Governors Can’t Continue To Take Custody Of What Is Due Local Governments – Hon Wadada

Hon Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, who holds the traditional title of Sarkin Yakin Keffi, served as a member of the House of Representatives for two terms during which he represented Keffi/Kokona/Karu Federal Constituency. He was a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Nasarawa
State in 2019 and later chaired the Presidential and Governorship Campaign Council for the state. In this interview with BABA AHMED, the former lawmaker said the time has come for state governors to have a rethink over the State/Local Government Joint Account if the poverty level in the country is to be addressed and reduced. He also said that lack of unity of purpose of leaders is affecting expected gains of the North Central zone which he noted has been left behind. Excerpts:

North-central Leaders Behind Its Ordeal – Wadada

The North central has apparently been cut off from the scheme of things in the country. What could be responsible for this?

Our problem is that our diversity is being taken advantage of and unfortunately those at the helm of affairs in the North-central are not together as leaders. We are not doing anything to help. I can’t remember the last time the governors of the zone met. We had a lot of discussion during our time when Abdullahi Adamu was governor, Kure and others, we used to hold meetings of North-central stakeholders but today I don’t know if that happens.
So because our leaders are not together, our diversity was further divided by those who see us as a threat because the people of the zone are the true Nigerians. I say this with all sense of responsibility because we have paid much more dues than any zone in the country as far as the existence of Nigeria is concern. During the civil war, soldiers that fought in the battle front were much more of North-central extraction than any other part of the country. After the war a North-central citizen headed the reconstruction government of Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon. Also when the fate of the country was in abeyance because in 1984 when President Buhari came in as General Buhari then, he was least understood and Nigerians where in total anger. The man that God used to stabilize the system regardless of any body’s perception was of North central extraction, President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Today if you look at the various agencies of government that are created to provide succor to the citizens regardless of the nomenclature were all put in place by President Babangida. When the late Sani Abacha died, the military was in total confusion as to who was the right person to lead the country but God gave the mantle of leadership to a North-central citizen, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who led the country for 8 months and handed over to a civilian administration as he promised. Coming to the fourth republic, the first chairman of PDP, Late Chief Solomon Daushep Lar was from the North-central zone. But today, where is the North-central?

In 2015 we delivered more votes for President Muhammadu Buhari but what did we get? Now it is 2019 we have delivered much more votes than the South-west to President Buhari. We are short changed not because those at the helm of affairs are willing or intentionally short change us but having realized we are not together, they do all kinds of things and we take it. So, I call on our leaders particularly the governors to be united and be meeting regularly and calling major stakeholders from the various states of North-central. If we are seen to be concerned about ourselves, the central government will be concerned about us, but if we continue to remain the way we are, we will continue to suffer it and it will be most unfortunate.

The zone has been consistently seen as a theatre for religious crises, tribal warfare and other insecurity challenges. What steps do you think should be adopted to curtail the menace?

The leaders of the zone should be much more democratic than they are and be leaders that will welcome criticism and be leaders that are truly concerned about the wellbeing of their people and be more accessible to their people. They should also appreciate our diversities and see it as a source of asset and strength rather than weakness. And to the partisan politicians, with due humility, emulate the ways of Wadada because my political activities are centered on electorates enlightenment. Let’s continue to educate our electorates. They will appreciate us better.

For the first time President Muhammadu Buhari won election in Nasarawa State, we want to find out what led to this feat?

We should first give gratitude to Almighty Allah that made it possible. All that happened in the past were destined to happen the way they happened but in every divine action, there is always the human aspect. Let me start by saying that Buhari won election in Nasarawa because most of the political gladiators in the state today are of the APC extraction and the gubernatorial primaries of APC rather than divide those that aspired alongside their supporters, God in his infinite mercy made it possible for the aspirants to be much more united, cohesive, concerned and focused. When I said the aspirants, I mean with their followers and with due humility Hon. Ahmed Wadada chaired the campaign council. We tried under my stewardship with other stakeholders to ensure that the people were educated and enlightened enough as far as the happenings within the party is concerned, right from the commencement of political activities towards the 2019 general elections. And of course, the people were responsive and they really got it deep into them that continuity is a veritable instrument for development. In order for the APC to be in power in Nasarawa State and to succeed itself, as well as provide the required and decent successful transition that will further deepen socio-economic and political developments in the state, it became necessary to enlighten and educate the people. We did so much to make the citizens of the state to appreciate who is President Buhari much more than ever before. Like I said, greater percentage of the stakeholders are in the APC and of course led by Hon. Aliyu Ahmed Wadada. This gives you the human angle of the success but the spiritual aspect is that God destined it and it happened. But God of course will not come down for anybody because he never came down for his prophets.

