My transition from being an academic to LG chairman, Professor Abdulraman, Jigawa ALGON chairman

Professor Salim Abdulrraman, a former chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), now doubles as the chairman, the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) and Gwaram local government councils chairman in Jigawa State. In this interview by ADAMU AMADU, Professor Abdurraman speaks on his transition from the academic to becoming the chairman of a local government area, his experiences, challenges and LG financial autonomy. Excerpts:

IT is bizarre and intriguing to a lot of people that you left academics for politics at the grassroots. What is it that really attracted you to abandoning academics to go into party politics?

 I consider finding myself in politics and occupying this position as an act of the God Almighty.. I’m in grassroots active politics and became local government councils chairman  because of the trust and confidence in me  by His Excellency, Governor Malam Umar Namadi, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the people of Gwaram local government area, especially the  political stakeholders who found me worthy for the position by calling, initiating and introducing me into politics. They found me worthy for the present position as another real opportunity to make further contributions in serving my people in Gwaram, Jigawa and Nigeria as a whole. It is as a result of my personal efforts and contributions in anything that would improve and develop the social and economical lives of our people in Gwaram local government area and Jigawa State in general. Frankly, I have the passion and zeal to give my contributions and participate in matters and issues that will make and bring about the progress of the people and the common man. So, Governor Malam Umar Namadi is the leader that is genuinely concerned with the welfare of his people and the development of the state.

As an academic now a local council chairman, how did you find the job and what are your challenges and experience?

 I find the job interesting. It is interesting in the sense that I know it is human work. I’m a human being, so I can do it and I’m doing it. The experience is just like a common experience in holding whatsoever. Holding any office when resources are scarce and needs are enormous, you have to look at your resources and justify the enormous use of the resources in terms of the availability of the surplus demands in terms of what you want. These are parts of the challenges, and I cannot say it is difficult because any leader should define his magnitude and direction, as well as will and zeal. As you know, I’m the Salim that been known in the past 40 years. Nothing has changed. If you come to my house, you would realize that it is a local settlement, with even animals inside. That is how I live. So, the handling of local government affairs by a person that is from academia is not something that is difficult because it is just like the way we judiciously monitor scripts during exams. That is exactly how I judiciously look at the naira and kobo coming in and out of the bank account of Gwaram local government. What’s the purpose of that kobo to be released? Are people going to benefit from it (expenditure)? This is fundamental. Though there is no life without challenges, the challenges are not that most justifiable. It is just to know how to manage people, live with them, share with them and know their basic needs and try to certify the ones you can.

You and other executives of the 27 local government areas of the state have celebrated 100 days in office. Is there any good story to tell people?

 Yes, as you know, I and the other 26 local government chairmen and councillors were voted into office under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), a party that has Governor Malam Umar Namadi, as its leader in the state. If you can remember, during our campaign, Governor Namad urged the electorate to vote for APC candidates because he has seen in us reliability, confidence and listening leadership qualities. The people agreed and gave us their mandate because they have confidence in Governor Namadi’s leadership and they believe he would not allow unpatriotic people to go closer to him. During our swearing-in ceremony, he charged us to fear Allah; to be accountable, transparent and committed in discharging our statutory responsibility.

Governor Namadi charged us to always stay in the midst of our people; that we shall avoid unnecessary travelling outside our local government areas. He also warned us against relocating to Dutse capital, the state capital, Kano state or any other place outside our local government areas. The governor equally promised to give us all necessary support and guidance to fulfill our campaign promises to the people.

As I am speaking to you now, because of the guidance and exemplary leadership we got from Governor Namadi, we were able to make a difference, improve the life of our people and also take the right direction toward supporting the implementation of his 12-point agenda designed to make Jigawa State great.

In July last year, the Supreme Court delivered a judgment granting financial autonomy to the 774 local governments across the country. What is happening in Jigawa with regards to the implementation of the judgment?

 In Jigawa State, the local government councils have been enjoying financial autonomy before the Supreme Court judgment. Governor Namadi has never tampered with local government funds; he has neither interfered directly or indirectly on its expenditure. We are receiving our allocation directly and spending it according to the law.

