By Kamal D. Kamal
The saying, ‘a golden fish has no hiding place’ justifies the belief that uncommon people are usually discovered based on their actions and inactions in the society, especially within the cycle of political leadership. While many of those in power have resorted to media hype and populist propaganda, it is instructive that there are few that have decided to be silent achievers devoid of media evangelism.
It is on this principle that Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State has been transforming the state without giving any media preference to his remarkable feats. Therefore, his Governor of the Year 2016 Award is a celebration of the silent achiever. Bagudu’s noteworthy approach to policy formulation and implementation has endeared him to his stream blowers as he allows his monumental achievements to speak for themselves.
It is a verifiable fact that during the 1960s, Nigeria was a food exporting giant with the Northern Region involved in a massive exportation of groundnuts and cotton, the Western Region delving into cocoa exportation while the Midwestern and Eastern Regions concentrating on rubber and palm oil exportation to vast markets in Asia and Latin America. In fact, there existed the famous groundnut pyramids in Kano rising hundreds of feet above the ground which was then a famous tourist attraction for visitors from far and near. Sadly, the exploration and exploitation of oil and allied products had put an end to the nation’s thriving agricultural revolution with many farmers and would be farmers abandoning their fields to seek greener pasture in the cities and other urban centres throughout the federation.
However, there are some farsighted and visionary political leaders who are determined to turn the tide and return the nation to the true path of agricultural renaissance and once again take the nation back to the food production days of glory in order to make the country self-sufficient in that crucial area of the nation’s economy and Gov. Bagudu belongs to that exclusive club of pioneering administrators that are actually taking concrete steps to actualize this noble ambition.
On taking the oath of office on May 29, 2015, a resolute Governor Atiku Bagudu in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s agricultural transformation policy as an alternative to oil, marshalled a plan to key into the federal government ‘Anchor Borrowers Scheme’ with one stated aim, the massive production of rice in order to halt the present open ended and foreign exchange depleting importation of rice and turn the state and nay the nation into a net exporter of that valued food commodity.
Therefore, it is instructive that Governor Atiku Bagudu did not unveil a multi-faceted point agenda which may be difficult to actualize thereby exposing his administration to charges of grandstanding or aimless policy incoherence which many in the political class are fond of doing.
It’s worthy to note that rather the Kebbi State helmsman had zeroed in on the rice production desiderata correctly assessing its potential to trigger a multiplier effect on the state’s economy like increased food production, massive employment for the youths, increased revenue from the sale of produced rice and the boost in the infrastructural and developmental indices of the state and the nation in general.
Also, he wasted no time in allocating huge hectares of land for massive rice production policy thrust mandating the side stepping of bureaucratic red tape usually associated with the acquisition of land in compliment of the template jointly agreed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Industry (BoI) and the Kebbi State Government.
However, under the forward-looking policy of the compassionate Bagudu administration, compensation has been paid promptly to affected land owners and the counterpart funded was equally provided thus boosting the overall morale and confidence of the citizenry and the participating farmers. Apart from this, a benevolent Atiku Bagudu also provided essential farm equipment like tractors, harvesters, fertilizers and water pumps to access urgently the needed irrigation water to the farms. Thus, the Kebbi state government’s farm irrigation project also deserves commendation as thousands of farms have been irrigated throughout the length and breadth of the Land of Equity.
Therefore, there is hardly a farming or rural community that has not benefitted from the construction of earth dams and the supply of water pumps and the digging of wells to assess water for the rice revolution programme which has immensely contributed in no small way to the bountiful rice harvest witnessed in late 2016 as hundreds of thousands of metric tons of rice were harvested in Kebbi state. And the production and distribution of the famous LAKE RICE in collaboration with the Lagos State government is unprecedented in the history of the nation and this forced down the price of rice drastically further lessening the economic pressure on millions of Kebbians and Nigerians at large.
No doubt, the visionary and dedicated posture of the Kebbi State chief security officer was a key factor in the success of this revolutionary food programme, the APC administration under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, and Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu has received a deserved acclamation from all opinion segments of the nation with the Vanguard Newspaper duly honoring him with the prestigious Award of Governor of the Year 2016 and the Award is an award to the PMB, APC and the key players in the Anchor Borrowers Scheme. Indeed, the Kebbi rice production will surely take the country back to the nation’s glory days of massive food exportation and reverse the tyranny of massive importation presently prevailing.
Kamal writes from Abuja
