by Adamu Hassan
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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