JUDICIOUS UTILISATION OF RESOURCES AND OUR EXPERIENCES

 Address by His Excellency, the Governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau

at a Retreat for Members and Staff of the RMAFC in Kano  

Rabi’uth Thaani 22, 1426: May 30, 2005

Courtesies,

All praise and gratitude are due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. May the blessings of Allah be upon our exalted Prophet, the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wassalam, his companions, the members of his family and all those who tread their path till the Day of Judgment.

On behalf of the Government and the good people of Kano State, I most sincerely welcome the Chairman, Commissioners and Staff of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission to Kano. I thank you for choosing the ancient city of Kano as the venue for this important event.

In consideration of the hospitality and friendliness of our people, coupled with the reputation of Kano as both the center of commerce and a “Small-Nigeria” - bearing in mind the diverse, heterogeneous, yet accommodating nature of its society, - there could have been no better choice of venue for this important event.

I will mince no words to congratulate you all on your appointments to serve the Country in this all-important Commission. In particular, the re-appointment of the Chairman and, I understand, about eight of the Commissioners for a second tenure, is a demonstration of the confidence the President and indeed the entire Nation have on the Commission as a body.

In reviewing the performance of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission since its establishment, it could be observed that it has indeed contributed tremendously towards shaping the distribution of our scarce resources. No doubt, the functions of the Commission have a direct bearing on the upliftment of living standard of the Nigerian people, as well as the overall development of the Nation as a whole.

On our own part, I would like to seize this opportunity to reiterate our commitment towards the judicious utilization of all the resources due to Kano State. While I am always reluctant to blow the trumpet of this Administration, permit me, at the risk of sounding immodest, to give an insight on some of the policies we have introduced; policies that are aimed at re-orienting the citizens to lead meaningful lives and to give their contributions towards the development of our Nation as well as the socio-economic development of the State and the country at large. Such measures/policies include:

A Daidaita Sahu: For many years now, our sense of moral values has been severely damaged by corruption, incivility and indecency. Indiscipline in our society has become so pervasive that many people have concluded that it is impossible to get rid of it. But as a community of believers who are taught by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to equate faith with good manners, indiscipline cannot be allowed to continue on the account of its enormity. We therefore, have a duty to Allah and to ourselves to turnaround Kano State so that our morals and values can be restored. Our government is of the opinion that for any meaningful development to take place, there is the need for total reorientation of the people to be of good behaviour, patriotic and to have respect for law and order. This informed our decision to launch a massive societal reorientation programme, tagged ‘A Daidaita Sahu’.

Our approach to the programme is directed towards completing the circle of our Human Development initiative. It is aimed at the moral rejuvenation of the citizens of Kano State who have been known, over the past centuries, to be people with high ethical standards embedded in Islam, which overtime, however, due to influences foreign to our culture, unfortunately began to disappear. The Programme therefore aims at restoring in our people some, if not all of the values of discipline, decency, cleanliness, moral uprightness, respect for law and order, respect for elders, proper upbringing of children, respect for the rights of women and above all, the fear of Allah.

We diligently and conscientiously identified target groups through which we reach all the citizens of Kano State. These target groups are the business community, public servants, the urban communities, the rural communities, educational institutions, women and youth. We also identified over one hundred societal ills which we address through the aforementioned target groups. These unethical behaviours include dishonesty in business dealings, dereliction of duty by public servants, hawking by the girl-child, begging by boys, reckless driving on our roads, drug addiction, willful idleness, thuggery, collapse of the marriage institution, prostitution, examination malpractice and general indiscipline.

A Daidaita Sahu has in no small measure, contributed to the progress so far made by this Administration.

Discharge of Social Obligations: Payment of pensioners was a major problem under successive administrations in the State. On our assumption of office, we inherited close to N2.5 billion as outstanding claims due to State and local government pensioners. We were, however, of the view that people who sacrificed their lives and energy in the service of this Nation should not be treated that way. After all, most of us that are serving today may become victims of the same circumstances tomorrow. We, therefore, decided to take measures aimed at ensuring that all pensioners were paid promptly. Today, I am glad to report that this administration has succeeded in settling twelve batches of outstanding retirement benefits amounting to N2,143,395,443.86. Similarly, as a radical departure from the past when entitlements were not paid promptly, pensioners in the State now receive their monthly pensions as and when due, while retirement benefits are being processed and settled promptly, upon retirement.

