FRIDAY EDITORIAL
Today is exactly one year since the present government of Bello Matawalle was inaugurated and the journey has been characterized by mixed reactions.
To some, the government started on a very positive note and on a clear direction that will take the state to the next level of development.
While to others, opposite is the case, especially with the too many pledges and less actions as they anticipated that, the pledges are beyond the available but scarce resources of the state.
But in real sense, the government has done the little it could, especially considering what followed after the first Supreme Court Judgment.
The application for review, the drop in the oil revenue, delay in the submission of transition report by committee, the reconciliation with the bandits as well as the Corona Virus pandemic are all concern factors that influence the slow pace of the government.
To start with, the striding effort the government has actually restored relative peace especially with the ongoing peace accord which saw to the reduction of high cases of attacks with casualties as well as steady payment of workers salary.
It is also important to note that, the government has executed some road projects, especially the canteen road, emir’s palace annex road and Gusau hotel road all in Gusau.
It is also executing Kanoma-Danmarke-Ruwan Doruwa road, Dosara road in Maradun as well as concluded plans to execute eighty different rural road projects in the 14 local government areas.
The government is also constructing 14 Women and Children hospitals, procured ambulances to all the General Hospitals in Zamfara as well as concluded plan to complete Shinkafi referral hospital just as it awarded the construction of General Hospital Talatar Mafara.
It has successfully invested huge amount of money to manage the Corona Pandemic through establishment of Isolation centers and equipping them with all the needed ventilators for the use of covid-19 patients.
In the area of security, the government has procured Hilux Vans for distribution to security agencies as well as continued to partner with the security agencies to fight banditry in the state including setting up of two squadrons of Mobile Police at Shinkafi and Maradun as well as facilitated the release of abductees from bandits.
These among other development efforts are either completed or ongoing at various locations of the state.
People of Zamfara are happy because some of these projects have touched their lives directly and will last for long and impact on their socio-economic needs.
But most importantly as we observed, the government of Matawalle is not corporately focused in terms of doing things the way they are supposed to be done.
We doubt if there is strict compliance to the budgetary appropriation in some of the projects completed or ongoing hence made us raise concerns if the legislative arm of government has fails to do things the way they are supposed to be done.
Again, we regrettably observed that, since its inauguration the government has allegedly held only one State Executive Council Meeting and the implication of the development is that, most of the contracts awarded have not been subjected to council deliberations and their resolution.
Also, it has been noticed that, there is lack of proper coordination from the office of the Secretary to the State Government especially on matters regarding political appointments as well as general policy regularization.
Some of the agencies and parastatals of the government that have their status changed by this present administration are using their old laws and acts establishing them such as Zamfara State Radio and Television Services which has been elevated to the status of board with executive chairman as its head instead of Managing Director.
There is also challenge in the area of Internally Generated Revenue especially with the current economic depression hitting oil producing countries like Nigeria.
Though a bill is currently before the State House of Assembly on consolidated revenue law, the government needs to open up for more interactive engagement on how to enhance revenue and tax collection to boost its IGR.
Revival of the state civil service is also another area the government has not come up with its plans because as it is, there is no way the state government can achieve a complete transformation with the nature of its human resources.
Majority of the state civil servants are both incapacitated and demoralized to the extent that initiation of new ideas that will move the government forward is always a big challenge to the state civil servants.
The immediate past government has not done enough to revive the state civil service and presently the effort is still minimal and for instance, one wonders for instance, what 2 million naira can do as running cost to the Ministry of Education and its parastatals.
Our state secretariat is still the least as a facility in Nigeria and it is highly obsolete and defective to provide a conducive working environment for needed result.
As for the capital projects initiated by the government, majority of the people are not fully convinced that they are the priority for now. The cargo airport, the twin three star hotels, the new government house are all parts of the projects majority of Zamfara citizens are not in support of.
Government should be for the people and indeed should go for what people deemed is their priority because in a natural law of democracy, government should act in consultation with the people and act according to their wishes.
As for the state legislature, it is shameful to say, apart from the 2020 appropriation law, the State Assembly almost eleven months after, did not pass any law and this made people to wonder what actually the law makers are doing.
They need to sit up and enforce budgetary compliance on the parts of the executive and also enact laws that are of direct bearing on the socio-economic development of the people.
As an end note, it is our hope that, government should see media outfits and their inputs as the best way to enhance collective governance.
Media listens to both sides of the opinion and report them nakedly for those concerned to see, hear and act accordingly.
We wish the government of Zamfara well and long live and prosperity
