The Political Adviser to Governor Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai of Kaduna State, Uba Sani while speaking in an interview with our Kaduna correspondent, Zainab Tanimu, had opened up on the governor’s policies and resolve to take the state to its highest level. Despite what he described as unfounded accusations and criticisms from some quarters, the governor has continued to pursue his dream of a better life for the less privileged through his qualitative educational programme as well as registering positive impact in many other areas. Driven by this dream of his, he has been able to save N1.2 billion in two months.     

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The anti-corruption war is taking the center stage at the national level, are we expecting a replica of that in the state soon?

Governor Nasir El-Rufai has not come to Kaduna to fight anybody or witch-hunt anybody. His primary goal is to move the state forward. When we came on board, we discovered that Kaduna has been taken backward many years back. I tell you, this state has not witnessed any development over a decade now. Things are more or less stagnant. This can be confirmed by comparing the level of development with that of the newly created states.  So far, what has occupied the governor’s mind since he assumed office is how to  move the state forward and he is so determined about it. He has said, times without number, that he met an almost empty treasury and a lot of debts that ran into billions of Naira but he cannot continue to lament on that for the rest of his tenure but look for solutions. So, the first step was to block all the leakages and cut cost of governance.

 When we came in to pay salaries and overhead costs, we discovered from the records that there was always a deficit of N100Million every month. That is minus capital projects. That means if the state wants to initiate anything, she has to borrow money. The governor swung into action to block all the unnecessary wastages and today, we have saved N1.2 Billion in two months.

He first started with himself and his deputy by cutting their salaries by 50 per cent and that was extended to all other overhead costs around the governor and government agencies in the state. Today, those wastages have been addressed. We don’t pay salaries with deficit in Kaduna State any more.

Recently, Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s policies, particularly his resolve to demolish and recover government properties that have been occupied by some individuals is creating a lot of tension in Kaduna State. As a Political Adviser to the governor, what is the true situation now?

The issue of recovering some lands that belong to schools and hospitals in the state is a very straight forward one. During the campaign, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai promised he was going to make six things his priority, namely education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, security, youth and women empowerment. These sectors are the most important issues for this government. When he assumed office we believed education, which is the bedrock of any society, should be given full attention. So, he decided to first of all create an enabling environment for our secondary school students in the state.  So, we went round all the primary and secondary schools to get the full picture of the situation. Government’s effort is to ensure that our children have the best education thus the need to give them a very conducive environment.

The government also has started making positive impact in many other areas. This nobody is talking about but busy making a lot of noise on the demolition. I expected people to commend the government on some of the things we have started doing that are positive. Such things like providing all the junior and senior secondary school children in the state with free and customized tablets (computers). The Tablets will have all schools’ syllabus, WAEC past questions and answers, Also, text books ranging from English, Mathematics, and Sciences to Social studies including that of free uniforms.  They are not talking about the free education that this government has introduced from primary to Junior Secondary School. The free feeding for primary school that we are about to start. We realized that the state needs quality teachers so the government has decided to send the teachers for training and increase their salaries.

When we visited some of the primary schools in the state; we discovered that in most schools’ pupils sat on bare floor during school hours. We are working hard to see that all the primary schools in the state have chairs and tables when they resume in September. Most importantly; we have recorded tremendous success in the area of security in the State. Before we came on board, cattle rustling was rampant. There were mysterious politically-motivated killings in many parts of this state but now crime rate has reduced. Insecurity has been reduced to the barest minimum because you now have leader who is more sensitive to the problems of his people. A leader with viable solutions to the challenges of insecurity in Kaduna State.

What specific challenges did you discover while going round secondary schools in Kaduna?

If you visit most secondary schools in Kaduna State today, you will see private houses almost attached to school dormitories and some people also built their houses right inside school premises without minding the negative effect such action would have on those learning in that school. The danger is that you cannot restrict the influx of visitors to the school premises at odd hours because of the people living in the premises. In our days, we excelled because we had a conducive learning environment. This kind of thing does not happen in private schools because they regulate entrance into the school premises and that gives the children enough time to concentrate on their studies.

