By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North Central, in Minna)
Former Governor of Kano state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has advised up-coming politicians, newly elected Governors in the states and in-coming President of the country not to waste time on trivialities after swearing-in, but should rather focus on providing leadership that will command people’s support and followership.
Kwankwaso's advice is coming as the heels of another advise by out-going governor of Niger state, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, to his successor, Alhaji Umar Mohammed Bago, to select people with good character who will advise him correctly as Commissioners and political Aides.
Kwankwaso spoke in Minna, Niger state capital as the chairman of the inaugural lecture, which was part of the line-up of events to usher in a new dispensation. He said part of the reasons why governments fail is because they waste quality time on irrelevancy that has no direct positive impact on the socio-economic wellbeing of the citizenry.
The 2023 Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) also pointed lack of competence, knowledge of what to do after getting to power and without focus, as the major reasons some elected leaders who had claimed to know it all, fail in governance, as they end up scampering in search of what they have done in their states or constituencies after four or eight years in office.
Kwankwaso specifically admonished the Governors-elect to shun stealing, siphoning of public funds and non-transparent way of running a government, saying it is important for them to learn from past mistakes of some politicians and leaders who are now living in regrets.
He attributed the successes that earned him a second term in office as governor after spending eight years out of office, to administrative policies of building human capacity through education and as well socio-economic empowerment. Kwankwaso, therefore, encouraged the in-coming governor of Niger State, Hon. Umar Bago, to learn from people like him.
Also speaking at the pre-swearing-in inaugural lecture with a theme; ‘Addressing the Challenges of Socio- economic Development at sub-National level in Nigeria’, which took place at the Idris Legbo Kutigi international conference centre, in Minna, Niger state, the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Professor Attahiru Mohammed Jega, said good governance is supposed to be driven by selfless and visionary leaders in line with the needs and aspirations of the citizenry.
Prof. Jega also stated that Nigeria does not only need good governance but good democratic governance which according to him is an indispensable phenomenon in our society. He expressed worry over the negative influences of money in Nigeria’s electoral processes.
Professor Attahiru Jega who attributed the socio-economic woes of the country to bad governance, however emphasized the urgent need for public office holders to be selfless, transparent and accountable to the people at all times.
In his remarks, the Niger state Governor-elect, Hon. Umar Mohammed Bago, pledged to do all that is humanly possible to live up to the public expectations by raising the bar in governance through all inclusiveness and open door policy for collective dreams of the entire people of Niger state.
The out-going Governor of the state, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello in what seemed like his farewell speech, encouraged his successor to ensure that he selects people with impeccable character and competence as Commissioners and political Aides.
Bello who appears to be regretting some decisions taken in his eight years in office, implored Umar Bago, the in-coming governor, to ‘select people with good character in your team as Commissioners and other appointees who will advise you rightly, politely and stand by you, no matter the situation’.
Lamenting that MDAs lacked the capacity to implement the policies and programmes which largely contributed to the poor performance of his administration, Bello therefore advised his successor to avoid same pitfalls by ensuring that he selects his team based on competence and not by political, religious and tribal considerations.
Governor Sani Bello also regretted that some problems that contributed to his woes after eight years in office is the gap between the executive and the state workforce, and between him and his political appointees, as, they, in most cases, worked in isolations due to wrong advise.
He therefore encouraged his successor to ensure that he and his team work on the same page for more result oriented governance. NNL.
