In this transition season in Nigeria, there is no more popular political parlance than “hitting the ground running” in the hyped publicity commentaries polishing the profiles of incoming leaders aimed at promoting their readiness to change the situation positively as proclaimed during the campaigns.
Latest media reports on the transition across the country, including the federal level, however reflect widespread disillusionment if not disappointment among the once ecstatic masses as well as the enthusiastic incoming leaders. If the experience of some incoming governors is anything to go by, the expectations for hitting the ground running are as incredulous as the expression itself sounds. In reality, the only thing that could hit the ground and still manage to keep running is an aircraft on the runway under the awesome powers of gravity and aerodynamics! Not newly-elected governors coming to terms with the stark realities on ground in contrast to the propaganda pronouncements of their departed predecessors.
These preliminary observations are based on matters arising in Katsina State following the hand-over of government from PDP’s Ibrahim Shema to APC’s Aminu Masari. As elsewhere, the people of Katsina who overwhelmingly voted-in Masari as the preferred choice to succeed Shema also harbored great expectations of seamless transition to better times buoyed by the morale-boosting emergence of General Buhari at the head of his epochal political tsunami. Yet almost two weeks later, a creeping feeling of anxiety is gaining ground as people begin to wonder aloud about the evident hesitation in the unfolding of the anticipated Masari Marvel. One thing that is beyond contention however is that Governor Aminu Masari has plunged himself fully into the arduous and seemingly endless task of taking stock and taking charge of the affairs of Katsina State. This has translated into a gruelling work schedule from 9am to almost midnight daily during which droves of top executives and officials of various government ministries and agencies take turns giving factual account and clearing up grey areas in handover notes. In view of the disturbing discrepancies uncovered in the process and their implications on prospects for proper planning and delivery of good governance and “change”, it is no wonder that the appointments of commissioners and other top aides are still under consideration in Katsina State.
In fact, far from the all-is-well impression projected by Governor Shema in his last days in office, what Governor Aminu Masari has been confronting since taking over shows a shocking state of affairs. The treasury is definitely not in a bountiful condition as a clearer picture of available balances emerged to confirm depletion of deposits, neither is the “debt-free” claim genuine after several unsettled commitments and post-dated obligations literally liquidated the financial status of the coffers of state.
Most catastrophic was the discovery of depleted fertilizer stores at a time that farmers should have received their supplies in readiness for the planting season now at hand! It turned out that the bulk of the state’s current fertilizer stocks were hurriedly allocated to departing political office holders and their cronies just before the hand-over on the dubious deal of profiteering from the sales and depositing the discounted proceeds into government coffers before the farmers cry out. Alas, the farmers’ cry has been muffled under the wheeling and dealing of emergency fertilizer contractors who now cannot account for the fertilizers or the proceeds of the sales.
The education sector had its own share of squandered investments and unmet targets. With all the fan fare over payment of WAEC/NECO examination fees for Katsina State students on which the Shema administration claimed to have expended a whopping 2.8 billion naira in the last four years is today a scandalous squandering of scarce financial resources. Of the 40,000 students who sat for the exams during the period only about 1,000 passed with five credits including Mathematics and English! Obviously, the Shema Administration was more interested in spending the billions on the cheap popularity of merely paying exam fees for ill-prepared students, rather than investing intelligently on qualitative education to justify sponsoring students to take examinations they are qualified for. These are but a few of the hidden horrors handed over to Governor Masari over which he must pause and ponder before deciding his best approach to the much needed change.
But the governor has been applying the brakes here and there to halt the descent to disaster such as freezing local government accounts in the face of an unfolding monumental mismanagement of statutory allocations to local governments under a joint account scam that enabled the state government to ambush the funds. At another level he has liberated the hitherto closed circuit of civil liberties by unshackling the state broadcast media from the overbearing control and domination of the displaced PDP and authorizing equal access to enable the opposition ventilate its views unhindered. He has also ordered the dismantling of numerous police check points all over the state subjecting people to unnecessary stress and intimidation weeks after the IGP ordered them off the roads across the country.
The Katsina State scenario provides clear insight into the inherent challenges posed by a disguised legacy of bad governance projected by the previous administration to deceive and deflect culpability in the name of political propaganda. Under such unpalatable conditions it is foolhardy and unadvisable for any responsible governor to embrace unverified hand-over homilies and blindly proceed to “hit the ground running”. The people of Katsina State have been fooled by the Shema administration but they could not have realized this without the wise and experienced decision of Governor Aminu Masari to be circumspect and thorough in assessing the status quo before taking the bull by the horns. By the time Governor Masari unveils his agenda for positive change of fortunes of the people and government of Katsina State, he would have laid the required solid foundation for sustainable progress and development and terminated the era of wasteful populism and deceptive leadership.
