Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of the moderate state of Gombe has demonstrated the immeasurable role of education in the political and economic life of a people or nation. His three points agenda: education, education and education signposted his worldview in modern governments as the precursor of positive governance.
The governor’s inclusive construction of over 45 model schools in all the local government areas of the state in conformity to international standards; expansion programme in the tertiary institutions with the purchase of equipment for the College of Medicine and Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science; multi-billion naira building of hostels, classrooms, libraries and laboratories in the School of Remedial Studies at Kumo, are ready testaments of his commitment to the three points agenda.
The ongoing establishment of several top flight educational institutions like the Gombe State University of Science and Technology, Gombe State College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Gombe State College of Accountancy, Gombe State Institute of Journalism and Gombe State Institute of
Sports Development perfectly mirrors what to expect from the desert state of Gombe in the near future. The good news is that the governor has been spending N10 billion, more than the 4% UNESCO recommendation for educational sector in annual budget, to arrest the decay in the educational system. This is more so because those recruited into the Boko Haram terrorist group are basically and evidently illiterates, who are brainwashed and radicalized to hate fellow human being for baseless religious reasons.
Dankwambo’s favorable educational policy paid off in his first four years bountifully with the establishment of several prestigious tertiary institutions including the Gombe State College of Islamic studies, the Gombe State Polytechnic and the Gombe State College of Education amongst other purpose driven institutions that have provided admission at very low cost to tens of thousands of Gombe State students as well as students from other parts of the country.
Governor Dankwambo loudly ventilated my position about history and education as the ultimate enhancers of human development. Elsewhere in the rocky Interlaken, Switzerland caverns have been turned into shinning marbles and desert into flourishing glamorous cities in Dubai! These are products of education and philosophy.
The state earlier known for its unremitting poverty, backwardness and aridity has surgically undergone genuine transformation in the last six years under the stewardship of Dr. Dankwambo, a preeminent PhD holder in accounting in the political life of the nation who, in the past functioned as Accountant-General of the state and the Federation at different times. It would be appropriate to argue that Dr. Dankwambo’s brilliant academy exploit puts him head and shoulder above most of his peers in a country where the first eleven are hardly given a chance to serve.
During his tenure as Accountant-General of the Federation as well as Gombe State, Dr. Dankwambo introduced landmark programmes towards ensuring accountability, transparency and probity. These included massive reorganisation of the
Accountant-General’s office to make it more focused, pragmatic and professionally suitable for efficient service delivery. He also commenced the computerisation of the federal government account. Among several others, he also put in place standardisation of accounts of federal, state and local governments in Nigeria while ensuring that all government revenues were captured into the treasury and properly accounted for.
Imbued powerfully by world class orientation in governance, his undoubted empathy for the socially displaced and positivity, Dr. Dankwambo needs no prodding for him to appreciate the enormous task office of the governor placed on him to redeem the long suffering people of Gombe. His commitment to the attainment of crucial aspects of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of the United Nations (UN); his identification of manpower development as the basic resources for the actualisation of such initiatives has succinctly led to his understanding of the “undeniable potentials of indigenous artisanship to societal and national development.
His decision to nurture qualitative and quantitative education, the production of quality and adequate manpower for housing construction, automobile repair, steel work, renovation and fabrication works of various shades which currently pose a major challenge to individual citizen, urban managers and development partners across the country has not been equalled by any other state governor.
Interestingly, the governor has activated the Gombe State Investment Company from obscurity into one of the most formidable profit-oriented agencies among all the parastatals within the state’s public service, with a capital value of over N4 billion. An advocate of wealth creation with pro-poor initiative, his job creation efforts and wealth creation programme has increased activities in agro-allied and solid minerals sector. Additional increase of N3 billion to an earlier N1 billion partnership deal with the Bank of Industry (BOI), has been disbursed to cooperative groups as soft loans to hundreds of thousands beneficiaries for the establishment of small-scale processing industries. As a result, 12, 000 jobs were created by the 133 Cooperative Societies. This was done with gender consideration.
In addition to that, precisely 755 trainees in various skill acquisition programme have successfully completed their courses and now self-employed. Gombe state currently stands out as a model on the roll call of 17 states under the BOI partnership programme. As a matter of fact, Gombe market is now saturated with products and brands of various dimensions.
It’s on record that Dr. Dankwambo’s administration singularly completed the construction of the 54km Kanawa-Kuri-Jorogutel road with some connecting access roads linking all the most agricultural fertile parts of the state. This road is on the priority list of the Dankwambo-led administration in spite of its identification as a federal road, with a total cost N6.8 billion.
Early life of his government Dr. Dankwambo unveiled 200 fuel efficient mini-brand taxi cabs; 1,100 Keke NAPEP tri-cycles, combined with 80 hummer buses for Gombe State Transport Service through the State Ministry of Finance as a more meaningful approach to alleviating the scourge of poverty among the downtrodden rather than the negative approach of survival of the fittest.
The main trust of this piece arises from Dr. Dankwambo’s single-mindedness, largeness of heart and leadership by example to engagement in the provision of portable water to the citizens of the state at great cost. At a time public water system has collapsed or completely disappeared across the country, venturing into the area by the governor should be acknowledged. Many people under the age of 40 can not boast of ever using public water system. All we know is private boreholes. All that has disappeared, courtesy of leadership failure, even when availability of portable water was promised to every Nigerian some 40-years before in accordance with the UNESCO recommendation.
In his effort at improving the supply of potable water to the citizenry, the administration has awarded contract for the rehabilitation and reticulation of pipelines in the state with extension to Kwami, Gadam and Bojude, and of late, extended to cover Kompulata and Tappi at a cost of well over N4 billion; while it has also awarded contract for water sustenance and maintenance of the Gombe Regional Water Supply Scheme.
Dankwambo told newsmen sometime ago thus: “Fortunately or unfortunately for us, there are some places where you cannot get borehole water. You will dig as deep as 500 meters in some places in Gombe and not get water. So, the only solution is to get a dam or treated water which is piped.
“Fortunately, we have a dam in Gombe but it is about 45 to 50 kilometres, so we are drawing the water little by little and it is a huge investment. The first one we did; when the water came into Gombe, we had to distribute in and around Gombe and that cost us about N4.2 billion. The next thing was to extend it to certain areas. In these areas, if you drive, it is like you are getting to almost the border of Gombe and in Gombe there is no ground water at all. So, we have succeeded in
extending up to 78 kilometres of pipeline towards that side and that cost additional N1.8 billion.
“The Gombe reticulation is almost 90 to 95 per cent completed. Also when you take dam water, you are also adding to the cost of treatment and cost of maintenance. When I came, we ran the dam at about N90 million a month. As at today, the cost of maintenance is about N242 million”.
This is exemplary leadership.
- Erasmus Ikhide, a social activist writes from Lagos
