By Muhammad Goronyo, Sokoto
Ask any coach in the English Premier League, early season, if his team has an eye on the European Champions League. He will say his focus is on the local trophy first. One critical step at a time is the norm. After all, no club goes to Europe without acquitting itself at home to end in top four.
It is the same in politics, especially for current office holders, who are favored to seek higher portfolios in upcoming polls, more often, state governors in their second terms. For most of them, the expected next step is the Senate, for a very few, the presidency.
Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the current Governor of Sokoto State is used to being the subject of this trend. As Number Four Citizen in 2015, he played a pivotal role in the electoral victory of the opposition APC. In 2019, as first term Governor of his state, Tambuwal was slated for and had a very good shot at the nation’s number one job.
With the next presidential election a good three years to come, the prospecting has already begun. And Aminu Waziri, now in his second governorship term, is again in the thick of affairs. It is not therefore surprising that the first salvo was let go by an online report that he has declared to run for the top job.
Why, his political party, the PDP, is giving the ruling but self destroying party, the APC more than a run for their money and Tambuwal is on center stage of it all. As Chairman of PDP Governors Forum, he has been integral to the party’s successes, including its triumph in the recent Edo State governorship poll.
The online report on Tambuwal’s presidential bid declaration is speculative and untrue but it obviously relied on ongoing trends in an attempt to acquire credibility; pigments of imagination, seeking reality by aligning with a widely held belief.
Like an EPL coach however, Tambuwal would not look away from the local scene. For all his national profile, his focus and priority is the local scene, which is his state.
Such rumours are a distraction from his main focus, which is “delivering good governance and the dividends of democracy to the people of Sokoto Stat.”, the Governor said.
Presidential ambition or not, Tambuwal has in the last five years, have had remarkable strides in improving the situation of Sokoto State in the four major sectors of development.
In the Economic Sector, his embrace of the Private Sector as an active partner in the execution of initiatives, has led to the ongoing establishment of private and public – private industries in Agriculture and Solid Minerals, being symbolized by the ongoing construction of the Dangote Rice Mill in Kware and the Phosphate Plant in Kalambaina by OCP Morroco.
Investment in farming is witnessing an increase over the years, through sustained support for farmers, as enshrined in a home grown blueprint from experts and stakeholders. A similar transformation applies to the livestock Sub-Sector, with the ongoing Indonesia model Dairy Project.
The Massive construction of urban and rural roads ensures the facilitation of economic activities to complement these achievements.
Currently work has begun on the construction of dual carriage ways and two flyovers in Sokoto, a number of rural roads are earmarked for this year.
The establishment of the State Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency (SOSSMEDA) is one bold step to bolster economic productivity and employment for the people. So is the provision of financial support for small trades and vocations in all Local Governments of the State. Recently, Tambuwal distributed financial support and loans to women entreprenuers in the state.
There is appreciable progress in Education and Health, the main drivers of the Social Sector. The State of Emergency on Education declared at the inception of Tambuwal’s Administration, guided by a blueprint, entails the massive construction, renovation and equipping of schools at all levels, improvement in school system supervision and substantial increase in enrolment at basic level, especially of the girl-child.
Work has earnestly begun on the new Girls Science Secondary School at Kasarawa, while developments like the ongoing construction of the State University Teaching Hospital and the new College of Nursing Sciences, Tambuwal facilitate the connection between education and health.
The Healthcare Sub – Sector is going through a leap, through the building and equipping of premier and basic health facilities across the State and the introduction of initiatives like the Healthcare Under One Roof and Contributory Health Scheme, aimed at improving efficiency, particularly in maternal health and ensuring public ownership of the healthcare system.
A Premier Hospital, one each in the state’s Senatorial Zones, the building of which has begun, will transform the healthcare system, just as the nearly completed modern diagnostic center in Sokoto, the best of its kind in the Northwest.
Sokoto State’s response to the Covid 19 Pandemic has been efficient. With the prompt provision of equipment and facilities, coupled with effective strategy and technical intervention from the Federal Government, our State records one of the fewest incidences of the pandemic in Nigeria.
Sokoto State is witnessing a transformation in the advancement of Youths and Sports, which is illustrated by the inception of the construction of sports facilities in Sokoto, the soon to be built modern indoor sports hall and a sports stadium. This is matched by the moral and material support for sports men and women, who show promise of excelling within and beyond the state.
Great strides are being made in addressing poverty in Sokoto State. The State Zakat and Endowment Commission (SOZECOM) is making appreciable progress in empowering millions of underprivileged indigenes, while leading the State Government’s partnership with foreign interests, particularly Indonesia and finance institutions like IDB, in initiatives towards poverty alliviation and uplifting the economic status of the indigent.
Tambuwal’s policy moves also prioritize a healthy environment as a prerequisite for development in all sectors. The Ministry for Environment is well equipped and is working hard to ensure adequate sanitation in Urban Sokoto, as well as carry out its mandate of protecting the environment from the hazards of global warming and climate change. Tree planting and tending are routine, while subscription to alternative fuels to firewood is being actively pursued and encouraged.
There is, since the inception of Tambuwal’s administration, a marked openness in Governance in Sokoto State. This is due partly, to the harmony between the Executive and Legislature and a free and strengthened Judiciary. The elections of 2019 have produced a partisan balance, with the opposition in the majority in the Legislature. That, has not however, posed challenges to governance, as the two arms close ranks to ensure service delivery to the electorate, in the most inclusive environment in the history of Sokoto State.
In the 2020 Budget, Sokoto State joined the league of few States in Nigeria to migrate to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). This milestone in transition to fiscal transparency guarantees accountability and participation and makes the state a reliable development partner.
The subscription to IPSAS and passing of the Sokoto State Tax Law and Fiscal Responsibility Law substantially satisfy the requirement for genuine development in an atmosphere of openness, transparency and accountability to the people, which is the principle of Tambuwal’s Administration.
For the time being, these all-sector developments are on the drawing table of Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. Engagements at national level are of course taken in stride but they do not, in any way distract from the priorities back at home. For, whatever a leader becomes in future, at whatever level he attains the height, it all begins at the base. And as Tambuwal believes, “all politics is local”.
