore whatever arguments and counterarguments some people may canvass regarding the urban renewal initiative because such argument is not superior, and it reflects the nature human perception to issues.
On the aspect of civil service reforms which is the second area I want to torch It is still not clear what exact direction the government of Dauda Lawal is targeting, but notwithstanding for the past one-year certain developments can be finger-pointed and number one that attracted my attention is rehabilitation and upgrading of the standard of the JB Yakubu State Secretariat complex.
When I saw the pictures of the building on the Facebook yesterday I felt very proud because at least one may not feel a shame inviting any visitor to come to the state Secretariat of Zamfara for any transaction as it was made “an imagined heaven” with befitting state of the earth facilities.
What is left is for the Governor is to engage the services of a reputable company to manage the facility and to ensure timely maintenance of what is damaged.
Allowing the facility to be maintained by the government actors will surely rubbish the state government’s effort within the shortest possible time, as we all know the attitude of public servants when it comes to maintenance of public assets under their custody.
The payment of backlog of gratuity to thousands of retired civil servants running into over six billion naira is equally one of the best steps taken by the administration of Dauda Lawal considering the concern that problem has generated to the survival of many families over the years.
As at 2022 when I invited the leadership of the pensioners in my studio to discuss crisis related to the non-payment of gratuity to Zamfara retirees, I was made to understand that as at 2023 retirees that quite out of the service of the state and local governments since 2011 were still on the queue awaiting their fate.
But a lot of them courtesy of this government of Dauda Lawal were paid their backlog of retirement benefits, and they have become people of fresh hope.
One may not understand the wisdom behind this initiative until if he has one of his guardian on that scale of frustration.
But notwithstanding, the Governor need to develop a machinery of tracking the scale of his nominal role as well as his monthly payroll so that he can be able to plan ahead by providing alternative means of settling retirement benefit as at when due.
That will help the government to track the excesses of finance staff who are accused to seating on top of the salaries of people that retires from service, as well as prevent duplication of payment of pension and salary to civil servants of the state that retires.
The announcement of the commencement of payment of N30, 000 minimum wages is also commendable because when one look at the scale of Zamfara state in terms of the strength of the civil servant’s take home-pay one will be shock that there are civil servants in the state that receives as low as N7,000 naira as their monthly take home-pay.
This money cannot take care of the average transportation cost of a civil servant to go to work for (22) or more working days. This no doubt enhances frustration in the minds of the state civil servants as well, breeds them into becoming corrupt people whenever they see opportunity to become.
The initiative will at least bring proportionate shift in the morale of the state civil servants to be able to take their jobs seriously and this effort is commendable, and it’s hope that when the minimum wage is announced the Governor will stick to his promises by ensuring that it is implemented without delay.
I think what is left for the administration of Dauda Lawal is to come up with clear policy of civil service reforms because we either say it or keep mute our public service needed urgent reforms and one shall not be in doubt that state civil servants needs rigorous training and retraining to be able to cope with the reality of the modern time.
The governor should also sustain his promises of evaluating the performance of his cabinet members because it was visible that some members could not justify their performance several months after their appointments into their respective ministries.
It is my candid view that the Governor should call for the evaluation of their performance and those who are rated incapacitated in terms of having something to show as their contribution to the development of the state may be re-assign lighter responsibilities and more capable people should be scouted for without recourse to their political affiliation to bring their wealth of experience and expertise to bear in transforming the state of Zamfaa
The Governor also needs to be reminded of the urgent need to look into the problem of those state civil servants that have their months of salaries not paid simply for accepting political appointments. I think the law is clear the Governor should temper justice with mercy by reinstating those that follow due process in quitting for the political appointments and order their months salaries paid while those that do not follow appropriate procedures should be given the deserving soft landing.
They are all citizens of Zamfara and the fact that they worked for different party that is not in power does not mean they should be subjected to sufferings reminding the simple fact that “THERE IS NO PERMANENT FRIEND NO PERMANENT ENEMY IN POLITICS BUT PERMANENT INTEREST “.
Again, for service delivery to be enhanced, the Governor should in the interest of the state and its people apply political solution to reconcile with the eight members of the state House of assembly.
It is not, and it will never be a minus to him if the reconciliation will bring harmonious working relationship between the executive and legislative arms.
The Governor should understand that he needs the support of both the legislative and judicial arms to forge ahead with his desire to transform Zamfara state and if he continues to listen to those politicians that “eats out of every crisis” his political problems may continue to linger.
Anas Sani Anka
Is the Managing Editor of Thunder Blowers Multimedia Services
To be continued tomorrow……………