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Memo to His Excellency, Governor Saminu Ibrahim Turaki of Jigawa State By Nasiru Mohammed Chamo Accept
my heartfelt congratulations on your recent successful hosting of Mr.
President during his 2-day official working visit to The
recent call by Mr. President at the dinner you hosted in his honour in
Government House Dutse, where he called on all WELL-MEANING people of
Jigawa to complement your effort to sustain the tempo of development you
have pioneered was my primary reason for considering writing the memo.
Secondly, I was also
motivated by your exceptional show of humility as a leadership quality
in promptly and positively acting on my save-our-soul appeal (published
in Dailytrust Newspaper I 2002) on the need for the completion &
commissioning of Chamo (my hometown) electrification project abandoned
since 1992 despite reaching 70% completion stage.
Your prompt directive for the completion and subsequent
commission of the said project coupled with the political will,
effective supervision, excellent coordination and the vision shared by
your able adviser on Local Government Affairs, Hon. Shehu Umar, Chamo
have now made it a reality. For
that our people would forever remember you as one who have transformed
our dream to reality. Once
again, I would like to use the same simple and popular medium of this
widely read Newspaper to draw you attention on some issues I felt,
need your urgent attention. Your
Excellency, Jigawa State have of recent years more especially during
rainy season’s been in the news, mostly for the wrong reasons.
Particularly on the occurrences of FLOOD which use to ravage, and
torment almost three quarter of the local governments areas of the
state. Local Government
Areas like: RINGIM, TAURA, JAHUN, MIGA, AUYO, KAFINHAUSA, KAUGAMA,
MALAMMADORI, HADEJIA, BIRNIWA, AND GURI among others are annually living
under fear, suffered a lot of loses both of lives and property to this
perennial flood. Just
recently Tashena, Dankida, Arki, Damatsa and Almu villages in Kaugama
& Malammadori LGA respectively were washed off by flood. (Dailytrust
Newspapers FrontPage vol.8 No. 92 Tuesday Jun 22/2004 and Daily
Independent Newspapers page
A13 Thursday June 24/2004). Every
year people are rendered homeless, precious lives lost, dreams
shattered, properties worth millions/billions of Naira are lost, vast
and fertile farmlands containing crops are
perennial washed off by this devastating flood.
The losses both in human and material resources are
unquantifiable. Not,
unmindful of your administration’s past and present efforts to
alleviate the sufferings of those affected by the menace, like the
provision of relief materials, the construction of houses at Auyo,
Marawa, Nassarawa and Gululu towns for resettlement to name but a few, I
would like, the state government under your able leadership to among
other things. -
Declare the worst affected areas as disaster zones, so that decisions
and measures commensurate to their situation can be taken in a record
speed. -
Assist those recently affected with enough relief materials to be
transparently shared by a committee whose membership should consist of
people with pear of the Day of Judgement. -
Construct and/or erect, for Interim purposes, high, thick, strong and
durable embankments around most vulnerable communities that reside along
the route of the Hadejia-Jamare River.
Since the constant overflow of the river was identified to be the
major cause of the flood, this I believe would at least save the lives
of the villages inhabitants in the eventuality of any flood occurrences
later in the year. -
Open, unblock, dredge and or re-channelise the river with immediate
effect to minimize the dangers pose by the lack of enough access to the
river at the height of rain in July, August & September to avoid
overflow which eventually breed the monster, call flood. -
Immediate, and planned resettlement in a decent and habitable location
of such communities, villages and towns whose continued stay in their
present location is considered in the opinion of expert to be too expose
to the flood. -
Initiate or revive (if there is one before) and sustained, collaborative
effort between and among the state government with the relevant federal
government ministries like that of Agriculture, Water Resources,
Environment and Agencies like HadeJia-Jama’are River Basin Development
Authority. Department, like
Ecological matter, and International Donor Agencies live the British
Department for International Development and the United Nations
Development Programmes. In
order to find a final and lasting solution to the recurring disaster. -
Show the political will, determination and commitment to engage the
services of a reputable environmental
consultancy firm to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
on the river so that informed decisions on how best to utilize and
benefit from the potentials of the river instead of reaping disasters. Equally,
disturbing sir, is the current decay in our state educational sector.
Your administration initial public policy pronouncement(s) of its
plan to make the provision
of qualitative education a priority by addressing squarely the
sector’s many and multifaceted problem in your first 2 years in office
gave some of us cause for jubilation.
But 5 years after that hope is gradually giving way to
hopelessness, vision to delusion. This
is because, besides the marginal improvement recorded in the past 4
years in WAEC & NECO organized Senior Secondary School Certificates
Examination. Other things
have fail to change for the better. For
example, necessary facilities, critical infrastructures, adequate
qualified teaching personnel and essential utilities are either totality
lacking or severely overstretched in most of our educational
institutions. Your
Excellency, College of Education in Gumel, that is supposed to be an
important variable in the drive for qualification upgrade of primary
school teachers from grade II to NCE is in shambles and total decay.
Almost all the courses currently run by all the schools under the
Jigawa State Polytechnic remain unaccredited by NBTE 12 years after its
establishment. Our hitherto
highly revered Science & Technical Colleges are now ghost of their
former selves. Condition of
conventional Secondary Schools and Primary Schools remain pathetic and
absolutely embarrassing while students scholarship/ bursary allowances
studying in Higher Institution of learning across the country have
remain meager and largely unpaid for several months. Even
though it is cheering to learnt of your recent courageous and timely
effort at restructuring the primary school education by scrapping the
moribund state primary education board and replacing it with more broad
based ministry of basic education, you should not stop there.
