Kaduna: Uba Sani’s Smart Shift from Urban to Rural Renewal

“Our vision promises to impact positively on the lives of rural dwellers, the poor, underserved and the vulnerable” — Governor Uba Sani’s remark after meeting World Bank executives

By Nasir Abdulkadir (Dambatta)

In the last eight, the government of Nasir El-Rufai in Kaduna State has had Urban Renewal as its major focus, a fat dream it has pursued vigorously and largely achieved.

Without doubt, El-Rufai had in the eight years he was governor, achieved the transformation of cities and rapid urbanization of major parts of the state.

To consolidate these gains, El-Rufai’s successor, Governor Uba Sani who also shares the values and passion of his predecessor for developing the state, opted to switch focus to development of rural communities in the state.
Governor Uba Sani restating his administration’s commitment to ensuring the spread of development projects to rural areas of the State, said it is necessary to extend the gains of the El-Rufai efforts to cover all segments of the state.

The governor stated this, while responding to questions in Channels TV Sunrise morning show recently.

He explained that rural development is a crucial area of focus for his administration in order to improve the Human Capital Index of the State.

This, he said, would be achieved through improving primary education, upgrading the healthcare centres, construction of critical roads, supporting agricultural services and empowering women and youth through vocational skills.

While commending the immediate past government of Nasir El-Rufai for the successful implementation of the Kaduna Urban Renewal Project, he assured that his administration will not only maintain the tempo but also extend the developmental projects to the rural areas. He noted that doing so will also help in curbing insecurity.

The governor, who also won the Most Valuable Parliamentarian in the 9th Senate assured that he would continue to support the 10th National Assembly and fast track the implementation of the State Police Bill.

He further stated that the Bill will help in containing insecurity in the country and give the State governors the ability to seamlessly ensure safety of their people and property, using cutting edge technology.

While responding to specific question on governance, he disclosed that he hosted a meeting with the governors of the Northwest and Niger state, “where we came out with a framework to tackle insecurity.

“We agreed that we would work together and move away from the decisions made by previous governments, of giving money to the bandits. We are planning to meet His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to discuss the insecurity.” And they did.
On the issue of cooperation between the State labour union and the State government, the Governor revealed that he met with the organised labour unions in the state and they have resolved to work together to achieve the Kaduna State Project.

“They are also aware that I have been part of them because of my involvement in the fight for the rights of workers in the last 30 years. For the first time they are working with someone who was involved in the fight for workers’ rights and they believe this is their government” he said.

Governor Sani also re-emphasised that his government will be a government for all, regardless of party or other affiliations.

Rural transformation has been at the heart of Governor Uba Sani, being a grassroots politician with enormous goodwill. The rural areas of Kaduna State will definitely acquire a new look with the massive rural water supply programme, improved healthcare delivery service; improved access to education and general facelift in the area of harnessing human capital. These and more, form the fulcrum of Governor Uba Sani’s 7- Point Agenda, which predates his inauguration as the Executive Governor of Kaduna State.

He looks set to usher in a new dawn in modern governance for the people of Kaduna, a liberal State known for its vast reservoir of intellectuals, seasoned bureaucrats, legal luminaries and veteran politicians. He is leading a State of Nigeria with considerable number of federal institutions, the Nigeria Defence Academy, Ahmadu Bello University, Federal College of Aviation; local and foreign enterprises and massive international goodwill that can set the tone for Foreign Direct Investment.

The high point of Governor Uba Sani’s rural renewal was partly achieved with the signing of his first Executive Order on Financial Inclusion in Kaduna State. He said the action was pursuant to the State Government’s efforts to address the exclusion of about 2.1 million poor, underserved and vulnerable citizens in the rural areas from financial services in Kaduna State and to ensure they benefit from the State and Federal Government’s Social Intervention Programmes.”

We can only pray he gives the State the equivalent of his amazing legislative activism at the 9th National Assembly where he also emerged tops, thereby exciting his fans and confounding his critics the more. Whatever it is, the new Kaduna State Governor came fully prepared for the task ahead, with 7-Point Agenda, under his comprehensive ‘SUSTAIN’ Manifesto, which predated his emergence as the youngest democratically-elected Governor in the history of Kaduna State.

Abdulkadir is Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Uba Sani on Print Media