Gombe 2011: Who sustains the legacies?
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- Category: Philosofaith
- Written by Muslihu Aminu Pindiga
- Hits: 1434
But for the recent request by the nation’s electoral umpire, INEC, for a shift in the date for the 2011 elections, Nigerian electorate would have been barely two months away from performing one of their civic responsibilities of electing leaders and representatives at the federal and state levels. The elective offices are that of the President, the two chambers of the National Assembly, the state governors and states Houses of Assembly.
May 29, 2011 marks the 12th anniversary of the return of democratic rule in the country and on same date, Nigerians witness the swearing-in of newly elected leadership at the federal and state levels, specifically the President and state governors and their deputies. They in turn proclaim the national and state assemblies respectively at a later date.Nigeria’s constitution provides for two-term tenure of four years each to the President and state governors, while there is no limit to membership of the assemblies. Thus, while some aspirants are seeking re-election into their offices, other elective office holders are leaving the stage for others to come on board, going by the provision of the constitution.
In Gombe State, Governor Muhammadu Danjuma Goje falls under the latter category, as he completes his second and last term in office, having been sworn into office on May 29, 2003.
There is no gain-saying the fact that during the period he held sway as the state Chief Executive, Governor Goje has delivered nearly 100% of his campaign promises as contained in his manifesto booklet titled, “A New Dawn”.
The oft-repeated achievements that include provision of roads, hospitals and other health facilities, portable drinking water, the international airport, the university, etc, are concrete evidence of dividends of democracy. Creation of formal and informal job opportunities through the establishment of health and educational institutions, shops that sprang up as a result of newly constructed roads and the debut of GSM service providers is another achievement creditable to the present government in the state.
However, as good and as useful these infrastructures may look, they are susceptible to being hampered, depending on what meaning the next administration gives them. In other words, if the next Chief Executive of the state sees and/or feels nothing good in what he inherited in terms of infrastructures and decides to embark on something new, it signifies the beginning of the collapse of the inherited work.
It is no secret that at least two of the many developmental projects executed by the Goje administration are capital-intensive. These are the Dadin kowa water project and the state university. Apart from the billions of naira spent to ensure their coming into being, hundreds of millions are expended on a monthly basis to guarantee their sustainability.
For instance, in a recent interview with the state media (Gombe Radio), the General Manager of the state water corporation did state that the state government spends about two hundred million naira quarterly for the provision of chemicals to the Dadin kowa water project. This I believe, is aside from the expenditure on pipelines and machines maintenance, electricity and/or diesel bill, staff salaries, etc. Compare this amount to the paltry N200 per month water bill paid by customers even if there are no defaulters.
The Gombe State University is another milestone project of the administration. Established in 2004, the university can be described as the most vital infrastructure put in place with immeasurable success in tackling some of the educational and socio-economic problems bedeviling the people, especially the youth amongst them. But for the establishment of this institution, hundreds of youths and housewives would not have been opportune to have university education. Reasons may vary from poor financial standing, limited available time for far away studies, limitations at places of work, family burden, physical disabilities and chiefly, even with the absence of the afore-mentioned and other such reasons, there is the highly competitive nature of gaining admission into federal universities to contend with. This is because candidates seeking admission into the universities by far outnumber what the institutions can accommodate.
With this problem at hand, it can be easily deduced that state universities undoubtedly complement the efforts of the federal universities in the provision of teaching-learning and research opportunities.
However, the fact remains, establishing a university is not what matters but sustaining it. In Gombe State, of all the developmental projects put in place in the last eight years, it can be said without mincing words that the university got the most caring. This without doubt, is not unconnected with the Governor and Visitor to the university’s appreciation of the top-most position education occupies in the hierarchy of sectors of human endeavour.
Within the six years of its existence, Gombe State University has risen to become one of the best in the country as regards scholarship, discipline and environment. In fact, it may be the university with the best of environments!
But the university’s management, under the headship of an internationally-acclaimed scholar and administrator Professor Abdullahi Mahadi CON, could not have achieved this feat without the moral and financial support of the institution’s proprietor - the state government; and the government could not have given this support but for the whole-hearted interest in the project by its Chief Executive.
This same interest accounts for the sustenance of the other projects: the Dadin kowa water project; the health institutions; the international airport; etc. It should be noted that if these capital-intensive projects were to be sustained with their internally-generated revenue, they would have collapsed the very day they start operations.
It is on record that three state universities in the northern part of the country suffered serious setbacks following nonchalant attitudes toward them as a result of change of governments, for reasons best known to the new Chief Executives.
And we shall only avert this calamity with God’s guidance, by way of nominating and electing into office, a governor that is poised to treading the path of the Goje-led administration as it relates to the affairs of the university: moral and financial support; non-interference in its running; and its complete insulation from partisan politics.
