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Senator Umaru Dahiru, Chairman, Northern Senators Forum is also the Senate Committee Chairman on of Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
Dahiru, who was the Sokoto state 2009 Amirul-Hajj, represents Sokoto South Senatorial District in the Senate.

In a chat with journalists recently in Abuja, Dahiru spoke about his committee’s commitment to guaranteeing fundamental human rights of the Nigerian people, his role as Amirul-Hajj and his empowerment programme for his constituents.

On human right
First and foremost are my duties to the people, especially the Sokoto South Constituency that I represent at the Senate. I also have a duty of care to help in bringing legislations that would elevate the people of Northern Nigeria . Human rights and its protection is also there, and as chairman of the Senate Committee of Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.

We all know that there are continuous reports on several matters that raise concern about the security of persons from attacks and incidents of violence. My committee has received several urgent calls of concern regarding a serious situation that has developed within the country which requires the attention of all concerned persons, both within the country and the international community.

These incidents show clearly that people’s rights are being suppressed. And as the 2011 elections draw close, there is an increase in of violence. Don’t also forget that we have situations that call for serious attention all over the country. These developments will hamper much progress and the result if not checked will be the violation of people’s rights. This in turn will seriously limit people’s ability to make informed judgments on political developments. We would like to reiterate that in the light of ongoing problems, it is all the more necessary to re establish our people’s rights without delay. We are working around the clock to ensure this.

We would like to reiterate that in the light of ongoing problems, it is all the more necessary to re establish our people’s rights without delay. We are working around the clock to ensure this.

On constituents empowerment
It will be difficult to say in a nutshell what I have given back to my people. It is an ongoing process. I believe very much in dialoging regularly with the people I serve. Apart from legislations that improve their welfare, I have personally made available physical amenities to being developments to them.
I have helped and continue to put in place machinery that makes employment easy. We have continued to put in place through interaction with the state government infrastructure development; that is roads, water, and electricity and so on.
Recently; not even more than a month ago, I personally got some medical supplies to boost health care delivery in my constituency.

You won’t believe that many general hospitals in the country cannot boast of medical equipment like dialysis machines, incubators, anesthetic machines, oxygen and so on. I am happy to tell you that these and many more are what I have made available for the people of Sokoto South Constituency.
Health care services are not always available to local people. But the people of my constituency have been upgraded in this area. We even have an ambulance for quick response in terms of emergencies. The good news is that access to all these facilities would be free.

Motivating factor
The motivation is service to the people. In the last two to three years, I have made a habit of visiting hospitals to see what I could do to support people who could not afford their hospital bills. It will amaze you that some people die as a result of not being able to pay a token amount of five thousand naira only. I personally give money to such people to pay their bills.
I was even going to set up a fund where people could assess the money in cases of emergency; but working out the logistics has not been easy. So, I thought that while working that out, I needed to put in place something that would be readily available.
So today, we have in Sokoto South, almost everything a patient could require in a standard hospital. We made sure that even smaller things like crutches, wheel-chairs, ankle support and so on are available all for free.

Vision and leadership
I must first of all be a good leader before I can have a vision. How do you know that you are a good leader? Good leaders push their people forward with excitement, inspiration, trust, and vision.
Good leadership takes strength of character and a firm commitment to do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason.
My vision is to see a community that is self dependent, a community whose youths are responsible and hardworking. To build a good nation, you must start from building good communities.

Amirul-Hajj experience
The first thing that came to my mind was when I was chosen as Amirul Hajj for Sokoto in 2009 was that I needed to lead by example. We have often heard of people saying ‘Do what I say, not what I do’. That in itself shows some level of weakness.
It is very challenging to lead by example. How does your team feel when you tell them to do one thing, and then you do the exact opposite? When leaders don’t “practice what they preach,” it can be almost impossible for a team to work together successfully. How can anyone trust a leader who talks about one thing, but does another? I made sure that was my top-most principle.
As someone who has performed several hajj in the past, there are so many things you know which you have to pass on to those you’re leading.

You can’t afford to take for granted that people already know what to do. When I used to go as a pilgrim, I was responsible for myself alone. I knew how to behave, what to do and how to go about it. As a Muslim, it was my duty to help protect my fellow brothers and sisters and point out to them how things should be done. But then, I wasn’t officially responsible for people. It was quite different as the Amirul Hajj.

It was my duty to ensure that all pilgrims got vaccinations before traveling from to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj.
Don’t forget that each year, millions of people travel to the Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj, and at such gatherings, communicable diseases are easily transferred from one person to the other. To reduce such risks we ensured that pilgrims should be at least 12 years old and not over 65 years of age. And since Saudi Arabia also recommends that pilgrims refrain from performing the Hajj if they have chronic diseases such as heart, liver, or kidney diseases, complications of diabetes, obesity, or any other diseases or conditions that affect a person’s overall health and immunity, we tried as much as possible to ensure that those who went for the 2009 Hajj were people of sound health.

So by and large, as Amirul Hajj, it was my responsibility to ensure the safety of my people before, during and during their departure back home. This was against when I went as an ordinary pilgrim when I was responsible to only myself.
I must commend the Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko for making the process an easy one. He made available all that we needed as a State before and after Hajj. In fact, he was physically present at the camp and he slept on the floor with his people.

We had a very clean and fit-for-human accommodation for all pilgrims for the whole period and our people were not sleeping on the floor as some others that we saw.
The people on their own were very well behaved throughout the 2009 Hajj. We found out that people from other states were cooking in their hotel rooms, which was totally against Saudi the law. We never had any instance of Sokoto State indigenes fighting or being involved in any criminal acts throughout the period.
It was indeed a good experience for me.

Future plans
Being the Amirul hajj was not something I asked for. It was something that was bequeathed to me by my governor based on trust that I could lead the people. It wasn’t a permanent thing, so it is wrong to sit down and begin to plan about what the next thing would be.
First and foremost are my duties to the people, especially the Sokoto South Constituency that I represent at the Senate. I also have a duty of care to help in bringing legislations that would elevate the people of Northern Nigeria .

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