Senator Kabiru Gaya is a grassroots and dogged politician who began his political career during the military era in the 1990s. He was governor of Kano state from January 1992 to November 1993.
Gaya, currently the chairman, Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been in the red chamber since 2007. He is a respected member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
As the 2023 general elections draw near, it is in the public domain that the next governor of Kano state is expected to come from Kano South senatorial zone, which has not produced the governor or deputy governor since the return to democracy in 1999. And the cap certainly fits Senator Gaya.
Gaya believes that Kano state deploy sound economics to tackle tough, long term economic problems such as an aging society through social security and healthcare for the people. As governor of Kano state, Gaya focused on three growth policy never tried by any of his peers who governed the state, eliminated the state’s budget deficits, opened markets, and invested in his people. His economic policies and vision that worked for the state is based on his belief that barring any emergencies, the state must work on balancing the budget-and better-every year.
He proposed and implemented a plan of improving the people’s social and material well being in a way which also dramatically lifted Kano state savings rate; these initiatives are today missing in almost all governments in Nigeria. He will work hard in cutting regulations and reforming and reinventing the state government, a good policy he hopes to continue from the present government, so that it costs less, works better, so that it keeps pace with today’s fast moving economy.
Gaya’s stint as governor is being described as Kano’s golden years by many because it invested heavily in human capital, particularly education that gave every Kano indigene the chance to share in the state’s prosperity.
Gaya also believes that Kano state must consistently work with other states in the country and was committed to the principles of peer review mechanism because of its impact on the state’s development. He has always advocated the resisting of all appeals to protectionism and isolationism and this has made Kano, the city for all. Kano being the second most populous state and the state of commerce and industry, he will commit himself to the state’s expansion for export and revenue generation.
Just like in his first tenure as governor of Kano state, Kabiru Gaya would fight for investments in education to make the state’s basic education the best in the country and expand the base of colleges of education. He would attract for investments to build and modernise over 5000 schools, reduce class size by hiring more qualified teachers, expand after schools programmes for more than one million children in Kano, link every classroom and library to the internet, and ensure that every teacher has the training to make effective use of technology in the classrooms and source for funds to help students and their families to pay fees and help adults to advance their career through skills development.
As governor, Gaya also worked hard on a variety of health initiatives to strengthen and improve health care. They include protecting patients in a fast changing health care system, improving and strengthening the long term care, preventing children from smoking, improving treatments, research and long term prevention.
Every three month during his first tenure as governor and which he intends to continue, he always convened the welfare to work coalition in the state, which worked with local and state agencies to identify welfare recipients making the transition to work and provide the support programmes that new workers needed most to retain their jobs such as mentoring, advice and support. The coalition tailored available resources to local and community levels. Its goals include finding and showcasing successful mentoring/training programmes from across the state and identifying ways in which the government can best participate in welfare to work programmes.
In Kano state today, the mention of the name Kabir Gaya floods its people with great memories; memories of his administration in its first tenure that worked greatly for the people. Gaya is a man whose first tenure as governor has impacted the life of his people positively, a quintessential leader and a proud son of Kano state, a man who with great testimonials of service to his people. I consistently have the opinion and found it to be true that God has a purpose for what happens to a man or a people. The people of Kano lamented seriously when the military aborted the dreams of having purposeful leadership during the Gaya administration.
Today, a chance has been provided to the people to return Gaya as governor.
Gaya was bred by humanism. He grew learning the art and science of the struggle for emancipation. His adulthood was baptised into a life that can be described as an embodiment of the struggle to emancipate the downtrodden. He deployed his humble background as a tonic for sharpening his progressive ideological worldviews. Thus, he hardly loses in a free and fair election
His quest to pursue his progressive ideals with passion has continued to define political activism and leadership. He is a man driven essentially and irrevocably by progressive ideology. His first tenure as governor of Kano state did not only transform infrastructural architecture but also impacted all facets of human capital development as manifested in education, health, and social services sectors.
Today, it is important that all and sundry join the call to ask this great leader to lead Kano state again.
Musawa from Abuja via [email protected]; 08035937424
