Alhaji Ahmad Mahmud was the deputy governor to former governor of Jigawa State, Dr Sule Lamido of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for eight years (two terms). He is currently the Director-General of the Governor Mohammed Badaru campaign organisation. He speaks with ROTIMI IGE on politics in Jigawa State and the Buhari administration. Excerpts:
WHAT would you be telling people about this government in term of its achievements in the last four years?
When this government came in 2015, it found out that the previous administration had badly destroyed the psyche of the people such that impunity was the order of the day. Anything and everything goes during that regime. A lot of things were messy. It was when this government came in to being that Governor Mohammed Badaru is trying to change the orientation. You know that there were a lot issues in the country pre-2015 elections; there was Boko Haram, insecurity everywhere and the economy was down. With the coming in of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, things have started easing up.
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The economy was and is still on the rise; insecurity has reduced while Boko Haram has also been curtailed and contained. The effects of all these actions by the Federal Government will naturally trickle down to the state governments. So, Jigawa is also a beneficiary of the Federal Government’s positive actions. Coming back to the Badaru administration, what the administration did on coming on board was to place premium on investment on the people, and that is by way of education. Education was and still a priority of this administration. He believes that once education is right, every other thing will be right.
The other one is the issue of agriculture. Agriculture, for this administration, is like crude oil and that is why the government is investing heavily in agriculture such that it even has a slogan, farming is a business. The governor galvanised the youths and ensured that they not only participate but that they are making a living from it now. There is what is called the cluster farming initiative. What this government did through this initiative was refocus the subsistence mindset of the small holder farmer and open their eyes to the commercial potential of farming activities.
The government then registered these subsistence farmers and clustered them for target input provision and extension service. Initially, a maximum cluster size of 50 hectares was formed in each of the 287 wards in the state. So far, a total of 1,306 clusters were established with 61,184 farmers presently in this initiative. At the moment, Jigawa is heavily into rice farming, what we grow presently is even much more than some states. Very soon, Jigawa will not only be supplying the rice needs of the country but that of the entire West African sub region. All these were achieved within just less than three years.
But you were part of the Lamido administration and also a part of the current administration in the state, so what do you think is the difference between the PDP and the APC, as most people believe they are the same?
There is a great difference. Before now, the state was heading for the rocks. Security was a big problem and the same went for the economy. I was a commissioner for finance in Jigawa State from 2000 to 2005. So, I know how the ministry is run. I have never in my life thought of getting a leader who is so prudent and accountable like Governor Badaru. Unlike before, this governor is a budget man. Everything and anything that the government must do must be documented; that is, it must be in the budget. If it is not in the budget, then, you won’t see him appending his signature. We lack his type in this country. He will never do anything outside the budget. His action presently is a big deal in our political development. When I say it is a big deal, I am talking from experience. I know how government operates in this clime, but for him to have shifted the paradigm from the status quo, it is a big deal. When he came into office, he abolished the use of security vote. He is the first governor in Nigeria that immediately he was sworn-in, he stopped the use of security vote.
But there is this challenge of new governments not continuing the projects of past administrations; did you watch Badaru toe the same line when he took office, having been a deputy governor in the immediate past administration?
That is one of the reasons I said the activities of this government are big deal in Nigeria today. His actions are totally different from what is operational in Nigeria presently. It is unheard of that a new government from another party and with different manifestos would still continue the projects of his predecessor, but Badaru did not abandon any of the projects he inherited. These are part of the qualities this man possesses. He completed these projects, first of all, because the projects are for the people and more importantly, it is the people’s projects, because it is the people that own the resources. He completed projects worth more than N100 billion he met before starting his own. His action is a real progression in our political developments. We need more of Badaru in our polity; we need more clean businessmen in our polity.
It has been said that the gale of defections from PDP to the APC in Jigawa State is as a result of monetary inducement by the governor/APC. How true is this claim?
If you know Badaru very well, you will know that the governor would be the last person to induce anybody with money. Badaru is not different from President Buhari; he is a very prudent person. I was once in PDP and I was a strong one at that; I was the deputy governor to Lamido for eight years. Now let me say this, whoever is coming to APC is coming essentially because of two things: one, they are coming because they have since discovered that their lifestyles have changed and dependence on them have also reduced, because the people are busy themselves. They are seeing the developments everywhere, which are also beneficial to them as well. Two, some of them are coming because of some of us who left the PDP. If we could leave the party, they believe they also have no reason to still remain there. Presently, I have more than 70 groups waiting for me to declare their support and defect to the APC.