Yari Making Positive Strides In Zamfara

American novelist, Philip Roth, once said: “Seeing is believing and believing is knowing and knowing beats unknowing and the unknown.” This best describes how I felt during a recent visit of the Nigerian Union Journalists (NUJ) to Zamafara State for the inspection of completed and ongoing projects of the Governor Abdulaziz Yari administration.

Being an Abuja based journalists whose knowledge of Zamfara State was limited to media reports, I was a strong critic of Governor Yari’s administration. But all of that changed when I arrived the state for an on-the-spot assessment of the Yari-led administration.

A team of Journalists under the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), were in Zamfara for an on-the-spot assessment of development projects in the state in the ongoing nationwide Dividend of Democracy Tour.

The Democracy Dividend Media Tour involves journalists drawn from various media houses. Zamfara was strategically chosen for the participating journalists to go and see what Yari, who is the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, had done in developing his state.

Though the state wasn’t as fascinating as some parts of Lagos or Abuja, but it was a far cry from how bad I assumed it was, going by what the governor has put in place.

We travelled from Gusau through Kaura Namoda, Zurmi, Talata Marafa, Anka, Bakira, Gummi, Shinkafi, and it was obvious that road construction, provision of healthcare services, education, good drinking water, electricity and agriculture, have received priority attention of the Yari government.

According to data by the state’s ministry of works, the governor Yari-led administration has built 1,014 kilometre roads in the state since 2011 till date.

During our interactive session with the governor, Yari stated that during his campaign prior to his election, he toured the 106 communities in the state and realized that one major demand of the people was infrastructure.

Contrary to reports on poor educational performance in the state, while presenting the 2018 budget proposal of N130.7 billion to the state House of Assembly, Yari proposed an increase of N23 billion over the 2017 budget so as to cater for infrastructural and education.

“While the social sector which include education, health, information, youth and social welfare gets N21.34 billion, education receives the highest allocation of N13.32 billion followed by health with N5.1 billion,” he said, adding that the environment sector was allocated N22.1 billion to carter for water, drainages, housing, town planning and community development with town planning taking the highest allocation of N15.8 billion.

“Let me clarify that in the course of implementation of the 2018 budget, we expect refund of the monies expended by Zamfara State Government for reconstruction of federal roads across the state, spanning over 610 kilometres. The road projects cost the state government N56.97 billion,” he said.

The governor further revealed plans to bow out of ofice with a state owned university expected to gulp N10 billion.

On Monday, March 12, 2018, the National Universities Commission ( NUC ) approved Zamfara State University as the 47th state university and 162 among universities in the country. Prof. Abubakarheed, the Executive Secretary, NUC while giving a letter of approval to the government of Zamfara state in Abuja, called for more dedication toward promoting education development in the state and country.

Speaking to the team, Yari said, “We also hope to complete in a big way through the establishment of the state owned university which will help in advancing the education of our future generations, ” he noted.

The governor explained that provision of healthcare services, good education, good drinking water, electricity and agriculture was given high priority by the administration.

He further said that “my administration intends to leave behind good legacies that subsequent governments can build upon.”

One very important thing I discovered during the tour was the construction of boreholes in the state, to provide clean water across the 106 communities in Zamfara. The state government built a 2.5 million litre capacity solar-powered tank across the state. They are 84 already functioning on ground while 24 more are still being constructed.

 

Speaking to a resident, Amina, who was fetching water from one of the boreholes we visited, the young girl said since the construction of the project, her family have been very relieved, as they have been struggling in the past to access clean water as they were forced to trek long distances.

When asked if she was in school, Amina said, “Our school is on holiday till May”.

I also spoke with a patient, at the General Hospital Moriki in Zurmi Local government area, who expressed joy as they can easily access medication compared to past experiences. She further thanked governor Yari for provision of medical facilities in the hospital.

From the three-day tour of Zamfara, I will conclude by saying Governor Yari is like the underdog, who decided to do all he has done without coming out to the media to raise his elbows. In the voice of popular Nollywood actor, Charles Okpocha, Yari deserves some accolades as I believe he has paid his dues as the governor of Zamfara State.

Which is why I will end with this quote by one-time U.S President Theodore Roosevelt, who said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.”