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Governor Shekarau And Human Development In Kano (I) By Shehu Khaleel The coming of His Excellency Malam Ibrahim Shekarau in 2003 in one of the most transparent democratic election ever conducted in history of Sub-Saharan Africa marked the beginning of new era in Kano state. The long awaited, highly anticipated and overwhelmingly wished era of Human empowerment, came to reality on May 29, 2003, at his Excellency’s inauguration, where He reiterated that Human Development shall be the focal point of his administration. Though this lead to some harsh criticism on how possible will it be to develop human being? What will be the benefit of adopting Human development? Why not infrastructural development? This clearly revealed the lack of understanding on what Human development is and its positive impact toward achieving any developmental goals, as this is the first administration ever pledges to adopt Human development in the history of Nigeria. Because since after independent in 1960 Infrastructural development forms more than 80% of governmental projects in Nigeria, at both federal, states and local level. Hence what actually is Human Development? What positive impact does it have on religious and socio-economic development of a particular society? Human development is about human empowerment, transparency, accountability, respecting and preserving citizens religions and culture, value their existence as human being. Human Development also means Interventions by government to change relative prices in favor of its citizens, elimination of discrimination against women, the creation of additional employment opportunities, the removal of barriers inhibiting the expansion of the informal sector, reallocation of public sector resources to support human capital formation, human development is about food security, general reduction in human insecurity, freedom of expression in addition to standard and qualitative infrastructural projects. Malam Ibrahim Shekarau maps out his administrations human development strategies and plan in 2003 based on these objectives. The issue of pensioners was seen as the most controversial issue before the coming of Shekarau administration. These pensioners served this beloved state diligently and tirelessly for more than 30-years but denied their legitimate right. Many of them died without collecting their lawful entitlements of pension allowances. As the first agenda on his human Development plan, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau ordered for the payment of all outstanding pensions and gratuities which cost the state about 25 billion Naira. Most of these pensioners life was change automatically, some without shelter acquired one, and those without capital are now into different kind of businesses. This is where empowerment comes in, less powerful were transformed to powerful. And the administration further made it mandatory for the pensioners to collect their monthly pension even before the serving civil servant. This is never done in any state not only in Nigeria but in the whole Sub-Saharan Africa. The ministries and parastatals were stagnant, in the past because no civil servant was willing to retire from service due to the fear of pension misery. But now those who are suppose to retire do write some months before the time, just to enjoy and be part of the present administrations Human development policy. Kano state according to NDE study has the highest rate of unemployment in Nigeria as at 2003. The subsequent administrations did not prioritize the issue of unemployment as a major destruction to the socio economic development of any society. In order to halt the possible menace resulting from unemployment, Malam Shekarau administration initiated policy on how to generate employment. Presently this administration provided more than 35,000 citizens with gainful employment, ranging from class room teachers, Health workers, sanitation workers, 9,000 Hisbah Corps etc, this is the highest ever achieved within 5-year period in the history of Nigeria. This empowers many citizens in the state especially the unemployed graduate. Many people are now benefiting from their earnings. This has drastically reduced the level of crime and crisis in the state. And enhance the security level and safety. The office of special Adviser to the governor on Non-Governmental Organizations trained and empowers thousands of people in the state on various types of businesses. Working tools, working capital and logistics are being given to Hundreds of NGOs, CBOs and Associations from all over Kano. About 265 registered women organizations received economic empowerment facilities, about 2000 youths are benefiting from the program initiated to empower people in the state every year. This has drastically lower the level of unemployment and poster the economic development in the state. Because Statistic has shown that more than 62% of the beneficiaries have developed their businesses to the level of employing more additional hands. None of the previous government achieved this in Kano state. Education has been one of the Shekarau administrations priorities, being a teacher, Shekarau know in and out on how to tackle the issue of deteriorating education in Kano state. As at 2003 prior to his election there was no statistic of actual number of both secondary and primary school students in the state. And it will be difficult to make any developmental provision i.e. class room, Chairs tables, even teachers, without knowing the exact number of the students. Computing the statistic of all students in the state was among the initial task performed by his administration. Though People have been criticizing him of failing in this sector. But people tend to forget certain factors which always mitigate and diminish the effort being put by the government for a better education in Kano. First rapid population growth, the overwhelming increase in population in Kano is contributing toward the congestion seen in primary and secondary schools. When you made a provision of class room for 4,000 students in a particular zone, after one year statistics you will find additional 1,200 students, same is for chairs and other study facilities. Secondly