Nigerlites have no choice but to reflect on the caliber of the person to be elected to take over from Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, the ruler of Niger State whose second term will expire, on May, 29th 2015. The rule of Chief Servant has been nothing but a complete disaster to the state. He has effectively turned the hand of the development of the state backward by at least twenty years.
He had squandered the sum of N 800 billion he collected from the Federation Account, SURE-P and related sources; he is leaving behind a debt of about N 50 billion mainly as bonds he floated for infrastructure projects with doubtful socio-economic value, which are yet to be significantly completed.
He is leaving behind abandoned projects in which substantial investment have been made by the state government; and a bloated, disillusioned and the least paid civil service in the country. To crown it all, he has anointed his successor in the person of Umar Nasko.
Come 11 April, 2015, Nigerlites must troop to their polling units to elect the better of the two candidates-Umar Nasko of PDP and Abubakar Sani Bello of APC. It is in this respect that I spent most of the last two weeks trying to understand the Manifestos and Campaign promises of the two candidates.
Campaign Promises of Umar Nasko of PDP
I have searched everywhere for the Manifesto of Umar Nasko without luck. I have to rely on his campaign posters and Facebook page to glean his campaign promises. Chief among his promises to Nigerlites are:
- “Vision 3:2020 Guaranteed”-what is not clear here is which aspect of the Vision is he guaranteeing? Come to think of it the original Vision itself is a subject of controversy. The eminent Nigerlites who introduced the idea of the Vision to Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu are still very embarrassed by the comprehensive distortion their original idea had suffered in hands of the Chief Servant. Apart from the massive and glossy Development Action Plan (DAP) produced, presumably to provide a basis for achieving the Vision, there is nothing else to show by way of real implementation. The Governor and his close aides had different interpretation of what the Vision truly was about;
- Nasko claimed that he had been properly groomed to develop the Vision beyond the year 2020. The real question: is he going to develop his own Vision for the state after 2020? Or which aspect of the Vision 3:2020 does he want to develop beyond 2020?
- Umar Nasko described himself as a Youth. His Facebook page is full of predictably youthful pictures of him attending various personal and official functions. What is conspicuously absent is his programme for Youth empowerment;
- He has promised “Continuity”-presumably of the policies and programmes of his boss. This is a very clear endorsement of the eight-year rule of Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu. Nigerlites have already delivered their verdict on his rule by delivering a crushing defeat to his bid to become a Senator in Zone B.
Campaign Promises of Abubakar Sani Bello of APC
The APC Manifesto in Niger State is based on the national Manifesto of the party which, among others, “is on a RESCUE MISSION to salvage Nigeria from the throes of bad governance, maladministration, and leadership lethargy, corruption of high propensity and lack of accountability to the people”. Abu Lolo has a clear vision and mission statements and a Guiding Philosophy which, among others, include the provision a sustained enabling environment for all Nigerlites to pursue a happy and fulfilled life and to develop a proprietary pride in the State.
Cardinal priority programmes are identified and strategies proffered for implementing them. These include: Job Creation and Youth Empowerment; Education; Health; Agriculture and Food Security; Infrastructure; Peace and Security; Public Service Reform; Value Re-orientation; and Industrialization and Natural Resources Management.
In his acceptance speech, the President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari stated that “I pledge myself and our in-coming administration to just and principled governance. There shall be no bias against or favouritism for any Nigerian based on ethnicity, religion, region, gender or social status. I pledge myself and the government to the rule of law, in which none shall be so above the law that they are not subject to its dictates, and none shall be so below it that they are not availed of its protection.” It could be deduced from Abu Lolo’s activities so far that he also believes in the ideals Buhari enumerated.
It is very obvious that the interest of all Nigerlites in particular and Niger State in general will be best served if they elect Abubakar Sani Bello of APC as Governor. President-Elect Buhari is our father figure and role model; his administration will have a positive influence on the APC government of Niger State; and a powerful reason why Abu Lolo and his team cannot afford to fail Nigerlites.
Professor Mustapha Zubairu Director, Centre for Human Settlements and Urban Development,Federal University of Technology, Minna
