Katsina’s development: Masari unrelenting despite criticisms

When former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari, was first elected in 2015 to pilot the affairs of Katsina State, he pledged to fast track the development of the State. And five years on he has not relented; BENJAMIN UMUTEME writes.

Katsina state governor, Aminu Bello Masari, continues to break the boundaries set by critics who have failed to acknowledge the good work he is doing in the State.

With 2023 approaching, the former speaker continues to get flaks from not only the opposition but even those who would want to ride on populist but erroneous opinion to get into Katsina government house.

Some aspiring politicians in the state who contested for elective position and failed because they were rejected by the Katsina people have once again joined forces in their bid to discredit the modest work of the present administration with the sole aim of ceasing power come 2023.

As in most states of the federation, desperate politicians continue to wage a campaign of calumny against the former Speaker of the House of Representatives.

And the governor who is no stranger to high wired politics having experienced it first hand while he was head of the Green Chambers continues to use the toga ‘action speaks louder than words’ to make a mockery of the machination of political jobbers whose main concern is the state treasury.

These political merchants have gone a notch further by sponsoring mischievous media attacks in their fail bid to discredit visible achievements recorded by Masari administration across various sectors in the state.

Matching words with action

Not one given to many words, Masari had assured the people of the state when he assumed office that he is wholly committed to the development of the state bas he promised to take it to the next level.

And he has not reneged on his promise as some incurable skeptics would want people to believe. Despite the twin challenge and conid-19 pandemic which continues to disrupt the flow of activities, the Masari has been able to make appreciable interventions.

A peek into various sectors will reveal to the naysayers that are bent in distorting history that Masari is one who keeps to his word.

Education

At the inception of his administration in May 29th, 2015, Governor Masari inherited a state rated as the second poorest economically and third most educationally backward.

However, as an optimist, he went in the belief that “a problem remains only so to a mind lacking in commitment and conviction to surmount it”.

Not cowed by paucity of funds, the administration’s interventions at the primary and secondary school levels in the state.

A total of 1,026 new classrooms were constructed, and 1,268 classrooms were rehabilitated, bringing the total to 2294 classrooms in excellent condition in use. Also, 135 new offices were constructed and 532 rehabilitated. Similarly, 135 new stores were built, while 532 were rehabilitated. A total of 930 toilets were built in primary schools across the state. Seven 7 new secondary schools were built across the state. Complete rehabilitation of 25 secondary school across the three Senatorial zones. Also, 13 out of 18 Science and Technical Vocational Schools in the state were completely rehabilitated and upgraded at the cost of about N2 billion.

Government has promoted, with payment of full areas, over 1100 primary and secondary schools teachers in the state, some of whom have had no promotion for upwards of 10 years. All girls’ secondary schools in their state were converted to boarding. With over 2000 teachers recruited for primary and secondary schools, 5000 more are currently being recruited under the State Power Programme. 

Even for tertiary education, the sum of N7.32billion has so far been expended on scholarship to Katsina State indigenes since 2015, as well as the provision of infrastructure and services at the four state owned tertiary institutions, namely, Umaru Musa Yar’adua University (UMYU), Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic (HUKP), Isa Kaita College of Education (IKCOED) and Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman College (YBUC). 

Also, over 3,080 have been recruited by the state ministry of education, according to governor Masari, it is part of effort to change the old narrative in the state.

Road, housing and transport

Despite the limited resources, the Masari administration was able to complete all the unfinished road projects inherited from the immediate past administration, most of which were hastily awarded but barely started on the eve of the preceding administration’s departure in May, 2015.

To date, the Masari administration has been able to construct over 510 kilometres of roads in the three Senatorial zones as well as 39 rural feeder roads with a total length of 461 kilometres across the 34 local government areas in the state.

Since coming on board, Masari has been able to bring under control the perennial menace posed by flood. The sum of N2.5billion has been spent on a deliberate policy to tame and save the state from the fury of flooding. There are also ongoing projects in the state capital, Jibia, Malumfashi and Funtua. Furthermore, construction is ongoing on the 11-kilometre-5m wide concrete-lined drainage stretching from Kofar Guga through Sabuwar Kofa down to Shinkafi Bridge. Other projects are the 88,537m of combined reinforced concrete-lined, block-lined and mansory-lined drainages; 1,910m of retaining wall; 360m of drift; 104 culverts, and 1,550m of dyke/embankment.

To ease housing challenges in the state, 450 units of houses are currently under construction and in various stages of completion. The administration expanded and upgraded by almost 50 per cent the Funtua central market and motor park. This is in addition to expanding the state transport authority by adding 30 Toyota Costa and Hiace buses to the company’s fleet.

Chairman of the All Progressive Congress in the State, Shitu Shitu, was optimistic that the governor will complete all ongoing projects that he started as it would further boost the socio-economic life of residents. 

“When he was elected, governor Masari promised to complete abandoned projects and also, initiate new ones that would boost economic activities, and so far, he has not failed even with the little resources that comes to the state from federal allocation.”

A fallout of Masari’s transparence and accountability in the manager of resources, the the recent grant it got as part states that were transparent in resource management. 

Security

When Masari came into office, he met a security situation that was nothing to write home about. He initiated a joint security action by the seven North West states of Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi, as well as far way North Central state of Niger. Wanting to bring an end to the issue of banditry in the state, Masari negotiated an amnesty programme for repentant cattle rustlers, who handed over their fire arms and ammunitions to government in a ceremony attended by the top hierarchies of security agencies. One key demand the governor made with the bandits was that they eschew banditry all over the country. In the midst of all this, the present administration continues to support various security outfits through the provision of operations vehicles like Toyota Hilux vans and motorcycles.

Even in the face of the recent onslaught by his transducers, Masari was able to engineer the hitch free rescue of the abducted 344 Kankara Science Secondary School students. In spite of repeated explanation that the state government did not pay a dime to secure the release of the boys, the governor’s detractors continue to spread a counter narrative that millions of naira exchanged hands before the boys were released. It was a fantastic story at the end of an awful week.

A farmer Abubakar Usman noted that despite the effort the government has put to develop the state, security is still a major challenge. 

According to him, “the only challenge at the moment is the harassment by criminals (bandits) who continue to attack us and make life miserable for us. If the governor can address this, then he has done everything for us,” he said.

In the last five years, a total of N71 billion in pensions and gratuities for retirees of the state, the local governments and the local government education authorities have been paid by Masari’s administration.

A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Mashi Local Government Area, Abdulkadir Mashi, while acknowledging the effort of the Masari led administration in lifting the state from it’s present level, insisted that more needs to be done in the area of security which is a serious concern for all citizens especially the farming population. 

“I appeal to governor Masari to extend his good deeds to tackling the menace of criminals that have been troubling us (farmers). 

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