Pindiga wrote from P. O. Box 1333, Gombe
Articles
Gombe 2011: Who sustains the legacies?
Category: Philosofaith Written by Muslihu Aminu Pindiga Hits: 1434
But for the recent request by the nation’s electoral umpire, INEC, for a shift in the date for the 2011 elections, Nigerian electorate would have been barely two months away from performing one of their civic responsibilities of electing leaders and representatives at the federal and state levels. The elective offices are that of the President, the two chambers of the National Assembly, the state governors and states Houses of Assembly.
May 29, 2011 marks the 12th anniversary of the return of democratic rule in the country and on same date, Nigerians witness the swearing-in of newly elected leadership at the federal and state levels, specifically the President and state governors and their deputies. They in turn proclaim the national and state assemblies respectively at a later date.Nigeria’s constitution provides for two-term tenure of four years each to the President and state governors, while there is no limit to membership of the assemblies. Thus, while some aspirants are seeking re-election into their offices, other elective office holders are leaving the stage for others to come on board, going by the provision of the constitution.
In Gombe State, Governor Muhammadu Danjuma Goje falls under the latter category, as he completes his second and last term in office, having been sworn into office on May 29, 2003.
There is no gain-saying the fact that during the period he held sway as the state Chief Executive, Governor Goje has delivered nearly 100% of his campaign promises as contained in his manifesto booklet titled, “A New Dawn”.
The oft-repeated achievements that include provision of roads, hospitals and other health facilities, portable drinking water, the international airport, the university, etc, are concrete evidence of dividends of democracy. Creation of formal and informal job opportunities through the establishment of health and educational institutions, shops that sprang up as a result of newly constructed roads and the debut of GSM service providers is another achievement creditable to the present government in the state.
However, as good and as useful these infrastructures may look, they are susceptible to being hampered, depending on what meaning the next administration gives them. In other words, if the next Chief Executive of the state sees and/or feels nothing good in what he inherited in terms of infrastructures and decides to embark on something new, it signifies the beginning of the collapse of the inherited work.
It is no secret that at least two of the many developmental projects executed by the Goje administration are capital-intensive. These are the Dadin kowa water project and the state university. Apart from the billions of naira spent to ensure their coming into being, hundreds of millions are expended on a monthly basis to guarantee their sustainability.
For instance, in a recent interview with the state media (Gombe Radio), the General Manager of the state water corporation did state that the state government spends about two hundred million naira quarterly for the provision of chemicals to the Dadin kowa water project. This I believe, is aside from the expenditure on pipelines and machines maintenance, electricity and/or diesel bill, staff salaries, etc. Compare this amount to the paltry N200 per month water bill paid by customers even if there are no defaulters.
The Gombe State University is another milestone project of the administration. Established in 2004, the university can be described as the most vital infrastructure put in place with immeasurable success in tackling some of the educational and socio-economic problems bedeviling the people, especially the youth amongst them. But for the establishment of this institution, hundreds of youths and housewives would not have been opportune to have university education. Reasons may vary from poor financial standing, limited available time for far away studies, limitations at places of work, family burden, physical disabilities and chiefly, even with the absence of the afore-mentioned and other such reasons, there is the highly competitive nature of gaining admission into federal universities to contend with. This is because candidates seeking admission into the universities by far outnumber what the institutions can accommodate.
With this problem at hand, it can be easily deduced that state universities undoubtedly complement the efforts of the federal universities in the provision of teaching-learning and research opportunities.
However, the fact remains, establishing a university is not what matters but sustaining it. In Gombe State, of all the developmental projects put in place in the last eight years, it can be said without mincing words that the university got the most caring. This without doubt, is not unconnected with the Governor and Visitor to the university’s appreciation of the top-most position education occupies in the hierarchy of sectors of human endeavour.
Within the six years of its existence, Gombe State University has risen to become one of the best in the country as regards scholarship, discipline and environment. In fact, it may be the university with the best of environments!
But the university’s management, under the headship of an internationally-acclaimed scholar and administrator Professor Abdullahi Mahadi CON, could not have achieved this feat without the moral and financial support of the institution’s proprietor - the state government; and the government could not have given this support but for the whole-hearted interest in the project by its Chief Executive.
This same interest accounts for the sustenance of the other projects: the Dadin kowa water project; the health institutions; the international airport; etc. It should be noted that if these capital-intensive projects were to be sustained with their internally-generated revenue, they would have collapsed the very day they start operations.
It is on record that three state universities in the northern part of the country suffered serious setbacks following nonchalant attitudes toward them as a result of change of governments, for reasons best known to the new Chief Executives.
And we shall only avert this calamity with God’s guidance, by way of nominating and electing into office, a governor that is poised to treading the path of the Goje-led administration as it relates to the affairs of the university: moral and financial support; non-interference in its running; and its complete insulation from partisan politics.
Pindiga wrote from P. O. Box 1333, Gombe