Zamfara: Seven years of Gov Yari By Salis Muhammad Moriki

The Governor Abdul-azeez Abubakar Yari government of Zamfara state came into office on May 29, 2011.
Within the seven years of its existence, it has faced many challenges in health, education, insecurity, paucity of funds to execute projects, this is in addition to more than N40 billion debt inherited from the previous government.
However, the government has within seven years carried out many human and physical developments in the state.
The government has constructed over 350km roads across the 14 local governments, 25km for each local govt.
The Yari government has also constructed over 1000km roads across the state including federal roads.
The state has also established the long overdue state owned university at Talatan Mafara.
It was the only state in Nigeria that had no university of its own.
It is also commendable that the state government constructed or renovated at least one primary school in each of the 121 wards in the state in all the 14 local governments.
This is in addition to secondary schools that were also constructed/ or renovated.
We also witnessed the establishment of teachers’ service board, where teachers are rigorously trained for optimum output.
In recent years, Zamfara state recorded devastating incidence of disease outbreaks that claimed the lives of many.
The incidence of lead poisoning occurred between 2010 and 2012.
Cerebrospinal Meningitis and measles recur on an annual basis.
Malaria is one of the endemic diseases in the state.
But this situation is being remedied with massive infrastructural investment in the health sector by the state government.
Primary health centers across all the 14 local governments in the state are being massively renovated and equipped.
General hospitals have been rehabilitated in Moriki, Maru, Bakura and many others.
Given priority to effective healthcare delivery through construction, renovations and upgrade of hospitals and primary health care centers across Zamfara state should be emulated by other state governments, especially from the north.
The construction of state of the art Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital and reconstruction/renovation of former Federal Medical Center for Farida General Hospital to move there, all in Gusau and equipping them with modern medical equipment and giving attention to the King Fahd women and children hospital also situated in the state capital is a wise decision.
Through the rigorous and sustained efforts by the state government, ALGON and other stakeholders, the state has successfully recorded six consecutive years of no case of wild polio virus in the whole state.
Indeed, this is commendable.
The state now has a total of 715 health facilities broken down into 1 tertiary hospital, 23 general hospitals, over 668 PHCs, 150 maternal and child health clinics excluding private hospitals.
The new policy of government in the health sector is that for every 200,000 people there are at least four facilities offering basic emergency obstetric care services.
It is the responsibility of the state government, though, not constitutional, to complement the efforts of security agencies in their respective states by way of provisions of available equipment that will help them discharge their constitutional duties i.e curtailing the menace of criminal in the society.
This includes provisions of mobility, communication gadgets, welfare and any other equipment/information within the scope and confines of the law.
If the state government does this, it has discharged what is supposed to do within the context of Nigerian set up.
The rest is left for the security agencies and other stakeholders to make sure lives and property of Nigerians are protected.
Zamfara state government has judiciously and religiously tried in many capacities within its limit to assist the security agencies in the state.
In its giant strides to do the needful in the area of security, the state government has donated more than 350 vehicles to the security agencies in the state, motorcycles, etc.
This is with the exception of financial and other necessary assistance it has been providing to our security agencies.
And this is an open secret to, not only the stakeholders, like senators, members of federal and state houses of assemblies from the state, but to even common man.
Chairman of Tsafe Local Government, Alh. Aliyu Abubakar Tsafe (MC), said in a recent media interview that Governor Yari was briefing them on what the state government had been doing, he was quoted querying all the security agencies leaderships present if there was any time he reduced a penny out of their request to him.
He said he promptly approves whatever request they brought to him.
Zamfara state is one of the few states in the federation where the government snappily responds to security requests within its capacity and jurisdiction.
It is hardly to see a state in Nigeria, where a state government responds to/ and have cordial understanding with security agencies like Zamfara.
If a state government contributes its part in such a way, it should be commended not blamed.
Zamfara state is one of the few states in the federation where civil servants are being paid their salaries regularly.
The people of Zamfara state would for long remember the present administration of Abdulazeez Abubakar Yari for its giant strides to develop the state with the little resources.
Moriki writes in from Gusau, Zamfara state