BY ILIYASU GADU
In the annals of Nigerian history, Katsina holds a unique place for many reasons.
It is arguably the place where the first storied building was erected in Nigeria. Many Nigerians have been led to believe that the distinction belongs to Badagry where the building built by Reverent Townsend of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) still stands as a monument. The Badagry building was erected in the nineteenth century between 1842 and 1845 whereas Katsina’s Gobarau minaret built by the first Muslim Emir of Katsina, Mohammadu Korau in the fifteenth century subsists today.
Down the years in its illustrious history Katsina state produced the first military Governor of Northern Nigeria in the person of the then Major Hassan Usman Katsina ( later Major- General) following the coup of January 1966.
In our civilian political dispensation, Katsina has produced two Nigerian presidents, Umaru Musa Yar’adua and Muhammadu Buhari, (the latter doing so twice as military head of state and as civilian president). No other state in Nigeria has achieved such feat. And Katsina has produced countless public figures in many areas of endeavour in Nigeria.
With this trajectory of leadership, Katsina state has been able to call on its vast pool of expertise to face up to challenges and surmount them over the years since the state was created in September 1987.
In the present dispensation this factor has once again come to prominence with the challenges facing the state under the administration of Governor Dikko Radda.
In 2023 when the Governor was sworn into office, a huge swathe of the state was almost totally besieged by bandits and kidnappers. In several local governments of the state the criminal elements ran free, invading communities and imposing levies and taxes from the hapless residents. They demanded payments from farmers before allowing them to access their farms and exacted tributes in money and farm produce. They also kidnapped persons for ransome, failure of which resulted in killing of those kidnapped. Whole communities and villages in parts of the state were burnt and ransacked rendering thousands homeless and livelihoods destroyed.
It was so bad such that Katsina state which prides itself as the home of hospitality became a theatre of hostility.
Needless to say, that under these circumstances, governance and development was affected as government business was taken up largely by the need to tackle insecurity and its effects on the people of the state.
Thus, the story of Katsina state under the Dikko Radda administration has been one of finding pathways to tackle the insecurity ravaging the state as well as delivering the necessary development needs of the state.
It is a daunting task we must admit. But it is also not insurmountable especially as Katsina can draw on the reserve of expertise and experience of resource persons across several areas of human and technical development.
As my connection to Katsina is very deep I have made it a point of duty to keep close tabs with developments there. I was a youngster when my dad worked in Daura and Kafin Soli as Agricultural Officer under the northern Nigeria civil service. I did my ‘’A’’ levels at the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology, then located in Zaria and now the Katsina Polytechnic. As a consequence I have many friends and colleagues from Katsina and we most often share lamentations on the unfortunate happenings in this wonderful state.
As well too, the untiring efforts of Governor Radda in coping with the twin challenges of insecurity and need to develop Katsina state is always in focus.
I recently came across a strategy document authored by the governor titled “Building Your Future; Strategy Policy”. In the document, Governor Radda stated clearly his goals and the strategies he hoped to apply in tackling the challenges he faces in Katsina. Governor Radda stated ‘’As Governor of Katsina state, I would lead an administration that aims to build the people’s future. This is why my policy document is titled ‘’Building Your Future. Some have asked why I am focusing on the future when there are problems now, and my answer is that when you want to build for the future, you will take actions to fix the issues we face now’’. Quite impressive stuff by the looks of it.
How does this square up to in real, practical terms?
The document laid out eight areas of intervention which Governor Radda hoped to transform Katsina namely; Public Sector Reform, Education and Skills Development, Social Care, MSME and Local Economies, Health Care, Agric and Industrial Revolution, Security and Internally Generated Revenue.
Although some of the intervention areas cannot be immediately quantifiable due to the gestation period they require for visible and tangible assessment, in the educational and security sectors especially there are grounds to take on Governor Radda on his policy pronouncements.
On security we have witnessed how the governor had to build confidence by first, engaging the bandits directly and then bringing them to meet and constructively discuss with residents of the communities living under constant attacks. Discussions focused around the surrender of arms and reconciliation. The bandits were to stop their attacks, kidnappings and levies on the communities while the communities on the other hand were to dismantle and disarm the vigilante groups that frequently confront the bandits in firefights leading to deaths on both sides.
I know for sure that Governor Radda had consulted and constituted a body of Katsina elders including traditional rulers, elder statesmen, technocrats, top retired military and security experts to advice on ways to tackle the issues from security, community and social perspectives.
An indigene of Bakori town in Bakori Local Government area of the state Ado Haruna, who like many in the town had to flee with his family to Abuja for safety as a result of insecurity, told me that the peace is gradually returning to the areas worst affected by insecurity. He said that people were at first sceptical about the efforts embarked by Governor Radda at first due to the deep-seated animosities between the bandits and the affected communities. Now though due to the persistence showed by the governor, people are now returning to their communities due to encouraging signs in the peace building efforts embarked by the governor.
Similarly in the education sector, there are encouraging signs too. Many Katsina youths have been sent abroad on scholarship to further their education and acquire skills that would be useful to the state’s quest for human capacity development. The efforts are also extended to improving the quality of the state’s educational institutions from the primary right up to the tertiary level. Let us not forget that Katsina has an enviable record in educational development, a fact proven by the long, endless list of top-level figures the state has produced at both the state and national levels.
Although Governor Dikko Radda’s 8-point intervention as outlined in his policy strategy document may seem quite ambitious and perhaps difficult to attain given the trying economic and social times for both the state and the country presently, it is a bold and courageous statement of intent coming from the young governor with which he intends to tackle the existential challenges as its helmsman.
Mallam Gadu can be reached via:
Ilgad2009@gmail.com
08035355706
