Kaduna State Government has described the late Dr Sa’ad Usman, the Sarki Jere an accomplished gentleman who has contributed enormously to the development of the state.
A statement signed by Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication on Friday, said that the government received the news of the late traditional ruler with sadness.
It will be recalled that Dr Usman died on Wednesday, April 1, after battling ill health. He has since been buried according to Islamic rites.
‘’As an elder statesman, Dr Sa’ad Usman had lived a long and fulfilled life of public service, spanning the banking sector, the academia and civil service, culminating into becoming the Secretary of Kaduna State Government in 1991.
‘’Afterwards, he retired from public service to inherit the throne of his forefathers as Sarkin Jere, a position that he held until his death on 1st April, 2020,’’ the statement added.
Adekeye recalled that ‘’as Director in the civil service, Dr Usman was the engine room of the industrialisation drive of the old Kaduna State, when a cottage industry was located in each of the 14 local governments in the Second Republic, leveraging on their individual comparative advantage.
‘’A few of these industries include the Ikara Tomato Processing Company, Kachia Ginger Company and Zaria Pharmaceutical Company. Although most of the companies are now moribund, the foresight to industrialise the state during that profligate era was far-sighted and Dr Usman was central to it,’’ he added.
The Special Adviser noted that ‘at the Ahmadu Bello University(ABU)Zaria where he returned after the fall of that republic, he taught Macro Economics, where he combined his academic endowment with practical experience to enrich his students in the science of alternatives.’’
‘’As Secretary to Kaduna State Government, Dr Usman was pivotal to the stabilisation of the civil service which was transiting from a military regime and a diarchy which had a Military President,’’ he recalled.
According to Adekeye, ‘’Dr Usman attained the proverbial three scores and ten years, when he died at 70, the ripe age when his counsel will be greatly needed, especially in inter-communal harmony.’’
‘’Kaduna State wishes to convey its deep sense of loss and to commiserate with the deceased’s family and the people of Jere Chiefdom at large, over the passage of the late accomplished gentleman. May Allah grant him eternal rest and aljannah firdaus,’’ he said.