President Buhari has secured his second term and there are lots of expectations particularly as it relates to security and peaceful co-existence. What in your view can help towards mitigating the situation especially with the rising spate of kidnappings and
banditry?
It is most unfortunate that Nigeria is bedeviled with high level of insecurity today. Boko Haram is almost gone because Boko Haram has now been confined to a geographical zone. First and most, I personally attribute the high level of insecurity in the country to high level of poverty. Nigerians are in abject poverty, Nigerians are really suffering, Nigerians are subjected to a livelihood they should not experience at this material time. That is not to say the government of President Muhammmdu Buhari is not doing the much it needed to do but it gets to do more in the aspect of making the economy much more flourishing, buoyant, reliable for the sustenance of Nigerians. We have an army of youths all over Nigeria, I get scared each time I go to my local community, you see youths looking healthy and hearty with full strength but merely roaming the street. This is not just because they want to, but because they have nothing to do. Those that have certificates are not gainfully employed, those without certificates are willing but there are no skilled jobs for them to do.
The small and medium enterprises that were in existence in Nigeria or in particular in Nasarawa State are no longer there. These youths are just there, their fate as citizens is in abeyance, their means of sustenance is in abeyance, and their socio political ambition is in abeyance because nothing seems to be promising. Lack of employment is not enough reason for one to want to engage in banditry, Boko Haram or kidnapping but an idle mind is a devils workshop. I call on state governors to look inward. And in looking inwards, governors should have a rethink over the issue of joint account, they can’t continue to put in their total custody what is due to local governments because that is greatly contributing to the level of poverty in the land. While growing up as a child in my local community, most of the well do to do and rich people we looked up to were local contractors from the local government. Today there is no local government in Nasarawa State that will boast of a contractor because the local governments are not contracting anything because really they do not have anything to contract.
This is most unfortunate, unacceptable and after all the constitution provides for three tiers of government, local, state and national. So that is one of the avenues I feel state government should look at and do the needful because it will greatly impact positively on the level of poverty and beyond.
State government should look much more inwards. Nasarawa State for instance, is endowed with solid minerals of all kinds but as far as solid minerals are concerned in Nasarawa State, there is no even Solid Minerals Development Agency. One can comfortably say that exploration of solid minerals is in the exclusive list, which is the right of federal government but this does not mean that the state cannot invest in that sector, if Nasarawa State has a functional investment company, in collaboration with private sector players that have the expertise in that sector via an agreement with federal government so that the citizens of the state can benefit from that wealth. All I am trying to say is that there is no provision in the constitution that is supposed to be a constraint.  For Nasarawa, we have the opportunity to be richer today by taking advantage of our proximity to Abuja. This applies to all states in the country particularly of the northern extraction. In 2006 I gave a paper to the then Northern Governors’ Forum under the chairmanship of Aliyu Babangida, former governor of Niger state. I suggested that if Sardauna of blessed memory could conceptualize and put in place NNDC in the days referred to as dark days which now happens to be our brightest days. I said if Sardauna could do that and now the fate of NNDC is in abeyance, why don’t we resuscitate it or put in place something similar to that? I suggested that every state government should from source contribute N100m every month to a common pool, which means at the end of every month N1.9Billion will be generated and a secretariat will be put in place to ensure that the money is judiciously used. In doing that, every state will present three proposals and the secretariat will now look at the proposals and take the best out of the three and embark on full implementation of that project. There is no bank in the world that you will approach with 1.9Billion naira monthly income that will not partner with you. In few years every state in northern Nigeria will have one factory or industry that will employ the citizens of that state. Our governors need to look much more inwards and our electorates too should shine their eyes and open their ears. The era of just going to vote based on political sentiment is gone. When such persons do not have the requisite capacity to deliver, nothing is going to change. At the national level this government is doing the much it’s doing but this is twenty first century. If President Buhari will concentrate in this last four years only to provide effective power supply in Nigeria, he is done. There is virtually nothing you will do today, and not only in Nigeria, that will be fully achievable and result oriented without steady power supply.

