Tambuwal: Sokoto’s Change Agent

Tambuwal…improving the state of affairs in Sokoto

On the watch

AminuWaziriTambuwal, the Governor of Sokoto State, is turning out to be the change agent the state has been waiting for, writes AdemolaAdeyemo

Forty-nine years old Sokoto State Governor, lawyer and parliamentarian, AlhajiAminuWaziriTambuwal, promised to leverage and build on the achievement s  of his predecessor, AlhajiAliyuMagatakardaWamakko,  to transform the economy of the state through industrialisation and sustained public-private sector initiative, thereby opening up opportunities for growth and improved living standards. These were the core of his campaign promises.

In addition, he vowed to respect and upholds the tenets of democratic governance, ensure the security of lives and property of the people at all times, while adhering to the principle of the rule of law in ensuring equity, justice and fair play. He promised to continuously develop, mobilise and empower women and the youths via planned and well-articulated welfare and capacity-building programmes.

He promised to ensure accountability and transparency in governance by fighting and tackling corruption in all facets of government; to provide trade, commerce and tourism between Sokoto  and the rest of Nigeria, and in fact, the rest of the world.

Tambuwal also promised to foster, develop, and maintain a good working relationship with both the legislative and the judiciary arms of government in the state, as well as ensuring an effective local government administration for grassroots development, mobilisation and empowerment, adding that “These then are the milestones we have set for our democratic journey under my stewardship.

“What we have here in Sokoto is not a complete ‘change,’ as we have at the centre and some other states. It is continuity in ‘change’.

“The administration here, which just came to an end, was headed by AlhajiAliyuMagatakardaWamakko, who is a very strong member of the APC and, therefore, the APC is in government in SokotoState, and we intend to, first and foremost, continue with the projects of the administration and, of course, initiate new ones that will better the lives of the people.

He promised to focus on education, agriculture, healthcare delivery services, empowerment of our youths and women, and also to pay special attention to the infrastructural development of the state.

“This is not to say that we are not going to pay attention to mining because we all know what we are facing in this country, and we need all hands on deck to ensure that we improve our revenue bases and we have identified mining as one key sector that if we invest and harness properly, Sokoto State and indeed the nation will benefit from the enormous mineral deposits.

“We are also going to introduce policies that cater for women. I have in mind the issue of a microfinance bank, which will be called ‘Bankin Mata’ (Women Bank). We intend to use it as a medium to empower our women to the generality of all our citizens.”

As an accomplished legislator and immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tambuwal started his  tenure as governor by extending olive branch, a hand of friendship and fellowship to the legislature in the state promised them his cooperation.

“What matters is the trust and confidence-building between the two arms of government and respectability.If they have that position, and we have our position from the executive side, what we need is for us to sit down, agree and harmonise the positions and have synergy. I think that was what was lacking definitely when I was the Speaker of the House of Representatives between us and the executive arm of government led by former President Jonathan.

“We shall engage ourselves. We must not allow friction between the legislature and executive arms of government here in Sokoto. I will ensure that every lawmaker in the state sees our government hand of fellowship.”

Governor Tambuwal had this to say when asked what he would miss the most after leaving his position in the House of Reps:

“Definitely, I will miss the chambers, I will miss my colleagues. What you have in the National Assembly and indeed the legislature is a relationship of equals where the expectation is different, the arrangement is different. The president, governor or chairman as it were, is the chief executive, and you dish out instructions. But, in the legislature, you must court friendship, you must carry along your colleagues in whatever you intend to achieve. You must also respect your colleagues, making them realise at all times that you are just ‘the first among equals’.”

Tambuwal also spoke on how he intends to maintain a good relationship with the people of SokotoState.

“As a government, for us to sustain the goodwill of the people, we must engage them, we must interact with them and we must carry them along. We must also be open and transparent in conducting business of governance. What is required of us by the constitution is to encourage participatory democracy and, once you are open and accessible as a leader, I believe the followers will always appreciate and understand your own position.”

