By Adam S. Uba
To those who support Ibrahim Shehu Shema, the immediate past governor of Katsina State, the legacies he has bequeathed to the Katsinawas in the eight years he was at the helm have remained the best and most enduring since the state was carved out of Kaduna State in 1987.
To buttress how all-encompassing and broad these legacies could be, they proudly point to the fact that whether anyone supports Shema or not, he or she must benefit from or utilise a Shema project in everyday life in Katsina.
Most of the roads were either completed or built from the scratch by him, thereby leaving no opponent or supporter an alternative but to drive on those roads, unless he is ready or capable to fly within the state. They also cite enduring legacies in education, agriculture, and other fields of human endeavour too numerous to be fully captured in an article of this nature. The huge benefits of these legacies are enduring and continuous from the present to deep into the future.
However, Shema’s opponents, most, if not all of whom are drawn from the current administration in the state, point to the cost of these projects, which, according to them, were inflated, and question the quality of the projects, among other things. They do not believe Shema deserves the praises that came, and are still coming his way. They believe that their own, Rt. Jon. Aminu Bello Masari, is going to do much better and become the best governor Katsina has ever produced. And for them, Shema should not be allowed any peace in his retirement; he should be made to account for funds allocated to the state during his tenure, etc.
Since most of these viewpoints are rather political, it is pertinent to look at them from a dispassionate perspective so that inherent lessons can be learnt, to the benefit of Katsina state and its good people.
To many Nigerians in Katsina and beyond, Shema remains the best governor that this Republic has produced. Those who hold on to this point of view believe for us to get it right as a nation, we must, as a people, learn to be fair to the few leaders in our society that selflessly excelled in their call of duty, and celebrate them so that upcoming generation of leaders can be encouraged to see the virtue of selflessness and imbibe same.
Was Shema selfless; and was the cost of the projects he executed jerked up to shortchange the good people of Katsina? These questions are really difficult to answer. But one of the best examples to use in answering these questions is the Katsina Government House project he executed in the course of his tenure of office, and which his successor, Masari, is now enjoying. Whereas Shema spent a little over four billion Naira to build a befitting structure standing to the pride of the state, a state in North-central Nigeria has spent more than three times that much to erect a government house that is not even close to that of Katsina in size, equipment and quality.
Even more importantly, Shema built that government house without touching one dime of Katsina’s statutory allocation. He invested resources and drew from it to provide the structure as a sort of gift to his people. In Nigeria, this is an unprecedented feat. No governor before Shema was able to achieve such. Indeed, many such funds invested ended up disappearing into deep pockets of those governing. In this wise, therefore, Shema deserves the commendation of all people of goodwill wherever they may be. He must be seen as a rare example of governance with responsibility and utmost patriotism. And political differences should not deny him this pride of place.
The above example buttresses, in a big way, the fact that Shema served as selflessly as possible, and that the cost of projects he executed were some of the lowest, given the example of a smaller structure executed in another northern state.
Should the present administration in Katsina continue what in some quarters is described as witch hunt of Shema? Definitely it is within its right to do so, but only because of political expediency.
Already, there are deeply entrenched views in Katsina that Shema’s legacies are impossible to match, not to talk of surpassing. And if this viewpoint is allowed to go on unchallenged, it will spell doom to the incumbent government which has just started a first term, and will want to finish it on a high and win a second term of office.
In saner climes, since government is a continuum and there is always a lot of work to be done, the expectation is that upon coming to power, the incumbent administration will roll out the drums and hit the ground running, as Shema did when he assumed office, to make life better for the good people of Katsina. This is only achievable with little or no distraction, even more so as time waits for no one.
Already, more than one-tenth of the four year period is gone, and there is the danger in Katsina that if the current slow standard is maintained, not even half of Shema’s legacies could be met, and the pull him down project in place would at the end of the day not work, because the people are not fools. They know what Shema did to uplift their state and make life better for them, and they feel that in their everyday lives.
The people cannot, for example, forget Shema’s unprecedented achievements in education, particularly in taking girls off the streets of Katsina and making them better future mothers and leaders by getting them educated. They recall the incentives given to mothers, which made school enrolment a top target for those homes that considered western education prohibitive. Throughout the state, parents did not have to bother about payment of WAEC and NECO fees for their children, and many did not also have to enrol their children in private schools because the structure and facilities Shema provided were better and will still be enjoyed by the people for many, many years to come.
The people of Katsina also recall, with nostalgia, Shema’s strides in agriculture and in reducing poverty. The Zobe Dam he spared no effort to transfer ownership from the federal to the state government has been ensuring a major boost in irrigation. The Songhai agricultural initiative, introduced in the three senatorial zones, and based in Daura, Katsina and Funtua had gone a long way in ensuring farming is made more attractive to youths. Through this initiative, thousands of youths were lifted off the streets and made useful to the society, accounting for why under Shema, Katsina was one of the most peaceful states in the Nigerian federation.
At a time most states were owing billions of naira in salary arrears, Shema ensured Katsina civil servants were paid without fail. He did not owe for even one day, but rather left billions of naira in the state treasury that the new administration had used to continue paying the civil servants.
As stated earlier, no one is stopping Masari from investigating Shema, but it is a whirlwind which will bear neither him nor anyone any good. Of course palace courtiers, many of who regard Shema as an enemy, will not allow the governor see or accept this. But it is necessary for Masari to realise that at the end of the day, these palace-courtiers will not be blamed. Indeed, chances are that they will ditch him when he vacates power, given the opportunism of many a Nigerian politician.
Governance cannot be done by instituting endless committees, as Masari is doing, especially in our clime where most committees serve only the interest of the person setting them up. The hundreds of millions appropriated to the numerous committees by the Masari administration can be spent in productive sectors of the state economy. And doing less with them will speed up governance by reducing redtape.
Given the legacies bequeathed by Shema, which are too numerous to mention here, the major task before the Masari administration is the sustenance of these unprecedented efforts, because at the end of the day, what should matter are the good people of Katsina, and not the political party one belongs to. And no time should be spared in building on these achievements and creating even more, so that at the end of four years, the people would look back and remember Masari in the same breath as Shema.
*Uba wrote from Wuse Zone Seven, Abuja.