Also in the effort to assist destitutes, a Zakkat Commission charged with the responsibility of collecting alms, as a component part of our socio-religious set up was established. This indeed, is supplementing Government’s effort in taking care of the needy members of the society.

Local Governments: Mr. Chairman, I am aware of the controversies generated by control of Local Government funds. I am happy to inform you that this Administration has always complied with the provisions of the relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the establishment of the State/LG Joint Account and its Committee. In order to ensure strict compliance with the rule of law, the Statutory Allocation from the Federation Account due to the Local Governments in the State are not tampered with by the State Government. Therefore, each Local Government gets what is due to it after statutory deductions. However, the Local Government Chairmen are always reminded that they are accountable for the funds allocated to them not only in this world but also in the hereafter.

I should also inform Mr. Chairman that our Administration has always allowed full and unhindered participation of the Commissioner from Kano State in your Commission in the monthly meetings of the Kano State/LG Joint Account Allocation Committee. Indeed, we run an open Administration, and our Government has no skeloton in its cupboard.

Agriculture: We, in Kano, are in total support of the calls on the need to diversify the Nigerian economy. Agriculture is the mainstay of our economy. Accordingly, we have, introduced measures to boost agricultural production, especially groundnut production. In this regard, the State Government has procured sufficient quantities of fertilizer, chemicals, seeds and other vital ingredients in order to assist our farmers during this rainy season. I, however, wish to appeal to the Federal Government to invest heavily in the agricultural sector, especially in the development of irrigation facilities for dry season farming.

Youth Empowerment: In our effort to reduce the high rate of unemployment in the State, the State Government, in conjunction with the Local Governments is involved in the training of youth, so that they can be gainfully employed. We also believe that our agricultural programmes will go along way in empowering our youth.

In consideration of the fact that youth unemloyment constitutes the most serious problem affecting our society, practical steps were taken to address it. While we lifted the embargo on employment, for the first time in ten years, resulting in the employment of a total of 3,275 youths made up of medical and paramedical staff, science and technical teachers, lecturers, junior categories etc, we also saddled the Office of Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth Development with the task of addressing not only problems of the youth, but also problems created by the youth. This Office has discovered the sordid fact that the lives of a great many youth are not governed by the values they verbally espouse. We provide funds to the Office, and in every six months, it camps a batch of 2000 youths in four camps across the State for one month. The objective of the program is to open the eyes of the youth to the values they lost, and seek to aid them to redress and retrace their steps back to sanity. Government aids successful candidates in this training with initial capital and working tools to begin a trade.

Mr. Chairman, Honourable Commissioners, one of the major problems facing the State is inadequate electric power supply. Many of our people are anxious to invest particularly in the Small Scale Industrial Sector. We, therefore, enjoin the Federal Government to accelerate the process of privatizing the power sector to enable our cottage industries, most of which have been forced to close down due to epileptic power supply, to re-open and increase their capacity utilization.

Transparency in Governance: This Administration has, also from inception, made probity and accountability its guiding principle. This is in keeping with the tenets of the Shari’ah. I am, therefore, proud to say that this is yielding dividends as every one, including the opposition are conscious of the transparent manner in which we manage our resources.

Mr. Chairman, one other issue, which needs to be addressed is the delay in the review and emergence of a new Revenue Allocation Formula for the Country. The State Government notes the reasons why the Country is yet to have one. We, however, believe that in view of the political and economic changes, which the Country has undergone within the past decade, a new Revenue Allocation Formula is a prerequisite for unity, peaceful co-existence and even-development in this Country. I would therefore like to call on all stakeholders, especially the National Assembly to expedite action in debating the matter, to pave the way for a new Revenue Allocation Formula.

Finally, while welcoming you to the ancient city of Kano once again, I wish you all, successful and fruitful deliberations.

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful, it is my pleasure to declare this programme open.

Wassalamu alaikum wa RahmatulLah.