Kwankwaso’s unparalleled performance

I was among a select group of senior Nigerian print journalists invited by the Kano State Government to undertake a specially arranged tour to numerous sites in the metropolis of the ancient city of Kano to inspect the monumental achievements and imposing developmental projects of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. We were extremely humbled by the high quality of the assortment of works that sprung up on vast expanse of the landscapes of the municipality as well as in the countryside. The impressive projects, juxtaposed between the antiquated buildings and other amenities were clear testimony of Kwankwaso’s unparalleled achievements in his quest to foster rapid development in an ever-expanding city and to also better the living condition of its teeming populace.
Unlike my colleagues, I was not particularly filled with wonder by those astonishing developments recorded by Governor Kwankwaso, having lived and worked in Kano for almost a decade. I was familiar with the projects undertaken by various military and civilian administrations but none had matched the zeal and accomplishments of Governor Kwankwaso during his second coming as a governor in the last forty-two month. In fact what had overwhelmed me was the thought that continued to agitate my mind as to what the previous governors had been doing in a state that was in a hurry to develop.
It is instructive to note that within a short span of time and the scanty resources at his disposal, Governor Rabi’u has actually redeemed his electoral pledges and has established a record that could hardly be equaled let alone surpassed. That was despite the numerous disabling problems he inherited on taking over in 2011 which included collapsed and derelict infrastructure and the pervasive decay of most facilities and low morale in the civil service. To rectify these apparent anomalies Governor Kwankwaso hurriedly cancelled security vote to block leakages, improved revenue generation base from N400million to 1.8 billion monthly, cut recurrent expenditure drastically, including salaries of the Governor and his Deputy as well as that of top government functionaries thereby saving up to 500million monthly. He also avoided frivolous expenditure by government ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs. He also increased capital expenditure higher than the recurrent expenditure to enable his government execute more developmental projects. He instituted transparency and accountability in governance by publicizing the activities and resolutions of Kano State Executive Council through paid advertisements in prominent national dailies.
By so doing, Governor Kwankwaso was able to rationalize the system of paying salaries so as to make it more efficient simply by simplifying and modernizing it through conducting bio-metric and human resources data capture in order to eliminate ghost-worker phenomenon. As a result he now pays salaries on the 25th of each month promptly, including the minimum wage of N18, 000 since June 2011 and successfully jacked lowest pension emolument from paltry 135 Naira to 5,000 Naira monthly.
Broadly speaking, Governor Kwankwaso has recorded landmark achievements in critical sectors of education, healthcare, agriculture and the overall development of vital infrastructure. Education in particular was a major focus of government’s activities. Another area accorded greater attention was the construction of urban and township roads, especially the long, magnificent flyovers and subways intended to ease unprecedented traffic congestions on ever-busy streets of metropolitan Kano.
One more glowing testimony of Governor Kwankwaso’s giant strides in his earnest attempt to foster meaningful development in Kano State is the provision of new layouts, complex system of road networks, urban beautification through the redesigning and the construction of housing estates and three spanking new cities of Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo. The Housing Estates at Mariri and Zawachiki have been fully developed and allocated to numerous applicants who were hitherto unable to get access to land.
Governor Kwankwaso also diverted his attention to water and electricity supplies to redress the perennial problems that militated against the smooth functioning of the agencies saddled with those responsibilities. His revolutionary exertions at the Tamburawa Water Works, which had been his pet project from the onset, are really helping to end the recurrent water difficulty in the nation’s most populous city. The Independent Power Project, IPP he started during his first tenure has now grown into full fruition and part of its output is currently diverted to energize the ambitious street lighting project which crisscrossed the entire length and breath of the sprawling capital city and to also power the water turbines.
Perhaps Governor Kwankwaso’s prominent and outstanding achievement is his humanitarian initiative intentionally introduced to cater for the weak, infirm and the less privileged, otherwise called the dregs of the society. He pioneered legislation against street begging by the young and old so as to emphasize human dignity and also introduced a rehabilitation programme for drug addicts after routing drug barons out of business.
The facilitation of Kwankwaso’s catalogue of achievement was though Community Orientation Committees CRCs, rooted at grassroots to give him solid and wholesome support. No wonder therefore the masses are now full of praises for their dynamic governor, hoping that he should be sheltered in Aso Rock Villa after his tenure where he would continue with the policies of his political movement, the Kwankwasiyya.