Mohammed Garba is the Commissioner for Information, Home Affairs and Culture in Kano State. In this interview with TONY AKOWE, the former National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) speaks on the achievements of the Abdullahi Ganduje’s administration in the last two years.
The Ganduje administration is almost two years in office. How has the journey been?
The governor has been consistent in assuring the people of Kano that he will continue with the projects and programmes which he inherited from the last administration, not necessarily the immediate past administration, but even the ones before it. He promised to carry on with any project that will add value to the lives of the people and also fine-tune them to tally with the existing realities. If you are following events in Kano, you will agree with me that the governor has kept his promise.
In specific terms, what has the government done in fulfillment of its campaign promises?
There are two abandoned farm projects that the governor is passionate about reviving, because of their importance to agricultural development. They were initiated by the government of the late Alhaji Audu Bako who made a name promoting agriculture in Kano State. These centres have been revived and restructured. These are the Kadawa and Dambatta farm centres and they are now fully operational. The government is also doing a lot in terms of road network in the state. If you look at them administration if Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, there is this Dakarta-Baila road project he initiated. It is a long road covering an area with a very large population, but was abandoned by the immediate past administration, but when the present governor came into office, he started work on the project and right now, we have completed the first phase.
In the area of health, there are also two hospitals abandoned by the past administration. One is at Kikiyu in Nasarawa Local Government and the other at Zoo Road. The first hospital has about 250-bed capacity, while the other has about 300-bed space. When the governor came into office, these projects were about 35 per cent completed. The governor is conscious of the fact that some of our hospitals like Murtala Mohammed Hospital usually have patients from a neighbouring country and states, because of the personnel there. In view of that, there is always the problem of congestion. Usually, one would find patients on the floor, because of lack of bed-space. So, there is a plan to expand some of these hospitals and right now.
What happened to the projects inherited from the last administration?
Yes, we inherited quite a number of projects from the immediate past administration. Even a day to the inauguration of this government, new projects were being flagged off and don’t forget that the governor was part of that administration. You know that it is not possible to inherit such a large number of project and say that you will complete them within two years. What we did was select quite a number of these projects and we are working on them. For instance, there is bridge stretching from Triumph roundabout and runs through Sabongari. It is one of the tallest bridges in Kano. When we came in, it was just 20 per cent completed. In view of the importance of that bridge, it is now about 60 per cent completed. We may not be able to complete it this year, but I want to assure you that before the end of next year, it will be completed. There is also the controversial five five-kilometer roads initiated by the past administration. The concept was that the local government will contribute 90 per cent of the funding, while the state government will contribute 10 per cent. When we came in, none of the local governments had made funds available for the project. Unfortunately, when we came in, the local government had no money, because of the situation on ground then. So, the state government has had to provide additional money to these local governments before they can pay salaries. We have been doing that for over 15 months till recently, when there was improvement in their revenue.
Why did the government cancel the policy of sending students abroad for training?
We have over 500 students studying abroad and this has also generated some comment. We continued with that project, but right now some students are complaining of not receiving his tuition and allowances. No student has been sent back to Nigeria, because of inability to pay despite our reservation that majority of them could have easily been trained in Nigerian universities. It is not wrong to send somebody to study abroad, but we believe that they can also be accommodated in Nigerian universities. We are looking at it from the economic point of view. For every student studying outside, the government is spending over N2 million. We have quite a number of students outside studying Mass Communication, History, Computer Science, Nursing etc.
What is the government doing to reduce the housing deficit in the state?
In terms of housing, Kwankwaso built a number of houses. We have the Kwankwasiyya and Amana city. These were houses built with pension fund and about N4 billion was sunk into the project. The concept was for the houses to be an investment instead of keeping the money in the bank. The unfortunate thing about that project is that the houses are too expensive. Right now, we are looking for buyers. Also, some of the contractors have not been paid and these are some of the challenges we inherited. The governor has initiated affordable housing and we are building an additional 2,000 housing units under the scheme. We are building two-bedroom flats adjacent the Kwankwasiyya and Amana City. We have been able to build about 400 so far. The houses will cost less than N3 million each and if you are a civil servant, you will be required to make a deposit of N1 million and within two years, you will be able to pay the balance. We are also going to partner the NLC for an additional 500 houses and the contract has been awarded and the Minister for Labour will do the formal foundation laying ceremony.
The government appears to have achieved much within this period. Where is the money coming from?
To achieve all these, we need money and the governor said we should not rely solely on federal allocation, because what we get is not enough to even pay salaries. We have the highest number of civil servants in Nigeria. So, we reorganized the state Board of Internal Revenue. We changed the leadership, hired consultants and went to the state House of Assembly to have a look at the law, to make the board independent. When we came on board, we were generating about N700 million monthly, with the highest being about N1.1 billion. With the reorganisation, we now get up to N3 billion and they were able to employ over 2,000 youths. These youths are paid by the consultants and not from the state coffers and they have come up with quite a number of revenue sources. The policy is for the rich to pay more taxes.
Why is it so difficult for the governor and his predecessor to reconcile?
It is not difficult. If you look at their history; it is only those who don’t know them that are talking along that line. Normally, problems are unavoidable in politics. But, I assure you that my governor is ready for peace.
Why is the proposed law on marriage generating so much controversy?
Normally, people are bound to have different opinions about it and I know that the concept is still at the conception stage; it has not been formally presented to government. It is an initiation by a number of people who are concerned about the growing rate of divorce. We believe that it is still subject to discussion. The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice will look at the law when it is brought forward, because whoever is initiating it has not brought it before government. I think that it is something that the Emir and a few others felt should be looked into.