primary schools are to be handled by federal, state and local government, but in Kano, local governments leave the state government with the burden, most of local government could not undertake simple repairs of class rooms. Parent and community leadership in the other hand do not help matter, many schools in Kano are without the PTA and even those with the PTAs are just mere association without any positive contribution. The state government is the alpha and Omega in running and financing education in Kano state and always state government is being blame on this. This is why about 20% of the annual budget expenditure is being committed to education in the state, which is the highest ever budgeted in the history of the state. All in an effort to improve the standard and quality of education in the state. The falling quality of education has been a point of discussion to many, but to educational observers, this is the consequence of retrenching the session lectures and professional teachers by the past administration, most of whom were contracted from neighboring countries, majority of them were professional in there various fields and portfolio, many of them had been in Kano for more than 30-years. Kano lost a lot in this and amending this will take Kano another 20-years, this will cost Kano it performance in education. And to solve this New Teachers needs to be recruited, but remember Kano being very large need thousands of teachers to cover the gap created and according to the statistic from UBE about 70% of teachers in Kano presently are unqualified as they do not possess certificate of education. Malam Shekarau has initiated the way to solve the problem by establishing 364 new primary schools and recruiting about 14,500 primary school teachers. Additional 241 junior Secondary schools have been established and recruit about 5,980 qualified teachers and urge those who are not professional in the field to further their career in education, his administration went further to introduce professional allowance for teachers just to empower and motivate them to be professionals in the field. Considering the role science and technology plays in achieving human development science education has been made free in the state. The standard of practical equipment at secondary and tertiary institution was upgraded, and about 200 laboratories were renovated and fully equipped with modern practical apparatus across the state. As at 2003 there were about 1050 lectures in the state polytechnic, but within 3-years more than 1,120 lecturers were recruited. Students enrolment into tertiary institution increased with more than 250 percent between 2003 and 2008. Both the state polytechnics and the state university receive the highest budget ever since their creation. More infrastructures and study facilities worth hundreds million of Naira has been provided. And ministry for higher education was created to look after the state post secondary institutes. Recently more than N110, 000,000.00 was approved for the accreditation exercise in the state polytechnic. The positive impact of all these would surely be seen in the very near future as education is the most effective tool to fight poverty, enhance the level of security and empower human being. To value the power of knowledge possessed by every body, Malam Shekarau resolve to give scholarship to each and every citizen of kano state no matter what course he is studying, contrary to the previous government policy of given scholarship to only student studying some selected courses which result in many talented citizens of the state to opt out of the school because they can not afford to pay the school fees due to poverty, which leads to the increases in the number of criminals. And at the same time open door to discrimination among citizens of the state. Some talented and gifted indigenes of Kano state were denied their civil right. Hence in its first two months in office, Shekarau Administration believe that everybody has his own ability, talent and capabilities and no matter what you study one can be of great value to Kano state and every citizen in kano has to be treated without discrimination and with equality, Now student citizen of kano state enjoys a better scholarship package. The administration further introduced overseas study funding scheme for those course not available in Nigeria, hundreds of Kano citizens are presently in various countries across Europe, Asia, America and Oceania. This is no doubt a significant empowerment and sustainable initiative. The issue of female education has been of great concern to Malam Shekarau Administration, Kano being islamically oriented society, many people consider female education as something of less important. Parents do not pay much attention to it. But Islam emphasizes seeking knowledge not only religious knowledge even the western education. And women are those who look after children upbringing, and socially there are certain services which are supposed to be rendered by female only like gynecologists in hospitals and teaching in female schools, but in their absence, these services are mostly being rendered by the opposite sex, which is contrary to the ethics of Shariah. Hence without encouraging the parent to enroll their children, the level of female participation in education will ever remain insignificant. Malam Shekarau in his inauguration day pledge and implement free female education in Kano. This has significantly increased the number of female enrolment in education in Kano state by more than 45% in the last 5-years. This is in line with the UN millennium Development goals. The issue of Almajirai has been a controversial and considered as the most socially destructive phenomenon from all over the North, governments were left with no definite option on how to tackle the issue. In its coming to the office in 2003, Shekarau Administration mobilized for the way forward, because the administration believes that these Almajirai are the citizens of our beloved state hence they must be treated like any other citizen of the state, they must not be deprive from their right, and it is all agreed there are talented citizens among them, who will surely benefit the state in so many ways. An office of Special