Opinion: Sule Lamido – Rekindling the hope of the masses

by Adamu Hassan

 Sule-Lamido

In December 2009, it was reported that Olusegun Obasanjo had started lobbying for Lamido to be  PDP’s next vice presidential candidate in the 2011 election, but Lamido turned down the offer  as according to him, his mission to transform Jigawa was still on-going.

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State was among those that constituted the G8 that later  metamorphosed into G34 which eventually led to the formation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As a founding member, he decided to test the ground by  runing for the governorship election in Jigawa State but was defeated by the All Peoples Party (APP) candidate, Ibrahim Saminu Turaki. Sule Lamido  was then appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo as minister for  Foreign Affairs from  1999 to 2007. However, fortune later smiled on him when he again contested the governorship election in the state. He won and was sworn in as Jigawa State Governor in 2007.

Before Lamido’s election as governor, Jigawa State had been wallowing in squalor due to neglect by the past administrations in the state. On assumption of office,  Lamido  announced that his administration will spend over N2 billion on education in the state. The amount, he said, will be used in overhauling the entire education sector in  order to give it a new lease of life.

According to him, the  money will be used to rebuild schools and provide basic teaching materials. The governor also invested N450 million naira for training teachers teaching core subjects in junior secondary schools. As this was going on, he took another giant leap by executing  major construction projects in collaboration with the Dutse Capital Development Authority and the Jigawa State Housing Authority to offer and provide free plots of land and basic infrastructure to investors in the tourism and hospitality business in the state.

Lamido also introduced the payment of allowances to destitutes in the state in order to keep them off the streets. In December 2009, it was reported that Olusegun Obasanjo had started lobbying for Lamido to be  PDP’s next vice presidential candidate in the 2011 election, but Lamido turned down the offer  as according to him, his mission to transform Jigawa was still on-going.

Before then Jigawa State was classified by all development indices as the poorest state on account of zero-development tangibles and only Lamido could change the indices. As a leader who knows the weight of his office, he took upon himself the responsibility to transform the state to what it is today.

Lamido did this by swinging into action,  making Dutse the Jigawa state capital a hub of activities. He introduced a number of initiatives to set the state on the path of rapid development.  One of such, was  the Talakawa Summit Initiative — a peculiar programme designed to tackle poverty in a way different from any of its kind in  Northern Nigeria because  of the grants  he  promised to be giving to the poor.

Lamido also executed other laudable projects,   such as the newly constructed roads to which many say that what  Sule Lamido is doing in Jigawa is like replicating Abuja in Dutse. Alas, a new city has emerged. For example, the three arms zones,  comprising the Judiciary, the bureaucracy and civil service all located within the same district competes favorably with Abuja’s three arms zone.

The district is paved with good road network and streetlights. Flowers in their infancy are sprouting up and of course Aminu Kano Arena is within the area. The Rasheed Shekoni Hospital was also completed. Among the many housing estates in Dutse, are the 280-unit locally developed brick houses from where low income earners could buy.

Whether it is the road revolution or the new look Dutse Hospital and schools, the Sule Lamido administration is gradually restoring and rekindling hope in the people’s mind in our nascent democracy.

However, is this “rescue” effort convincing enough?  Many may be  dismissing some of the efforts of  Lamido with a wave of the hand, while others  may still wonder whether his promise to pay the sum of  N7, 000 for each disabled person in the state would be  realistic. Others  ask if indeed the man Lamido is the long-awaited messiah to salvage the state and probably become Nigeria’s saviour that will take the nation to the next level. These, and other questions are better left for time to tell.

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Read this article in the Leadership Newspapers

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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