We are determined to clear this mess. The governor promised that he was going to create a conducive environment in our public schools, provide equal opportunity for the children of the poor in Kaduna State to excel in life by having qualitative education through the provision of same facilities in public schools as it is obtainable in the best private schools in the country.  That has always been his dream so he decided to take this tough decision.

 But as the governor tries to achieve this, very few but vocal people embarked on campaign of calumny, trying to discredit the governor by misinforming the general public about his good intention. Take the demolition at the Alhudahuda College in Zaria for instance, even before the governor took the decision to demolish those houses, some of the ex-students of that school led by people like Hakeem Baba Ahmed had once gone to the media and complained about the massive encroachment of the school premises. Same with Rimi College and Government College. The people of Kaduna have complained severally in the past but none of the past governors had the political will to do the right thing to save the children  at those schools because none of them took education as their priority.

Those opposing your government policies surprisingly are members of APC, your party. What would you say is responsible for this?

Anybody, be it APC or any other party who makes noise and attacks government’s good intention of implementing its programme aimed at helping children of the less-privileged in accessing quality education does so because his children are either in private schools or abroad as such don’t care about what happens to children of the poor. Their aim is to score cheap political points but the general public understand their hidden agenda and nobody will believe them. We have responsibility to help the poor and the less-privileged and the government of Nasir El-Rufai is ready to see to this.

A prominent member of the APC in the state once accused Governor El-Rufai of implementing programmes that are anti-masses like the governor stoppage of Ramadan feeding, sharing of essential commodities during festivities; cancellation of government sponsorship of Muslims’ and Christians’ pilgrims to holy lands.  What is your take on this?

These comments are nothing but mischievous. Yes, we were voted in by the masses of this state. Precisely the beggars, hawkers, the physically-challenged and the general public but it is not the intention of Nasir El-Rufai to leave them in the situation we met them. What they are saying is that we should allow the beggars to continue begging till the end of their lives but if you ask them whether they would want their children to go begging, they will tell you no. So, why should we?

Some are saying the government has not made any arrangement for these beggars, which is not true. We are constantly in touch with their leadership, making adequate arrangements to cater for them both beggars, the physically-challenged and hawkers. About 90 per cent of those affected are the physically challenged.  Most of them are talented in different crafts thus the responsibility of the government to support in improving their lives. The governor swore to an oath, to be fair and that is why he wants to take them  off the streets.

 Hawkers and beggars have always been the major victims of bomb blasts.  This,  we want to avoid. I can authoritatively inform you that one of the physically-challenged persons has been appointed as Special Assistant to the governor. This is also to get them close to the government.

As regards Ramadan Fast, we had a town hall meeting  organised by my office where the governor sat with all the stakeholders, the lslamic scholars and Muslim Ummah in the state  and told them that in every festivity, government spent over N400m distributing food items to very few people in the state and it happens to be the wealthy ones.

We said if we have N400m, we can use it in providing chairs in some of our primary schools where our children sit on the floors.

When trailers of food items were donated by good Samaritans like Aliko Dangote and others we invited women groups from Islamic foundations and charged them with the responsibilities of cooking the food and feeding the Muslims across the 23 LGAs of the state. So, we fed those that really needed it. We fed between 20,000 and 30,000 people every day throughout the 29 days of Ramadan fast. You see, we did not just take decision on our own. So, those who call themselves social critics are just being economical with the truth. They are the real enemies of the masses who don’t want us to achieve anything.

What about the Hajj seats?

We sat down and x-rayed the activities and discovered that a greater percentage of the pilgrims are being sponsored by the government and over N300m being drained every year in that exercise. Same thing goes for Jerusalem Pilgrims though the figure is not as much as that of Hajj. Only five per cent of them pay from their pockets. These beneficiaries can sponsor themselves. People should commend the governor for taking this bold step to save the state.

