By Iliyasu Gadu
Ilgad2009@gmail.com, 08035355706 (Texts only)
The impression many people have of Katsina State is that it is ravaged by insecurity as a result of the unrelenting activities of bandits and kidnappers raiding whole communities abducting people for ransom.
To some extent it is very difficult to fault that image as reports come in almost on a daily basis of such untoward happenings from across the 34 local governments in the State.
However, that is not the complete picture of what is going on in the State as a critical look would reveal that notwithstanding the insecurity, the State is making remarkable progress in other areas of endeavour. Indeed, in reality Katsina State demonstrates that insecurity cannot be a hindrance to the need for progress and that the state is determined not to be deterred or distracted by the activities of criminal elements holding the state in the jugular.
This much came to fore recently when bandits struck the town of Jikamshi on the southern axis of the state, killing five persons in the process. This incident occurred on the eve of the commissioning of an ultra-modern model Secondary School in the town of Radda in Charanchi Local Government Area of the state.
The siting of the school with all the modern equipment and facilities in such a remote location which can be prone to activities of bandits and kidnappers bore testimony to the State’s resolve not to be cowed. Furthermore, the State government of Governor Dikko Umaru Radda could easily have cited the unfortunate incident the previous day in Jikamshi as reason to cancel the commissioning of the school given that dignitaries from within and outside the state like the Governor of Kwara state Abdulrahaman Abdulrazak who was scheduled to commission the model school and the Minister of Education were invited to grace the occasion.
But the occasion duly held and was witnessed by a huge crowd of people in defiance of the ever-underlying threat of insecurity bedeviling the area where the school is located and the state in general.
In a briefing with media men after the school commissioning, Governor Radda stated that he went ahead with the event to demonstrate to the people of the State in particular and Nigerians in general that insecurity cannot be allowed to stop development and progress from happening in the State. Governor Radda stated ‘’We will carry on with the development activities that we owe the people of the who voted us in to office while at the time and by the same vigour continue to tackle insecurity in the State.’’
Indeed, on a recent media tour of the State along with journalists from across media platforms in the country to assess the impact of insecurity in Katsina State, I witness how this dual mandate on tackling insecurity and delivering development is being implemented.
This is not information of Katsina State gleaned from prepared information brochures delivered from the comfort and convenience of air-conditioned offices. The Katsina we saw was from field tours to areas affected by insecurity and interviews with the Governor and with officers involved in tackling the scourge amidst the various development interventions being carried out in the State.
To be honest, it can conclusively be said that there is more to Katsina than insecurity. While insecurity is a major issue in the State that has consumed numerous lives and livelihood resulting in displaced persons and refugees, that however is only one side of the Katsina story. And unfortunately, it has gained ground as the signature story of Katsina for the sensational optics it attracts to the media platforms that often love to report stories of this nature owing to the traffic it creates.
But the stories of game changing, cutting edge development strides which are taking place in Katsina have remained largely unreported and if they do, they are found obscurely tucked inside the publications and given few inches of tepid mention.
But there is no mistaking the fact that in Katsina there are verifiable organic developments across all fields taking place under the Governor Radda administration which promises to set the State on the path of national and possible international reckoning.
Take for instance, the incipient digital revolution in the state which is being midwifed by the Katsina Directorate of Information and Communication Technology (KATDICT). This is the agency that is pioneering the digital transformation of the state through providing Information and Communication Technology services to the government. Its impact has already been felt in the digitalization of government communication and services in ministries and agencies helping to speed up bureaucratic process of governance and delivery. Indeed, KATDICT was heavily involved in setting up the digital network and platform of the three model secondary schools established in the State.
Its Director, Naufal Ahmed, a tech savvy nerd with a penetrating intimate knowledge of the world of digital and information technology plans to turn Katsina State into a hub of Information Technology where every activity of government and even the private sector will be driven by digital application. With KATDICT driving the process, Katsina State is quietly working on possibly becoming Nigeria’s Silicon Valley. Over 5 billion naira has thus been saved through the activities of KATDICT.
The same enthusiasm and hands-on approach is also noticeable in the state’s agricultural sector. At the nucleus of the State’s agricultural transformation is the Agriculture Mechanization Workshop where tractors, harvesters, irrigation implements and water pumping machines are distributed to all local governments for distribution to farmers. The interesting thing here is that the various equipment and implements, including the tractors and harvesters are imported in Completely Knock Down (CKD) form and assembled in an assembly line by locals specially trained for that purpose.
The locals are not only trained to assemble the equipment they are also trained to maintain them to ensure sustainability over a long period of usage. This in line with the State government’s plan to speed up the transformation of agriculture in the State from the laborious and inefficient process of agricultural production to a more yielding mechanized process bringing more hectares under cultivation and hence vastly increasing the quantum of agricultural production in the State.
The Katsina health sector is also witnessing a similar transformation. The key development in this regard is the digital integration of health services in all health departments from general practice to specialized ones like dental health, maternity, orthopaedic etc. The Katsina General Hospital functions as focal point for the provision of medical services with operational links to all the General Hospitals and Health Centres in the State. The Katsina General Hospital which serves as the main hub of the State’s health services has been enabled in this regard by not just installation of ultra-modern equipment and gadgets but equally importantly by provision of off-grid solar power.
A very important factor in this mix is the drug procurement and medical supply revolving scheme which ensures the sourcing of medicines and drugs from all over the country and prompt and efficient distribution to all the hospitals and health centres across the State. All this through the Katsina State Drugs and Medical Supplies Agency driven by Phamacist Fatima Shuaibu Kurfi.
Such far reaching interventions have been made possible by the vision of Governor Radda under the ‘’Building Your Future Strategic Policy Agenda.’’ The Governor has evidently identified and selected very capable young officers to help drive this. What the Governor needs to include in this cocktail of development initiatives is the international element of involving partners like UNESCO, UNICEF and WHO especially on the educational and health programmes regarding the dialysis centre and the International diagnostic imaging centre being constructed in the State.
Iliyasu Gadu, a former Foreign Service Officer who served at the Nigerian Missions in Germany and the United Kingdom (UK), is also a columnist with Daily Trust
