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Lamido ’ll lead PDP to wrestle Bauchi, Kano from ANPP — Muktar Mohammed
Jigawa State Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Muktar Mohammed, is not a green horn in the political arrangement of the state. In this exclusive interview with The Abuja Inquirer, the Commissioner speaks glowingly about his boss, Alhaji Sule Lamido, whom he described as an astute politician, just as he gives an insight into the political happenings in the state. Excerpts:
How do you feel that one of your own is to be elected as the new Zonal Chairman (North West) of the People’s Democratic Party?
I feel elated and you have to look at the governor of the state, that’s the first thing one has to look at. The governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, is someone who is known in the country and one of the initiators and founders of PDP and they believe in him, knowing he will produce a candidate that will deliver and would not disappoint his people. The People’s Democratic Party believes in my governor’s capabilities and that’s why during his speech, he said in the next election of 2011 he assured bringing Kano and Bauchi States on board. I know my governor very well, I know he is never tired with the activities that concern the PDP. He does any assignment given to him by his party in such a way that you will be impressed.
You said he promised to help PDP to capture Kano and Bauchi how does he intend to do this?
Definitely, his influence cuts across the whole country not only in Jigawa. Being one of the founders of the party, they know him as a leader and a man of his word. They know him as one who can lead and excel in any capabilities or assignment given to him. And I know that by the special grace of Allah, he will fulfill his promises of bringing Kano and Bauchi on board PDP
Sir, the governor in his inaugural speech promised to give N7,000 allowance to destitutes every month. How far has he gone in implementing this?
Just a month after he said this in his inaugural speech, the vulnerable group started benefiting from the N7,000 allowance. We have 27 local governments in the state at that time. So one hundred under privileged people were selected who were enjoying this allowance and it was later increased after 4months to 150 people per local government. So presently each local government provides 150 destitutes /vulnerable groups who benefit from this allowance of N7, 00 every month. I know many people will ask why the Jigawa State government decided to embark on such. The issue is that all the resources of Nigeria is being shared and allocated to states, so anybody who happens to be in that state has a share in that revenue allocation. Therefore, these destitutes can also benefit from this, there is no way they can benefit from that except through this formula or this idea of giving them a token amount out of this to sustain their living, to help them in managing their lives. What I can tell you now is that if you go to Jigawa State you will find that the number of destitutes roaming our streets has drastically reduced and even if you find any, they are not from Jigawa State, they are probably from any of the state where they are not benefiting from this assistance in their state.
Is there no other way they can be empowered rather than giving them this allowance?
Thank you for that question. The thing is that in government administration or policies of government, anybody who reaches or attains the age of 65 years or 35 years in service has to retire. Most of these destitutes have reached the age of 65 years or 70 years even above that and apart from that some of them are pushed around in the trolley, they cannot even move around on their own so how can you give them training. What kind of training would you give them? Some cannot even read or write. The issue is what we can do to help these people other than give them this token amount for their upkeep? For those who can acquire education, the government has made provision for them. Those that do not approve of this, token amount given to this destitutes can be like them, anyone who wants to be a leper or disabled should do so, we will be giving them the N7,000 also .
I have been opportuned to visit your state severally and have discovered that most of your girls do not go to school. Every morning you see them hawking things around. What is the government doing in this regard?
That is not true, our girls go to school and what the government is doing now is that girl child education is free from Primary School to University Level. Maybe those that you have seen you can find them every where, wherever you go in the country it is not all girls that go to school but the majority in our state go to school most especially now that government is providing everything for them. Also our government spent over N2 billion in rehabilitating our schools. So in this aspect, education for our girls in this administration has been given priority. Our girls now go to school.
What is the relationship between the then governor of the state, Alhaji Saminu Turaki and the present governor His Excellency Alhaji Sule Lamido?
It is cordial, very cordial. What one needs to understand now is that the difference now is, while Turaki lives in Abuja, Sule Lamido is in Dutse. If there is any thing wrong, I know you the media would be the first to know about it.
Was Turaki involved is the selection and adoption of Alhaji Sankara as the new zonal chairman (North West) of PDP?
Yes there is consultation between the present governor and his predecessor. Maybe because, they now have different programmes and schedules. I am sure they are always in touch. And I sure he has communicated to His Excellency the reason why he will not be here. They are in constant touch.
We learnt that His Excellency is bent on probing the financial activities of the last administration, how true is it?
That is not true, what His Excellency, Alhaji Sule Lamido said after the submission of the report by the committee that investigated the contracts awarded by the last administration, after the presentation, in his report he said we will draw a line. We will not go into that problem because it will distract us from doing what is expected of us and it might deprive the people from benefiting from the good plans of this administration. In that respect we had to close that chapter and start afresh. Let us move the state forward. That is why he decided not to take the issue to court. Let the people of Jigawa now know that they have a new administration with a focus and will give all indigenes a sense of belonging. We know that God who assigned the last administration for eight years, they did their work and God will judge them according to what they have done. So in that respect, there is nothing Jigawa State government is doing as it concerns Turaki’s case, the government will neither probe him nor take him to court.
We have closed that chapter to move ahead. It is a by gone issue.
How gender sensitive is the administration of the Sule Lamido having in mind the 30% concession given to women?
The administration of our governor is gender sensitive. We give considerations to women in whatever we do. Out of 15 Commissioners we have 3 Women Commissioner. We have 3 Women Commissioners and four Special Advisers in the cabinet. So you see that our government is gender sensitive.
The last time I visited Jigawa State during the inauguration of His Excellency, Alhaji Sule Lamido, the state capital was nothing to write home about. So now that administration is in place, what is His Excellency doing to give the place a facelift?
What you are supposed to know is that before now the ministries were located in different local governments but now all the ministries are is the state capital. Also there are some projects which the last administration started which were not completed, so the present administration is working on these, and I am very sure and optimistic that now, if you visit the state you will see a rapid change both in terms of population, the number of houses everything has improved and changed completely so when you go there, you will see a rapid change within this nine months.
In fact, the issue of accommodation is been tackled because it is a very serious issue since some of our personnel working in Jigawa have to come from Kano every morning but now, the government has started the construction of 500 housing estates which is about to be completed and another one of 400 was launched recently by His Excellency. I am sure if you come around by May, which is when we will celebrate our one year in office, you will see a lot of changes.
What about the problems of constant light outage in the state?
This is a problem that affects the entire country. In Jigawa State now that problem is over. There is now constant light.
Thanks for your time.
Thanks a lot for giving me this golden opportunity to enlighten the public on how people of Jigawa state are enjoying the dividends of democracy under His Excellency Alhaji Sule Lamido.
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