KANO state governor-elect, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf received his certificate of return from INEC, confirming him winner of the 2023 governorship election in Kano held on 18th March, 2023.
The mandate given to him by the good people of Kano State has demonstrated the confidence the electorate reposed in him to govern Kano in the next four years.
This mandate is by no means an honour done to him and the people desire to bring about positive change in the administration of our great state (Kano). Over time the people are disenchanted by the way things have been going in various sectors of our economy. This of course is an opportunity for the governor – elect to prove his mettle as expected by the people of Kano.
To begin with these challenges, is the education sector which is part of the priority the governor – elect promised to address during his electioneering campaign. Secondary schools across the state especially outside Kano metropolis have been converted to day – schools under the pretext of security challenges; thereby jam-packing students of such schools in the few and overstretched facilities.
Students especially in boarding schools are often sent back to their homes for at least one week due to lack of enough food to feed them. This is because food contractors are owed millions of naira by the government thereby starving the innocent children. This forced some of the food contractors to stop supplying due to unpaid bills.
The health sector is another top priority for the in-coming administration.
The dearth of medical doctors in our health facilities should be addressed without delay. Majority of our young medical doctors and pharmacists sponsored by the Kwankwasiyya administration in 2013 who graduated abroad have returned home and living without job.
It is the same case with our pilot graduates sponsored by the kwankwasiyya administration in 2013 who studied and trained in Jordan but on coming back home there was no job for them because they need to undergo another training to enable them obtain professional pilot license for them to operate. These young pilots could not afford the license fee which is put at about twenty five million naira per pilot. Few members of the young pilots were left with no option than to manage teaching appointments in post primary schools across the state.
Another sub-sector that needs urgent attention by the incoming administration is the revenue sub-sector. Activities especially revenue collections in this sector were dominated by selected few and their cronies at the detriment of government employed staff who supposed to carry out such functions.
Provision of basic infrastructure is one of the areas the governor-elect is seen to be more serious about. As a former Commissioner for Works and Housing Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf has proved to be a worthy Ambassador of the kwankwasiyya movement. Projects under his watch were never delayed or left unattended-to through constant supervision both scheduled and unscheduled.
The governor elect has indeed exhibited resilience, hard work and dedication to any assigned responsibility by his boss. Now as Chief Executive to be in piloting the affairs of the state, His Excellency Abba Kabir Yusuf would surely revive the prestige of the ministry of works and housing (infrastructure) which in the last eight years is said to be dormant and a ghost itself as there were no activities taking place there and that its workforce was almost made redundant as there were no projects to supervise or implement on behalf of the government.
The inactivity is not limited to the ministry of works alone as other ministries, parastatals and agencies had their own share of such a doldrums. Many of such government establishment were stripped of their powers or statutory functions through non-allocation of the overhead grants. This problem if addressed by the incoming administration of Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf will ease pressure on the state chief executive towards ensuring smooth affairs of governance.
A section of the electorate whose contribution should not be neglected by the incoming administration of Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf is the senior citizens (pensioners) who suffered over the last eight years as a result of non-payment of their outstanding gratuities.
The incoming administration should make it a duty to evolve strategies of regular settlement of such outstanding gratuities which runs into billions of naira. Although the outgoing administration was blaming the immediate past kwankwasiyya administration for being responsible for the backlog of the gratuities owed pensioners in the state, that notwithstanding, the new governor-elect can still make amend of the “perceived” mistake. No matter how little the incoming administration should make a provision to reduce such a huge amount.
Another significant project which deserves the attention of the incoming administration is the great Wuju-Wuju road project which aims at making Kano city a model in terms of road construction.
In the same vein, the teeming youths in Kano seen to be instrumental and in the forefront in bringing about the desired change should be engaged in further studies and other entrepreneurial and skills acquisition programmes by the incoming administration as done in the past.
These areas touched above are few of such to be addressed if possible within the first one hundred days of the incoming administration of Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf.
Bagwai a member of the Nigerian Guild Of Editors, wrote in from Kano.