Adviser on ICT and Education was created under one of his trusted God fearing, hardworking and competent adviser Dr. Bashir Galadanci. A comprehensive plan and policy was made on the Tsangaya system to empower the Alaramas and the Almajirai to be part of the development. Salary was introduced to Alarammomi and provision for shelter, cloths and food was made to the Almajirai so that they will not go looking for food. The Alarammas has been trained on different type of businesses, capital were given to them in order to sustain themselves. The state government further legalizes it that, whoever completes Quranic graduation would be employed equally with degree holder. This initiative is the first of its kind in Nigeria, many government are now trying to emulate from Kano. This reduces the number of Almajirai been seen across the street of Kano begging in the past years and it bring them and the Alarammas closer to the government. With predominant Muslim population, the people of Kano should behave in an Islamically oriented way of life. In its coming to office in 2003, Shekarau administration introduced program called ADAIDAITA SAHU meaning societal re-orientation program, with the purpose to secure the well-being, freedom and dignity of all people in the state. Inaugurated in all 44 local governments by his Royal Highness the Emir of Kano Dr. Ado Bayero. The program is in line with Shariah implementation in the state. The issue of indecencies in dressing by our youth, the issue of female immoral use of Achaba, the issue of yandaba and that of unauthorized spread of immoral social centers were tackled. Through the use of media, Islamic lectures and publications, indecency in dressing as can be seen has been reduce to the lowest level in kano . The introduction of tricycle in to the urban road by the government has significantly been a success, because it has come to the level that, there is no need for Hisbah corps to continue imposing ladies to avoid achaba, they themselves now prepare the tricycle, as it is more decent and morally inclined, it is more comfortable and safer. The Film censorship board succeeded in curling the threat to moral from uncensored, unauthorized, indecent, and un-Islamic videos in Kano state. Generally speaking ADAIDAITA SAHU has been a success and more is yet to come from seeing the impact the program will make in reshaping the moral of Kano citizens. No human development plan and strategy is complete without freedom of expression. No any government in Nigeria and even West African states that has guaranteed the freedom of expression to its citizens like the present Kano state government. Shekarau allows productive criticism from both politicians, civil servants and the masses, Shekarau is the only governor who allowed opposition parties to speak freely in the government own media. Shekarau is the only governor who encourages people to appraise his government and advice him on any way forward. Opposition parties advert are being entertain in all the government media. This policy apart from paving way toward a free environment it has significantly brought about human security. Kano was known to be violent during democratic regime, political hooliganism, and political crises were seen during the past regimes, this all are the consequences of depriving opposition to say and express their mind, hence the only way forward is to engage the use of weapons to express their criticism. This has been a history in Kano since the coming of Malam Shekarau. Healthcare is another sector particularly considered by this administration. To develop human being healthcare is highly significant. Shekarau first effort made was to employ about 2000 health workers and doctors, provide healthcare facilities to the states hospitals and upgrading some healthcare centers to hospitals in order to accommodate the healthcare need within the locality, urban and the rural areas. Almost all general Hospitals have been renovated to standard. Also prior to his election there was no generator at Murtala Mohd Hospital. But his administration ordered for a new automatic generator and directed same to all the general Hospital in the state. Drugs worth 50Million Naira and above were procured and distributed at subsidize rate to patients across the state. Modern medical and biomedical electronics equipment worth 500Million Naira were provided to the state general hospitals. And in its effort to improve the working condition and efficiency in the state healthcare centers and hospitals. Shekarau administration increased the Health workers and medical doctors salary. The in-flux of people from various states and the neighboring countries to kano Hospitals have been hampering the effort of the administration toward healthcare provision. It has been established that whenever you made a provision of 50 free delivery facilities for 50 delivery cases in a day at the Labor ward of Murtala Mohammed Hospital, before the end of the day 80-90 delivery cases are received, the same applies to drugs and other medical facilities . Patient from Niger, Chadi and even Cameroon do come the Hospital. But this administration has been working tirelessly to improve and upgrade most of the health care facilities all over Kano with the purchase and installation of modern medical facilities. Human Development is about transparency. After pledging to adopt human development, Shekarau promised a transparent government, his administration further published the appropriation law of 2004. This is the first since after Dr. Abubakar Rimi Administration. Proper monitoring of capital and developmental projects has been a major concern to the government. Budgets are being made to reflect the needs of the Kano people. Works are being made to the optimum standard. And for a government to be transparent it must be accountable. Shekarau administration has been the most transparent in Nigeria to date. Shekarau Administration is the only administration that publishes the state monthly income and expenditure. Shekarau administration separates the joint account between state and local government created by the previous administration. This gives local governments their right to utilize their resources.
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