The financial autonomy we enjoy enables the local government councils to execute projects and programmes that have direct bearing to the common man’s social and economic needs.  So, in the last 100 days we have spent in office, we have been able to achieve a lot.  If you go round the state, in every local government area, you will see solid projects executed; some already completed and some are ongoing, while for social services, the people around will testify to you what they have been enjoying.

Today, life is getting better across all the 27 local government areas of the state.

Can you give us examples of such projects that have transformed the lives of your people?

 The 27 local government councils had in January purchased drugs and other medical consumables worth over N218 million and distributed them to the primary healthcare facilities across the state. Under the initiative, the local government councils, through ALGON, contribute the money every quarter of the year, aimed at supporting the state government policy on promoting access to quality basic healthcare services for all people of the state in respect of their economic and geographical location.

In the agricultural sector, we are  committed to the implementation of Governor Namadi’s policy under which all the local governments were directed to identify, prepare and allocate 100 hectares of land to selected youths interested in farming. The state government will give them a full package of inputs and cash as an empowerment package. The local government councils have purchased 300 motorcycles for the mobile animal health workers and we also contributed money monthly for the purchase of veterinary drugs to support the state government policy on free veterinary service to herdsmen and other livestock farmers in the state for the enhancement of livestock production and empowering people through their own businesses. In every single aspect of Governor Namadi’s 12-point agenda, the 27 local government councils are extracting our area of responsibilities and implementing them for achieving the desire goals. These include such areas as the education sector, water supply, empowerment, environmental development, economic and other social aspects.

What are those remarkable things that have taken place in the Gwaram local Government area within the first 100 days of your tenure as chairman?

 We are doing our best. A lot of positive changes have been achieved in the period under review as some projects and programmes were executed in Gwaram local Government under my stewardship in the last 100 days. I can assure you that the good story of Gwaram is the same story in other local government councils of our state, though the approaches and projects may differ due to peculiarities in needs.

Within the period under review, we rehabilitated and renovated more than  200 hand pumps, including some that had broken down over three years ago; we fixed them. We also constructed about 20 new ones to improve access to clean water to our people. More so, we sustained an uninterrupted supply of diesel to our motorised water supply facilities. We believe that with access to potable water, the personal and environmental hygiene of our people will improve, and many diseases, particularly waterborne diseases can be tackle. In the area of public healthcare service delivery, every month we purchase drugs and other medical consumables for free distribution to children, pregnant women and other less privileged person at our health facilities,

In this aspect, we also sponsored free eye treatment, including minor surgery, drugs and glasses to over 5,000 people. However, to strengthen the system, we are currently scouting for students that are qualified to get admissions in health-related college from remote area, who will be posted back to their communities after graduation.

In the area of empowerment, we distributed barbing clippers to 110 barbers, the sum of N50,000 to  220 male petty traders and N20,000  to 440 females, 50 sewing machines to 50 youths  trained on tailoring. All the programmes are aimed at supporting each and every beneficiary to improve his business of choice. Within my first 100 days in office as chairman, Gwaram local government council has distributed palliatives, including food items to over 1,000 less privileged persons, and also provided clothes to over 1,000 orphans. In the area energy,  we rehabilitated and restored power supply to over 10 communities, including Gwaram local government headquarters,  and we are currently working in collaboration with KEDCO for the projects in other communities that we estimated to coast over N500 million. We will do the work in phases.

Besides, in the last couple of months, we distributed over 1,449 bags of fertiliser to rural farmers to boost their capacity to produce more for food security and economic growth.

In the education sector,  we established 25 Islamiyya school and employed 45 teachers to teach our children; we distributed over 11,000 exercise to primary school pupils and 2025 JAMB card to over 650 students. We provided additional scholarships to some of our children studying in higher institutions in addition to the one they are receiving from the state government.

In short, this is just a brief insight of the transformation going on in all the 27 local government area of Jigawa State. We are making this progress because of the moral support and guidance we are getting from our leader, Governor Namadi. I am assuring  the people of the state that more  projects and programmes are in the works for their communities from the local government councils to make life better  and to actualize the dream of our governor in making Jigawa prosperous and great. And I’m grateful and appreciate the honour and opportunity given to me, and in extension to other 26 local government councils chairmen, to serve.

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