SUNDAY INTERVIEW 57
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Kano LG Election Most Successful, Under Me – Ganduje ➔ FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
very effective. It goes into the civil service and even into the private sector and nobody is being spared. So, I am happy to say that Kano has been rated as having the best anti corruption outfit. I agree with you that corruption is fighting back at the national level and even at the state level. We have People hide under the guise of politics to be attacking the government because we want them to return what they have taken from the government. Of course everyone know how it is at the national level and that corruption is fighting back. But we have to be persistent in the fight. What is important is to refine the system so that those who want to loot government fund will find it difficult to do that. The issue is that our institutions are very weak. We must have a very strong institution so that am junior officer can tell you, sir, this is not in accordance with the rules and regulations and you accept what the junior office is telling you and abide by it because it is not an offence. So, unless our institutions are strong institutions, the anti corruption fight will be difficult. I believe that Mr. President is doing a lot in the area of fighting corruption.
We will continue to pray because sometimes, it is the issue of accident which you cannot avoid. You recently invited Herdsmen to relocate to Kano. What is the rationale behind this invitation?
This is a national security problem. In Kano, we are blessed with some dams and grazing areas. You must know that the middle belt is more blessed with grazing areas and that is why the problem is concentrated in the middle belt because the climate is different. The climate is more friendly there than in the extreme north. We have started providing some facilities and have identified five grazing areas and we are discouraging our herdsmen from going outside the state. We want to use the falgore forest especially now that the security situation has improved. We have designed how to construct some dams. We had to start with feasibility study and that is what we are doing. There are some rivers and dams in the forest which we have to harness to provide some facilities for herdsmen. That is why we are inviting them to come. When we launched our free vaccination, we vaccinated over one million for free. We also sponsored the children of herdsmen to go and be trained in artificial insemination. The first qualification for that training was that you have to be the child of a herdsman because we didn’t want a situation where we train you and you abandon the trade. We sent 70 of them to Turkey for training and right now, they are practicing artificial insemination. We constructed two modern artificial insemination centre where modern animal husbandry is being practiced. It is a programme we have taken seriously and it is a programme that will be a blessing to Kano state if they can come to Kano and we are able to provide them with some facilities that will sustain them. We know that ouir environment is not the best for herdsmen. But since the Isrealis can convert the desert to one of the best irrigation in the world, we can do the same in Kano. It is not that we have the best environment for herdsmen. Your administration has been passionate about Kano Economic City. What is the state of things as regards the project?
Today, this is a reality. That project was initiated some 12 years ago by the Shekarau administration. But because it was not properly handled, it broke down. There was litigations and counter litigations. During the previous administration, we were not able to solve the problem. When I came in, I decided that I must solve the problem. Som I engaged those development partners and had to prove to them that they cannot undertake that project and so, we negotiated and revoked that agreement peaceful and advertise for new investors. We got Brain and Hammers, they came in and we provided them with land with
What is the Pension situation in Kano under your administration?
Ganduje
certificate of occupancy, we paid the remaining compensation that was not paid. They are investing about N65 billion on the Kano Economic City and I can assure you that work is going on right now. We have provided the land in the eastern part of Kano metropolis and they have the construction. As wW are having an economic agreement with Lagos, it Kenneth of the areas we shall sit down and see how investors from Lagos can come in there and how foreign investors can also come in. But what is important is that work is already on. Did your administration inherit White elephant projects, and what are you doing to them?
I will not like to describe any project as white elephant project. Of course, because of the change in economic situation in the country, there are some projects that cannot be completed as earlier perceived. But we are working very hard in that. There is the housing project on the fringes of Kano. Those houses are very costly and there is a lot of liabilities on them. Even if we sell all of the houses, the money will only be enough to pay the contractors that has not been paid. We are battling to solve the problem. But I can say that it has added to the infrastructural development of the city. But because of the economic situation we are in right now, I can tell that it is a project we are pushing forward with tears. What we have decided to do in other to come out of the woods is that’ because the houses cannot be purchased even at the production cost, is to bargain with the contractors to buy the houses and we will now see who will balance who. I will not call it white elephant project, but
a project that require fine tuning before you are able to get out of the wood. They Hydro electricity project is an economic project which we inherited and we believe that it will improve the economic activities of the city and the state because it will produce electricity which is good for our industries and so, we consider it a very important project for the socio-economic development of our state. Recently you lost a commissioner to alleged corrupt practices. What is your government doing to check graft in Kano state?
Yes, corruption is fighting back. It is one of the cardinal principles of our party. Mr. President made it very clear during his campaign to improve the security situation in the country, improve the economy and fight corruption. We have taken a cue from what Mr. President said during his campaign and since we came in, the security situation in Kano has improved, the economy is improving. We have taken the issue of corruption seriously and established an anti corruption commission. We employed what we called a junior Magu who is fearless. He is an activist who does not fear anybody and because of his activities, I lost a Commissioner, some permanent Secretaries had to leave and even my Accountant General had to leave and is facing some charges. I gave that commission a free hand. We are constructing anti corruption offices in all the 44 local government areas and we have sent five of our officers to the EFCC for training. We are sending some others to ICPC for training. Our law is on ground and the commission is independent and the commission is
We pay our pension and salaries as and when due. When we came in, we found a huge backlog of pension. But e drew a line and started paying them. Some of the money was taken and houses constructed with the money. Part of the houses is what we are finding it difficult to dispose of right now and the pension people are looking for their money. However every month, we do the deduction we are supposed to do to pay them and we are encouraging them to invest and they are doing that and getting some returns. That is how we are managing the situation. Earlier in the life of your administration, you lamented about paucity of funds. What was the debt profile when you came in and what is the situation on the ground?
We inherited about N300 billion as debt. That was what was reported by the transition committee and I knew that it might create a problem. So, I addressed a press conference where I said that it was not a crime to leave a debt behind by previous administration because you cannot get a clear cut expenditure like that. Therefore, I said that the government will be a government of continuity. We shall continue paying the debt and completing the projects which by implication, will take care of paying the debt. I am happy to inform you that we are managing that very well. We did not allow that to prevent us from embarking on new projects. I remember that I had to pay an outstanding certificate of over N500 million on the longest flyover before the contractor agreed to come back to site. What is important is how to manage it instead of wasting time shedding tears on something that I can manage.
I lost a Commissioner, some permanent Secretaries had to leave and even my Accountant General had to leave and is facing some charges