He spoke on how he would ensure unity among the residents of the state despite possible political challenges: “In my inaugural speech, I appealed to those who ran for the office of governor at primary level or secondary election to join hands with us to continue building the state. It is not the estate of an individual. The state is for all of us, and I believe that appeal to them will go a long way in ensuring that we win back their friendship; and I intend to go the extra mile to engage them.
“I can assure those who voted for me that I will give governance human face the way my predecessor did, and ensure government is closer to the people.”

Governor Tambuwal who hit the ground running on assumption of office had forward a bill to the state parliament seeking to make education compulsory and also criminalizing parents’ refusal to comply.

 According to Tambuwal, the radical move targets boosting school enrollment and providing quality education to every child as required by local and international laws. As part of measures to enhance implementation of the new policy, he explained his administration will build and equip 240 primary and tertiary healthcare centres in the three senatorial zones of the state. The governor outlined this course while addressing religious, traditional and political leaders from 11 local government areas of the state who paid him a Sallah visit in Sokoto, and explained the policy’s imperative against the background of the high percentage of parents who deliberately frustrate government efforts to educate children. Since assuming office as governor, Tambuwal has taken several progressive governance actions.

An important part of underdevelopment in the north lies squarely in the extreme lack of education. Notwithstanding that Islam urges its adherents to seek knowledge, even up to China the Boko Haram challenge is a baby of ignorance powered by lack of education and quest for knowledge. Instead of committing funds to education in their states, many northern state governors chose to fund pilgrimages to Mecca to score ignorant political points. Governor Tambuwal’s singular move to make education compulsory in Sokoto State and also criminalise parents’ refusal to comply is perhaps the most important news from Northern Nigeria in the past two months and deserves full applause.

Barely two weeks after assuming office, had Tambuwaltaken some impressive steps, which had removed doubts from the eyes of skeptics in the state about his sincerity and commitments to completely industrialise the state in fulfillment of his electioneering promises.
The governor literally hit the ground running and to show a total dedication to his main campaign promises of rapid industrialisation, he set up a committee for the realisation of the project 

Also, to demonstrate his open door policy, Governor AminuTambuwal has approved the creation of social media unit to be domiciled in the governor’s office.

According to his spokesman, Imam Dalhatu Imam, the new Unit, which is expected to operate closely with the office of the SA on Media and Public Affairs, will enjoy the same privileges as the media crew attached to Government House.

“The Unit will coordinate the activities of all pro-government online groups, and will interact, on behalf of the government, with interested persons and groups seeking information about government’s policies and programmes”

While urging those to supervise the running of the unit to be dedicated in the discharge of their responsibilities, the Governor said his administration will widen the avenue of interaction with special groups, especially the youths. He said adequate training will be organised for the youth to equip them with the latest knowledge in online information management. “By the creation of this Unit, we hope to engage our youth and also get their inputs in the running of the government.

“Our youth played critical roles during the campaigns to mobilise our people for the task ahead. We want them to do more by offering quality suggestions on their vision for Sokoto State,” the statement added. In continuation of efforts to calm fraying tempers in All Progressives Congress following the controversial emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly, APC governors had mandated Governor Tambuwal to liaise with the warring factions in the House of Representatives and come up with a suitable solution to the problem. Tambuwal, as the immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, is  believed to be best suited to lead the conciliatory move to work out a peace plan that would be acceptable to all sides in the House.`

When eventually the crisis was resolved to the satisfaction of the feuding parties, the Speaker, Hon. YakubuDogara, said Tambuwal “has written his name in gold”. Commending Tambuwal on his appointment as life member of Nigeria’s body of benchers, Dogara said the new appointment is well-deserved. “As a consummate lawyer and astute parliamentarian, Tambuwal has written his name in gold in the annals of history of the legal profession and the national assembly.

“As former Speaker, Tambuwal contributed immensely to the development of the institution of the legislature and the deepening of democracy in Nigeria.”

He therefore urged Tambuwal to deploy his wealth of experience as lawmaker to improve on the legal profession as he serves as life bencher. The highest body of eminence in the legal profession in Nigeria recently announced the addition of Tambuwal to its league. The body is made up of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), President of the Court of Appeal, Presiding Justices of Court of Appeal divisions and the Chief Judge of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.