Kaduna: Focusing On The Basics

Midat Joseph takes a look at what democracy has looked like in the past one year in Kaduna State, under Governor el Rufai

It all started like every other thing on September 16, 2014 when the former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Mallam el-Rufai, declared interest to run for the governorship of his native Kaduna State, on the platform of the APC.
He made his formal declaration on November 3, 2014. “I am motivated to run for this office for the fact that our hospitals and clinics lack essential resources to mitigate the challenges of healthcare and our civil servants are not being sufficiently motivated. Poverty has become worse; unemployment has become more pervasive; agricultural productivity has declined; internally generated revenues are too low to even pay salaries. Our road networks have fallen into disrepair; our schools have no basic teaching and learning tools; our teachers are not motivated.
“Kaduna State, which used to be known for its industries, now barely has flourishing or profitable factories. Even basic sanitation is absent because Kaduna and most of our local government area headquarters are being overtaken by garbage.
“We shall rebuild and expand water supply, rural electrification, and roads infrastructure. Our government will invest in our people by improving capacity and delivery in health, education and social welfare. We shall energetically promote agriculture and food security, while implementing Land Reform as a basis for wealth creation and capital formation,” el Rufai declared.
Now on the saddle, the last one year has rather been a year of harsh decision for the Kaduna State government. The state was finances was left prostrate by successive administrations with the state government and its local governments existing only to pay salaries, and borrowed monthly to keep existing.
Statistics available to LEADERSHIP Sunday show that civil servants and political appointees were consuming over 100 per cent of the resources that was for everybody in the state, leaving nothing for the development of physical and social infrastructure in the state.
The state also became highly indebted. It was indebted to the tune of N74.297 billion, comprising N28.840bn in domestic debt and N45.44bn in foreign debt as at May 31, 2015. The state government alone, according to available data had unsettled liabilities to contractors, consultants and suppliers to the tune of about N25billion and shortfalls in pension contributions to the tune of N8.371bn.
On taking over power, the el-Rufai administration found that only about N228 million was available in the bank as money that the government can actually spend.
To redeem the state from final collapse, the el- Rufai government had to take harsh decision such as reducing the size of government, biometric verification of civil servants, tax reforms, local government reforms, and land recovery. All these were to enable the new administration deliver on its campaign promises of job creation, do school feeding programme, straigthen the health sector, administer security, address infrastructure problems, and to pay salaries of civil servants.
The governor reduced ministries from 19 to 13, appointed 13 commissioners whereas the previous government had 24; slashed overheads for executive to 40 per cent. The governor and his deputy took pay cuts, ensured that in the budget of N172billion, N109.35billion was for capital projects. The government shut down the 450 bank accounts of government and implemented the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
El-Rufai has fought the situation wherein 50 per cent of the pupils sat on bare floors; and right now, about 1.5 million pupils are being fed every day in school, while schools rehabilitation, furniture, water and toilet facilities provision in all the public schools are on-going. The governor also abolished collection of fees and levies in public primary and junior secondary schools. Government has also prohibited the sale of forms to students seeking admission to public schools. All forms are now given free.
The government has also recruited 2000 teachers for particularly English, mathematics, the sciences and information technology. The government under el-Rufai has also ensured the free provision of uniforms in secondary schools.
Work on improving water situation in Zaria, which had been a long standing problem in the state is right now progressing. Also, rehabilitation of waterworks in Manchok, Saminaka, Kafanchan, Kaduna and eight other locations are being carried out, while solar-power street lights are installed on township roads. The state government saved N1.18billion on the Kawo-Lugard Road by renegotiating the contract, awarded by the previous government from N3.685bn to N2.5billion.
In keeping with his campaign promises on the health sector, the government has ensured that the 255 primary health centres are being modernized.
The state has twice taken the first prize in the Maternal, New born and Child Health Week for screening and testing 80,000 pregnant women for HIV in one week. General hospitals are to be equipped with lab facilities that can screen even unborn children to determine their genotypes
With the biometric verification exercise on the state’s workforce, ghost workers and pensioners have been eliminated from the state’s payroll.
There are, however, some dark spots that tarnish the Kaduna State government. For instance, the banning of street begging and hawking, and property demolitions in land recovery exercise, diminish the government in eye of many in the state.
Also the workers verification exercise has been tarnished by controversies. All these policy drives have been branded “anti-people,” and capable of bringing down his government in some quarters.
Worse is the governor’s move to regulate religious activities and licence preachers as his own way checking religious extremism.
Religious leaders in the state and all over the country have also denounced the policy of licensing preachers, and regulating preaching as ungodly censorship.