MOHAMMED BADARU ABUBAKAR: Many Governors in One

“The greatness of a leader is measured by the achievements and his impact in office; this is the ultimate test of his effectiveness.”

It is worthy to note that the sole yearning to serve one’s fatherland is innate and springs from an inner motivation to give all of what a leader embodies in life without fear or reservation, This is clearly seen in the stellar leadership of Governor Badaru Abubakar, who is a stunning depiction of a quintessential, selfless, patriotic, committed and talented leader.

A quintessential leader is a person with character traits that distinguish them among people in leadership positions, although they have imperfections, make mistakes, and sometimes fail spectacularly, these character traits define how they handle themselves in both the worst of times and the best of times.

An Independent assessment during a documentary tour by the Civil Society Groups for Good Governance, CSGGG, in Jigawa State, has revealed that beyond fallacious facades, Baduru have proven to be one of the best governors in office under President Buhari’s administration, his consistency, honesty, dedication to all assignments and his zeal to succeed against all odds is topnotch and quite unprecedented.

In the nearest future when history of good governors is told, Governor Badaru will be remembered as a performer per excellence who executed the mandate many thought was not executable on account of the many unforeseen hurdles on his path.

Jigawa being a beneficiary of the positive action of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, has witnessed Badaru prioritizing people-oriented investments by way of human capital development, through education, agriculture, water resources, health amongst others. Education was; and is still a priority of this administration. Badaru is of the school of thought that once education is right, every other thing will be right. In Agriculture, Badaru’s administration sees it as crude oil, hence currently heavily in the sector initiating a slogan “farming is a business”. A Jigawa youth are been galvanized into the agriculture value chain and plans underway to ensure that they participate and also make a living out of it.

In the Agriculture sector, Jigawa Government started the cluster farming initiative aiming to refocus the maintenance mind-set of the small holder farmer and open their eyes to the commercial potential in farming activities, it went ahead to register these subsistence farmers and cluster them for target input provision and extension service. According to our findings, a maximum cluster size of 50 hectares was formed in each of the 287 wards in the state. So far, a total of 1,306 a clusters have been established with 61,184 farmers presently in this initiative. At the moment, Jigawa is heavily into rice farming with aim to be supplying the rice needs of the country if not the entire West African sub region.

By commitment and consistency Badaru, abolished the security vote immediately he was sworn into office as a governor, he is a prudent and well detailed leader, with penchant for accountability and transparency. It is imperative to however state that our polity needs men like Governor Badaru, as before appending signature to anything, it must be present in the budget, such action is a real time progression in our political developments.

The governor have demonstrated focus and clear understanding of what good governance entails as upon assumption of office, decided to complete projects inherited from the previous administration. This is a significant development and policy strategy that deserves commendation; he realized that since these projects are important and relevant to the welfare of the people, completing them should be given a priority. Prioritisation is Badaru’s major achievement. Nonetheless whilst he gave priority to the completion of abandoned projects, he also embarked on the execution of new ones which are no less important in the welfare of the people.

At a glance, let’s pinpoint some basic achievement of the government;

1. Water: The Badaru administration has drilled a borehole in every ward of Jigawa state, in summary, 108 motorised water scheme rehabilated by the Jigawa State Water board, 240 solar and motorized water supply schemes rehabilitated by STOWA, 4571 hand operated boreholes rehabilitated by RUWASSA amongst others. This intervention resulted in the replacement of 402 submersible pumps, repair of 92 overhead tanks, overhauling of 251 generators, and various civil works to provide or repair pump houses, conversion of 39 motorised schemes to solar and rehabilitation of 4,192 hand pump.
2. Health: Badaru and his team of patriotic soldiers has been consistent in spending five percent of the state budgetary allocation on health spending above N11.5 billion on the sector. “The state government has achieved one health facility per ward. The state government in each of the 287 wards in the state built a standard health facility.
3. Road Projects: Jigawa Government have given the same level of priority to road improvement, from construction of Sukullufi-Kale, Gunka, Harbo, Tsakuwawa road (54km), construction of Arawa- Baturiya Road (32km), construction of Baturiya Abunabu road (36KM), construction of Abunabo-Kadira Arinjasco-Guri road (33.7km), construction of Andaza-Maje Tsirma-Atawame-Damatuwa Road (31.5km), construction of Damutawa-Wudil-Jahun-Gamayin federal road (14.2km), amongst others.
4. Youth inclusion in government and its policies, Governor Baduru has bridged the gap between the youth and its state government, as he is closely working with so many CSO’s in implementation of government policies, and currently has in his cabinet two young commissioners spearheading affairs of the administration. It is also important to note that the successful implementation of government policies depend on boosting the morale of government workers. In fact, there is a direct connection between the level of morale and production among the civil servants. One of Badaru’s major strides is the regular payments of pensions and gratuity. Given priority to regular payments of salaries and pensions have contributed greatly in sustaining the stability of many families.
5. Electricity: The Government has on record over 72 electrifications projects achieved, ranging from electrification of Kwadiya Town, Yalwan Zandam Nagogo, Malaluwa Town , Janbiri Town, Miga Aduchuwa town, Buguwa town, Ubba town amongst others.
6. Education: According to Nelson Mandela, Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” to this effect, Governor Badaru, have put in place 326 additional primary schools, 126 junior secondary schools, 260 primary schools upgraded, 384 Islamiyyah classroom blocks constructed under the State Constituency projects, 1363 qualified teachers recruited to increase learning and 224 motorcycles purchased and distributed to inspectors for school monitoring.

Finally it is for commendation and a greater higher responsibility that an appraisal is given a pride of place in a decent and developed society. The need to encourage workers at every level to do more means that those who have done above average expectation be appreciated, hence the Civil Society Groups for Good Governance after an independent assessment is proud to categorically state to the public that Governor Badaru Abubakar is a national treasure, who has justified his election and the confidence the people reposed in him. Taking into cognizance the time and assessment done by our group of certified practitioners Governor Badaru comes across as a leader with a vision and we are proud to associate with his successes and milestones achievements.