But rather extend and sustain the tempo of the reform in other
needed areas of the educational sector. For example it would be most
welcome if increased funding and political will would be provided
without further delay to specifically and urgently address things like
construction & renovation of classrooms and hostels to ease
congestion currently experienced in most schools, provision of portable
drinking water, provision of adequate and realistic meals, facilitate
accreditation of important courses in the State Higher Educational
Institution. And adequate teaching personnel especially in critical
subjects, procurement of teaching aids/materials, purchase of laboratory
equipment and necessary re-agents to facilitate conduct of practicals in
science based subjects and the upward review with due consideration to
the present economic reality in the country and subsequent payment of
student’s scholarship allowances. Similarly,
any person or group of persons authentically identified to be an
impediment or an obstacle to your reforms agenda/programme particularly
in the education sector should either be ask to shape up or shown the
way out so as to save the future of generations to come. Sir,
you were also recently reported by some national dailies notably
financial standard of May 28th, 2004 to have or about o sign
an agreement with INLAND BANK with the later taking controlling shares
as core investor in the state multi-billion naira Broad Band network
project. While accepting
that your administration might have valid reason(s) to enter such an
agreement/deal, I, for one, and many others whom I happen to come across
and discussed on the subject, have with all sense of conviction and
responsibility think otherwise, and this for many reasons.
For example, handing over such project that holds a lot of
prospects to transform our young state positively to such a profit
oriented organization like Inland Bank at an early stage of its take-off
like this without its intended beneficiaries (the citizenry) first
enjoyed, taste, free or at subsidized rate its promised and much
trumpeted services in either our schools, hospitals, local/state govt.
secretariats, ministries and other relevant organs is bound to defeat
the whole aim of the project. I
strongly doubt the competence of Inland Bank to manage a core project
like that. And I am also
afraid of the social & economic consequences to the people in either
partnering, or involving at whatever level or premise, profit seeking
entities in the management of public enterprises if the sad &
current experience of Nigerians with NITEL + PENTESCOPE, NNPC + Major
Petroleum products Marketers is to serve as a reference point.
Beside that, some cynics might trust the while claim of your
detractors and enemies to the effect that the project was right from
beginning conceptualized, designed and executed for the narrow good of
yourself and some of your cronies. It
is therefore, Your Excellency, my humble submission that, the agreement
should either be suspended if already entered pending consultations with
wider segment of the society to at least ensure transparency or special
and comprehensive clarification be issued to specifically address the
above highlighted fears. Or
in the alternative, a review process of the agreement should be
initiated to among other things, provide for creation of a dichotomised/
pararell management structure to be christen as public/private in order
to have separate operational guidelines for public and private users of
the project. Lastly,
but by no means the least, is the issued of routing of
Kanya-Ringim-Sintilmawa- Chai Chai –Dutse road project that is at
advanced level of construction. It
is a well known fact, that your administration, ever since its advent
have consistently shown or demonstrated its preference of merit and
desirability among other factors in the siting of developmental projects
rather than undue political influence or primodial interest.
At least re-construction to highest standard of Shuwarin-Gamoji
road, abandoned since 1983, of Zakirai-Taura-Gujungu road, Gujingu-Jahun,
Gujingu-Auyo-Hedejia, Gujingu-Gumel even though all of them federal
roads and the newly constructed Girimbo-Gantsa-Kauya-Sagu-Sara road in
Buji local government even though an opposition PDP stronghold as at
then, would serve as an excellent examples.
It is therefore, my sincere plea to your administration under
your able leadership to replicate such feet and courageous stand in the
routing of that road after terminating at Chai-Chai Sabuwa in Ringm
local government area to re-start it from ISARI to pass through
CHAMO-ABAYA-WURMA and terminate at strategic junction and all important
market of SHUWARIN. This
is because, if passed through my proposed route, it would provide access
to other part of the state to almost 20 towns and an uncountable number
of villages and the communities as against 2 villages if it passed
through Chai-Chai Tsohuwa-Yargaba-Karnaya.
Besides that, all surveys, preliminary earthworks, construction
of culverts, fillings, payment of compensation on the road i.e. ISARA-
CHAMO-ABAYA-WURMA- SHUWARIN have been conducted by the defunct PTF.
Again, if it passed through there, it will shorten the distance
by almost 7KM, thus more cost effective than the other route. Your
Excellency, I have gone this far because those of us who kept admiring
your exceptional courage and unparallel wisdom to radically changed
things for the better in Jigawa and more importantly believe that only
one person can be governor of Jigawa at the same time, felt are under
obligation to offer useful advise and valued recommendations, suggestion
and/or proposals even though unsolicited, where possible, in order to
help you realized your short, medium and long term vision and achieved
maximum success. I
therefore hope that my memo would be given the necessary attention it
deserve in order to use/take what you may find convincing and useful to
your administration agenda to do things in a better and organize way. May
God guide us right. Thank
you NASIRU
MOHAMMED CHAMO Wrote
in from No.
49 Bende Street Off
Aggrey Road Port
harcourt Rivers
State. Nigeria. e-mail:
naschamo@yahoo.com.
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