Bature Sani Malumfashi, 51, Daura street, Kofar Kaura layout, Katsina
These preliminary observations are based on matters arising in Katsina State following the hand-over of government from PDP’s Ibrahim Shema to APC’s Aminu Masari. As elsewhere, the people of Katsina who overwhelmingly voted-in Masari as the preferred choice to succeed Shema also harbored great expectations of seamless transition to better times buoyed by the morale-boosting emergence of General Buhari at the head of his epochal political tsunami. Yet almost two weeks later, a creeping feeling of anxiety is gaining ground as people begin to wonder aloud about the evident hesitation in the unfolding of the anticipated Masari Marvel. One thing that is beyond contention however is that Governor Aminu Masari has plunged himself fully into the arduous and seemingly endless task of taking stock and taking charge of the affairs of Katsina State. This has translated into a gruelling work schedule from 9am to almost midnight daily during which droves of top executives and officials of various government ministries and agencies take turns giving factual account and clearing up grey areas in handover notes. In view of the disturbing discrepancies uncovered in the process and their implications on prospects for proper planning and delivery of good governance and “change”, it is no wonder that the appointments of commissioners and other top aides are still under consideration in Katsina State.
In fact, far from the all-is-well impression projected by Governor Shema in his last days in office, what Governor Aminu Masari has been confronting since taking over shows a shocking state of affairs. The treasury is definitely not in a bountiful condition as a clearer picture of available balances emerged to confirm depletion of deposits, neither is the “debt-free” claim genuine after several unsettled commitments and post-dated obligations literally liquidated the financial status of the coffers of state.
Most catastrophic was the discovery of depleted fertilizer stores at a time that farmers should have received their supplies in readiness for the planting season now at hand! It turned out that the bulk of the state’s current fertilizer stocks were hurriedly allocated to departing political office holders and their cronies just before the hand-over on the dubious deal of profiteering from the sales and depositing the discounted proceeds into government coffers before the farmers cry out. Alas, the farmers’ cry has been muffled under the wheeling and dealing of emergency fertilizer contractors who now cannot account for the fertilizers or the proceeds of the sales.
The education sector had its own share of squandered investments and unmet targets. With all the fan fare over payment of WAEC/NECO examination fees for Katsina State students on which the Shema administration claimed to have expended a whopping 2.8 billion naira in the last four years is today a scandalous squandering of scarce financial resources. Of the 40,000 students who sat for the exams during the period only about 1,000 passed with five credits including Mathematics and English! Obviously, the Shema Administration was more interested in spending the billions on the cheap popularity of merely paying exam fees for ill-prepared students, rather than investing intelligently on qualitative education to justify sponsoring students to take examinations they are qualified for. These are but a few of the hidden horrors handed over to Governor Masari over which he must pause and ponder before deciding his best approach to the much needed change.
But the governor has been applying the brakes here and there to halt the descent to disaster such as freezing local government accounts in the face of an unfolding monumental mismanagement of statutory allocations to local governments under a joint account scam that enabled the state government to ambush the funds. At another level he has liberated the hitherto closed circuit of civil liberties by unshackling the state broadcast media from the overbearing control and domination of the displaced PDP and authorizing equal access to enable the opposition ventilate its views unhindered. He has also ordered the dismantling of numerous police check points all over the state subjecting people to unnecessary stress and intimidation weeks after the IGP ordered them off the roads across the country.
The Katsina State scenario provides clear insight into the inherent challenges posed by a disguised legacy of bad governance projected by the previous administration to deceive and deflect culpability in the name of political propaganda. Under such unpalatable conditions it is foolhardy and unadvisable for any responsible governor to embrace unverified hand-over homilies and blindly proceed to “hit the ground running”. The people of Katsina State have been fooled by the Shema administration but they could not have realized this without the wise and experienced decision of Governor Aminu Masari to be circumspect and thorough in assessing the status quo before taking the bull by the horns. By the time Governor Masari unveils his agenda for positive change of fortunes of the people and government of Katsina State, he would have laid the required solid foundation for sustainable progress and development and terminated the era of wasteful populism and deceptive leadership.
Bature Sani Malumfashi, 51, Daura street, Kofar Kaura layout, Katsina
Source:Daily Trust
Comments
Post a Comment