Era of self-dependence in Katsina

MUHAMMADU SANI

KATSINA State Governor, Aminu Masari’s de­termination to change the focus and fortunes of the state and its people for the better has again been highlighted by the recent unveil­ing of advanced arrangements for the “Kat­sina State Economic and Investment Summit 2016” scheduled for May 9, 2016. Repeatedly and mischievously, the displaced political op­ponents of Governor Masari holed up in the PDP have tried to distract him with propagan­da-powered attacks on the credibility of his administration. While they spoil for some lo­cal wrangling, as a decoy from the EFCC and state probes-related travails of their sponsor, Governor Masari has not yielded any ground in his relentless pursuit of accelerated socio-economic development through innovative initiatives.

Given the onerous responsibility of deliv­ering good governance that Governor Masari bears, it is simply myopic for him to dissipate needed attention on political chicanery. Not with the serious challenges of sustainable dis­charge of statutory obligations to civil servants he inherited from past profligacy. Not with the huge infrastructure decay and shortfall that was neglected for eight years. Not with the deplorable status of health delivery and access to qualitative basic education, among other formidable obstacles towards meeting the le­gitimate expectations of the people of Katsina State. Keeping his focus fixed on actualising the Change charter that earned him the popu­lar mandate of the masses and implementing policies that clearly signal a decisive depar­ture from the decadent paralysis of the past an­chor the Masari administration’s commitment to meaningful development and demonstrable progress of Katsina State.

One of the cardinal concerns of Governor Masari is the economic liberation of the state from the decades of over-dependence on fed­eral funding adopted as a policy by his prede­cessors’ pathetic lack of foresight. In the de­ceptive confidence of regular naira and dollar handouts from the Federation Account, former governors of Katsina State paid scant regard to securing the viability of the economy of the state. Even when the bulk of the federal funding got frittered away on parasitic recur­rent expenditure while capital expenditure got token allocations sufficient only for leaving a laughable legacy of abandoned projects, Masari’s extravagant predecessors could not shake-off their utopian preoccupation with handouts.

All that is, however, set to change with the Masari administration’s latest innovative initiative for launching the state into a new progressive era of self-dependence for sus­tainable economic viability in the form of the forthcoming economic and investment summit aptly focused on ‘‘Unlocking Investment Po­tentials for Sustainable Development.” It rep­resents the first good foot forward in the quest for better times in Katsina State by opening up the state and reaching out to the world beyond for prospective partners, who will supplement government’s investment in the future of the state. This initiative stands a good chance of succeeding because it is hinged on the undis­putable heritage of natural resources and van­tage geographical position with which Katsina State is enviably endowed and of which local and international investors are desirous.

Specifically, Katsina State is the commer­cial terminus and interface with the West and North African sub-regions on two important economic corridors in the country- the Lagos-Kano-Jibia corridor (LAKAJI) and the K2M or Kano-Katsina-Maradi corridor. LAKAJI commences from Lagos and passes through 10 states before terminating in the border town of Jibia where the Nigerian border with Niger meets, while K2M was earmarked basically to capture the dynamic economic factors associ­ated with food security, movement of goods and services, movement of capital and promo­tion of long existing trade activities of the re­gion. This has been recognised and patronised for long as a national economic zone connect­ed to many West African regional markets.

The advantageous position of Katsina State in relation to these two economic corridors stems from its capacity as the hub of the mul­tifarious socio-economic activities and trans­actions that they have been recognised for. This is quite apart from the state’s endowment of vast expanses of fertile lands suitable for a range of agrarian endeavours as well as valu­able natural resources. Any purposeful and concerted initiative that sets out to facilitate resuscitation and expansion of the explored and other potentially-profitable dimensions of the commercial, agricultural, export-import commodities, transportation as well as solid mineral resources and opportunities of these corridor-areas, such as the forthcoming 2016 Katsina State Economic and Investment Sum­mit is a “sure banker” venture.

Although it takes more than hosting a sum­mit to realise set objectives, with the Katsina State Economic and Investment 2016 Summit also comes the characteristic zealous com­mitment that Governor Masari has thus far been widely associated with in his first year in office, not to mention unwavering focus on the way forward in all critical aspects of the state’s affairs. The fact that he could come up with this promising proposal so early in his tenure underscores the foresight that guides his planning in the sense that he is clearly de­termined to actualise the Change charter with tangible accomplishments before the end of his outstanding first term.

It is most significant also that the catchment areas identified in the comprehensive range of economic endeavours, which the 2016 summit is dedicated to explore and develop will inevi­tably integrate the vast majority of the peas­ant population of the state by direct and in­direct participation and support into the drive for more profitable involvement in economic activities on a most sustainable platform of internal resource development. This will sub­stantially transform the lives of the people across the state, which, until now, purported to be “thriving” on borrowed time from the ever dwindling federation account that is now evi­dently in end times.

• Sani wrote in from Kofar Kaura Lay­out, Katsina; Phones: +2348033206567 and +2348178469541: Twitter: @agajumadugba