You were chairman campaign council for both President Buhari and the governor-elect. What in your own view should the governor-elect do to sustain that unity among aspirants preceding the
election?
For our governor-elect, I think he is on course because from the day the result of the primaries were announced, he kept good and close relationship with the association of APC gubernatorial aspirants, which I created immediately after the primaries to enable all of us come together. This is because politics is not enmity and if it is truly all about Nasarawa State, then I said, lets come together. He is fully in touch with members of the association. We were all carried along to a reasonable extend all through the campaigns and I think he is still in touch with members of the association, from the sitting deputy governor to all of us. If he keeps the pace and does not get carried away by governance, he will succeed and I don’t see him as somebody that will get carried away because of his background and I think he will give little attention to rumour mongers and medicres, who feel the only way to be patronized is to go about abusing and insulting people, criticizing and blackmailing to get patronage. You know he is of the private sector background, where result, productivity and due process are the order of the day. I think it is going to be a different ball game all things been equal. And if it is not, we are still the stakeholders. We will look at him to his face and caution him, urge him to retract his steps to avoid any problem. But for now, I think the governor-elect is on the right course.

Nigerians are complaining about perceived communication gap between the President and the citizenry, particularly regarding the interventions by the government. What is your take on this?

Leadership is a burden and what makes one a leader is your ability and capability to respond to the yearnings and aspirations of the people. The President has a cabinet, personal staffs, Chief of Staff, Chief of protocol, then down to the structure of government, there is the Secretary to the Government, ministers, Heads of Boards and parastatals. So, I really do not understand communication gap between the President and others. Of course, the President naturally cannot see everybody but does it mean that what the people write for the President to read are not conveyed to him? The ministers the President appointed, are they from heaven or the sky? They are from Nigeria, from one constituency or another. Are these ministers not communicating to the President because they are supposed to be the bridge between the government and the citizens. So, don’t they feel the pulse of the citizens? If they do, don’t they communicate such to the President? I don’t want to know the channel of communication but does that opportunity exists? This is a question for the presidency, whoever reads this interview can give an answer to the public because the President needs to be appreciated by citizens of this country. And with the much he is doing, people don’t seem to appreciate the President that much and partly it is because of this that you have said so.

How true is it that you chaired the campaign council as bargain for a ministerial appointment?

From the day the result of the primaries where announced, which I came second, it was a contestable situation. I am saying this for the world to hear with due humility so that I will be understood and appreciated. The situation was a contestable one but I choose not to do it because the betterment of Nasarawa State supersedes my personal
ambition. My ambition, as far as Nasarawa is concerned, is to make it a better place.

The first thing I did was to dissuade anybody that had some form of possible negative expectation from Wadada because of the result of the primaries. I went to Governor Al-makura and congratulated him, that was after we congratulated our brother, Engr A.A Sule at the venue of the primary election. I personally went to Engr A.A Sule and congratulated him. Then Governor Al-makura called for a reconciliatory meeting and none of us gave any condition as a demand for us to cooperate. I only said we should be open and everything should be put on the table. After that, my brother, A.A Sule invited me for a meeting in Lagos and asked me what I want because he needed my support and that of other aspirants. I said to him I want to be governor of Nasarawa State and which of course will not be possible because God has given him the ticket. When they decided I should chair the campaign council the same Engr. A.A Sule called me and said that this was the decision but he was not sure whether I will accept the offer and I said if I am a true citizen of Nasarawa State and a loyal and committed member of APC, why not? After all I am going to chair the council for the election of Muhammadu Buhari. I accepted without giving any body condition. I wonder why the appointment of a minister is becoming an issue. If I am appointed as a minister, so be it. I deserve it and I am qualified for it because I have paid my dues. People should not forget I was a one time member of the National Assembly for eight years which is more than a minister. I have made my mark, which is still there at the National Assembly. Yes, if I am appointed, it is going to add value to me, to my people but I don’t want it to be seen as something of big deal and envy that warrant unnecessary castigation. I never gave anybody condition for accepting to chair the campaign council and I choose not to contest the result of the primaries so that we don’t rock the boat and God in His infinite mercy has vindicated me. If you do not give me credit as far as the state is concerned, you will for the fact that under my chairmanship of the council, President Buhari won Nasarawa for the first time and it will go down in history in my political profile.

There is clamour for the appointment of new set of people into Buhari’s cabinet. What caliber of people do you foresee Buhari selecting?

The President should appoint competent persons, he is not a novice in leadership. He was a Head of State and as military man he headed so many commands. He headed many positions and today as a politician he was elected for four years now getting to the end of the first tenure. He has been re-elected for another four years, nobody needs to tell him the kind of people to appoint as members of his cabinet because he knows what is right. If he appoints the right people, things will be good, if he doesn’t, it will be unfortunate and we shall all suffer
it.