Our so-called critics are not talking about the money we will use in building roads, putting chairs in our classrooms or equipping our hospitals, but find pride in the act of buying some camels, cows to distribute to people. That is not the kind of government we want for our people. The sharing of cows is hypocrisy. The noble thing to do is to empower the poor by at least sponsoring five people to university level. With education, they can contribute to nation building. Our desire is not to feed them today and they become hungry tomorrow. .

Some members of the APC in Kaduna have accused Governor El-Rufai of running the government without the input of the party stakeholders and that his high-handedness is responsible for the in-fighting and apathy being witnessed in the party presently. What is your view on this?

It’s not true. I say this without fear of contradiction, no governor in the present dispensation has our kind of open-door policy.  I stand to be corrected on this. Our Town Hall Meeting  came into being because the Governor wants to operate a totally open door policy for him to meet with all the people that want to see him since on a daily basis we receive 20-30 letters from people seeking to see him either on one-on-one basis and others for clarification on certain government policies and programmes. Being his Political Adviser, he charged me to make it possible so it was agreed that a town hall meeting be organized on monthly basis in all the three geo-political zones. This innovation has never happened in the history of Kaduna State.

In these Town Hall meetings; people openly speak to the governor. Ask him  questions and even criticize government policies that do not go down well with them and there and then, the governor provides them with answers.  The Town Hall meetings we had in the two senatorial zones had been successful as valuable contributions came from people. No governor organizes such a meeting without having a problem at the venue. This shows that people are happy with the government.

 I make bold to say that no politician is as popular today as Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and I have my facts. Whoever thinks he can match his popularity should challenge him to a public debate on developmental issues and let’s see how it goes.  I bet you, he will floor the person hands down.

You have had two Town Hall Meetings in Zone One and Two, what would you say are the gains of these?

We have achieved a lot because the exercise gives us the opportunity to consult with the people of Kaduna State before we embark on some of the activities that affect them directly and this has really worked for the government. The beauty of the whole thing is that the governor takes out time to explain his plans to the people and will ask them to say their minds but the people have always told him to continue with what he is doing. Backing for instance was given to him on the issue of people encroaching on premises of schools, (Rimi College, Government College etc) hospitals and government land. After the Alhudahuda demolition, the governor after the meeting called those concerned in the demolition exercise to wait and attend to some of the complaints he received. He promised to look into cases of those who had started development based on plans and Certificates of Occupancy, (C of O), issued to them 15yrs ago by the state government by compensating them irrespective of  whether the previous government was wrong or right in approving it but was categorically clear that there will be no compensation where people built without documents. He is a listening governor and this demolition is meant to move the state forward.

You were once the spokesman of President Olusegun Obasanjo and here you are now the Special Adviser on politics to Governor Nasir El-Rufai. What really happened, did you come down a little for the sake of El-Rufai as some people claimed or what?

I was among the few people of Kaduna State that persuaded Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to contest for the governorship of the state because I believe there is nobody, and I can say it here without any fear of contradiction, in Kaduna today that is more qualified and competent to move the state forward like El-Rufai. That was the reason why some of us begged him to come out. When he made up his mind to contest, we also felt it was a blessing to Kaduna State. Some of us knew what he did in Abuja as a Minister. If he can do as much as he did in Abuja, then Kaduna will be one of the best states in the country. I say this because I am among those who know him very closely. He is a selfless person who is determined and his present call is to make Kaduna great again.

In the present Kaduna State, nobody has the pedigree of Nasir El-rufai and nobody is as competent as him, so for me, I can work in any capacity as long as we have a competent personality like him at the helm of affairs. The bottom-line is not about my position but my belief in his ability to deliver. Working with him is something that I believe in, and it is my fervent prayer that history and posterity will judge all of us kindly.