By Rilwan Muhammad
Exactly one year ago on this day, a fresh leadership chapter of Gwaram local government was opened with the swearing-in of Hon. Zahraddeen Abubakar as the Executive Chairman of the council area. And aware of the responsibilities that come with being a leader in a populous society such as Gwaram and the economic resource limitation, the Chairman, having developed a blueprint on which to base his activities, began work in earnest, expending efforts to put things back to their normal shapes and get the sectors of the area back on track just so to facilitate the development of the area.
“Leadership position is ephemeral; you are in the saddle today, and tomorrow it becomes a history to tell from your end. Other people came before us, and surely, some will come after us. The ephemerality of this position always nudges me into working hard and commiting myself to the daunting task of bringing forth positive development to the good people of Gwaram.” These are always the words of Hon. Zahraddeen Abubakar.
When you have a leader who thinks in this way, rest assured that he won’t renege on the promises he made, if at all he did make one. But to the few people who understand the sanctity of promise and the ensuing result of not fulfilling it, they would prefer not to even promise; they’d rather execute the project and let the people see it for themselves. It’s often said that things are earlier said than done; that talking is easier than implementing or walking the talk.
The first few weeks into the stewardship of the Chairman, as every discerning observer can attest, saw the repositioning of the administrative services, increased productivity in civil service and the implementation of projects that are critical to the development of the council area. It was then that people began to have reason to surmise that the man for the job has finally come to take on the mantle, rekindle people’s hopes and aspirations and correct the wrong impression that “all the eggs are bad.”
As the Chairman marks one year in office, the achievements recorded so far by his administration underscore the passion he has for societal development and his commitment towards ensuring effective and quality service delivery to the good people of Gwaram; for, he has, within the year, added value to the system of governance and significantly contributed to the prosperity of the sectors of the local government.
In the area of water supply, for example, the Chairman, in the first few weeks of the administration, directed the repairs of 100 handpump boreholes across the wards of the local government. Because of the priority and importance he attaches to the sector, the repair project continued and so far more than 300 handpump boreholes have been repaired. To augment his effort, the Chairman saw the need to request the intervention of federal ministry of water resources in the construction of solar-powered boreholes and provision of other water facilities. To actualise that, he took to the office of the Minister of water resources and put the request before him, who then approved the construction of 8 solar-powered boreholes at strategic locations within the local government area. The projects – sited in Burum, Gadarayi, Fagam, Kila, Nasarawa, Zandam-Nagogo, Zandam-Ta-Gabas and Rabaɗi – have been completed.
Other notable strides in this sector were the repair of solar-powered boreholes in five communities (Nahuce, Budinga, Matsango, Dubau, Zandam-Nagogo – and the work is currently on-going in Sara, Tsangarwa and Galambi), reticulation of water pipelines and installation of public taps across the local government area.
To improve food sufficiency and boost the local economy, the Chairman reckoned that the current scale of production of most farmers is not enough to meet the volume of food demand. To address this, however, he did all within his power to secure the approval for conversion of part of some forest reserves and allocate plots of land to farmers to scale up their production in order to achieve food sufficiency and economic boom. As good farm yield is, to a large extend, a function of good agronomic practices (GAP), the Chairman constituted Agriculture, Climate Change and Natural Resources committee. Part of the mandate of the committee, as spelt out by the Chairman, was that it would be responsible for dissemination of GAP to farmers and liaising with Jigawa State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (JARDA) and other Agricultural Research Institutes to gather modern techniques of farming and weather information and transfer same to local farmers with a view to helping them base their farming operations on a scientific footing to bulwark against crop failure and ensure optimum yield.
Restoration of power supply in Gwaram remained a pipe dream until the coming of Hon. Zahraddeen Abubakar. There were dysfunctional transformers, damaged equipment and malfunctioning power facilities that resulted in the collapse of the power sector in the council area. But in what may appear as “doing it for others”, the Chairman repaired 14 transformers and procured cable wires and other necessary equipment needed for the power restoration work. He also paid official visit to the Transmission Company of Nigeria where he requested the construction of power sub-station in Gwaram, given its population and how stable power could boost the social and economic life of the people of the area. He is still following up with the request.
Disturbed by the deteriorating state of the education sector of the council area, the Chairman resolved to change the narrative by making access to quality education affordable to all. First, he started with checking duty dereliction from the side of the teachers by paying unscheduled visits to schools to see first-hand the situation of the schools. He provided exercise books and distributed them across schools, constituted a committee on education whose mandate was to roll-out ideas on how to ensure the provision of quality education to students, fixed water challenges across schools and renovated facilities in some schools to make the environment conducive to learning.
This was the reason why the management of Government Girls Unity Secondary School Gwaram paid a thank-you visit to the Chairman. Speaking during the visit, the Director of the school lauded the Chairman for his education-friendly policies and for particularly executing projects in their school – reconstruction of soakaways, renovation of student toilets, repairs of handpump boreholes and transformer, among others.
In the health sector, notable projects include renovation of five health clinics in Dikwana, Nasarawan Ƙigudu, Larkan, Bagadaza and Reɗo. Abandoned for years after their construction, the clinics have been renovated and health personnel have been deployed to man them. The project has been commissioned and the clinics have since started operation. Similarly, during the outbreak of cholera which hit hard the council area, the Chairman did well in arresting the spread of the plague through provision of drugs for the treatment of the infected persons and also addressing water challenges across the local government area to improve access to clean, safe drinking water. There were also other projects aimed at promoting public hygiene such as waste and sewage evacuation in culverts and other refuse disposal sites.
Aware of the relevance and the indispensability of peace to societal development, the Chairman was quick to set up a powerful security committee which meets at regular interval to review the security situation of the area with a view to finding proactive and lasting solutions to security challenges where they occur. Equal attention he gives to the farmers and herders conflict resolution committee he instituted. This is to check disputes over land boundary, ownership and encroachment of grazing reserves and cattle routes. The committee has so far resolved many disputes and smoothened over ill and contentious situations in feuding villages and communities across the local government area.
To enhance the operational capacity of the police, he repaired the police patrol vehicle and directed that it be serviced every month. Another stride achieved in this area is the approval secured for the establishment of police training and vocational secondary schools in Gwaram. The Chairman was at different times at the office of the Inspector General of Police, following up with the request he put for the establishment of the training and vocational schools. And soon after, approval was granted. Land for the construction of the school was already earmarked.
Other achievements recorded by the administration of Hon. Zahraddeen in the first year of his stint include: recovery of government properties, refurbishment of the local government secretariat, facilitation of the completion of NTA Gwaram, partnership with chairmen of neighbouring local government councils. For example, to strengthen ties with neighbouring communities, the Chairman visited the six local government areas of Bauchi state that neighbour Gwaram; namely: Darazo, Misau, Ganjuwa, Shira, Giade and Warji local government areas. The idea, the Chairman said, was to foster understanding, promote security and socio-economic life of the people of the communities as they are already engaged in business activities among themselves through patronage of weekly markets in some areas.
With these laudable achievements recorded in the span of just one year in office, we should rest assured that within the next few years of this effective grassroots leadership, the banner of Gwaram will be hoisted high and it will be recognised as one of the fast growing towns in Nigeria where the led see – in tangibility – the just leadership of their leader. We pray to the Almighty Allah to continue to guide, protect and give the Chairman the needed wisdom to continue bringing meaningful development to the good people of Gwaram Local Government Area. Ameen!
Happy one year anniversary in office, Sir!
© July 1, 2022