By Tina Akannam

INSPITE of the controversy that his re-election is generating on account of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN’s) petition, Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State has managed to remain on top of political activities in Jigawa State.

Undeterred by the case , Lamido has demonstrated political maturity by also ensuring that party members remain mute over the electoral litigation.

However, the appointment of  commissioners and special advisers did not come as early as expected, and when the list came out, Governor Lamido shocked many with the changes he made. The first to go down was the secretary to the state government, whom he replaced with  a seasoned civil servant, Alhaji Lawam Abdu Babura.

Lamido declared during his swearing in ceremony that “he is sure you that, only people with courage and fear of Allah in their mind that will continue to occupy positions of authority in his administration because the work in the second tenure will be demanding”.

Already some ex commissioners who did not perform during his four years are said to be worried over the ari if  uncertainty that the appointment of new SSG has created. Only seven of the 14 old commissioners  were re-appointed.

Addressing the new commissioners, Lamido said the appointments were based on merit, and declared that his next four years in office would be tough because there was so much to be achieved by his administration.

Indeed, his actions in the last 100 days  indicate that the governor is determined to consolidate on what he had done in his first four years as he claimed.

During the swearing in of the SSG, Alhaji Lawan Abdu Babura, the governor stressed that he wanted to make Jigawa state a reference point which other institutions and states would emulate. He charged the people to be ready to work hard to achieve his dream for the state. According to him, his first four years in government had been tough and rough because he started from an empty state where nothing was working. He also assured that he will concentrate mainly on the transformation of the general structures of the state in his second tenure.

His words: “My ambition is to make Jigawa State a reference point where other institutions and states will be taking a queue from. I know that the work will not be easy that is why all must be ready to contribute their best towards attaining it’.

In terms of infrastructure development, the Governor has made upward review of the ongoing projects to reflect the present economic situation in the market.

During its first executive council meeting the state government approved over N800million for the upward review of Hadejia- Garun Gabas road and State High Court complex under construction. The upward review for the 24.1 Km Hadejia-Garun Gabas was as resulted of high cost of Labour and inflation recorded within the time under review while  that of State High Court was because of the decision to redesign the roofing of the project.

Within the first 100 days, the government has also rehabilitated the N91m access road project at the Aminu Kano Triangle, square and  constructed a drainage system around Sports complex, Dutse at the cost of N173m.

Among others, the governor  approved the release of N3.6billion for the construction of township roads in six local government councils. The contracts have already been awarded to six different reputable road construction companies to start work immediately. The benefiting local government councils include, Auyo, Babura, Gagarawa, Miga and Gumel.

Governor Lamido did very well in repositioning the state educational sector during his first four years in office and has also demonstrated his determination to continue from where he stopped. He recently approved N476million to the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) as matching grant to enable the board access the UBE intervention fund for the first and second quarter of this year.

Since he took over office in 2007, the state which has been unable to assess its UBE funds because of the failure of the past administration to assess the funds through co-funding is now among the leading states in the country to assess the UBE funds.

The government also approved  N53.5million for the purchase of some basic Islamic books for distribution in Islammiyya primary schools and junior secondary schools to enhance Islamic education in the state.

Governor Lamido seems very confident of his decision to transform Jigawa State and from all indication the people are behind him. And he has  capable and seasoned civil servant and professionals to drive his agenda. How far he would go is a question of time.