By Mannir Shehu Wurma

Local Government administration has witnessed a remarkable transformation since mallam Dikko Umar Radda assumed office in the last six months. This period has witnessed mutual cooperation between the state and the 34 local government councils in the areas of provision of social services and critical infrastructure.

Traditionally, local governments provide basic services such as water supply, healthcare, rural electricification, basic infrastructures such as rural feeder roads, education and social welfare. Major reforms by the Mallam Dikko Radda administration have gone along way in injecting more life into these services delivered by local governments in the state.

As an agrarian state which largely relies on farming, livestock breeding and commercial activities that center around agriculture, the administration has provided a wide range of assistance to farmers to boost their production in the last rainy season.

More critically, the administration has invested heavily in dry season farming by engaging 2,040 farmers, 60 from each Local Government Area, in intensive irrigation agriculture.

The governor inaugurated the irrigation scheme last year in Funtua Local Government Area. It entailed the construction of six solar-powered irrigation schemes in each of the 34 Local Government Areas with 60 farmers accessing the irrigation scheme in each Local Government Area. It also distributed fertilizers, seedlings, chemicals, constructed tube wells and trained farmers in the production of various staple foods to boost food production, commercial agriculture and food security in the state.

This is in addition to the improvement  from 72 to 600 agricultural extension agents who have been trained to provide farmers with modern farming skills to enable them compete with their peers in other parts of the world in agricultural production.

These efforts were further reinforced with the administration’s intervention in the security sector where Community Watch Corps which comprises of an initial 1,500 well-trained officers were deployed  to various communities to assist security agencies in providing security in their communities.

Last year, the state government procured 15 Armoured Personnel Careers (APCs), 700 motorcycles and 75 Hilux vehicles for surveillance in the nooks and crannies of the front line Local Government Areas.

This is in addition to guns, ammunitions, cameras, trackers, helmets, life jackets, rain boots, hand gloves and other surveillance and combat equipment to embolden the Community Watch Corps officers in the task of providing security in their communities.

This was informed by the conviction of the the administration that security should be indigenous and local in content, an approach which is a break from the old approach where communities waited for security agencies to carry out all aspects of surveillance and combat to secure their communities. This approach has repeatedly failed to guarantee security in Katsina and other neighboring states.

Under the new arrangement, the state and 34 local governments have expended over N10 billion and this all-inclusive approach has gone along way in restoring peace in many parts of the central and southern frontline Local Government Areas.

Interestedly, Mallam Dikko Radda participated in some of the security operations, notably in Zakka community of Safana Local Government Area and in the anti-drug and anti-hooliganism operations within Katsina metropolis.

The administration has also created a human security apparatus at the Local government level through an effective engagement with District, ward, and village heads. Under the system 6,652 Ward and Village Heads are given a monthly allowance of N5,000 each while Imams, Deputy Imams and Adhans receive a token of between 15,000 and 10,000 Naira each, to help with surveillance and information gathering for security agencies and the Community Watch Corps.

In the area of education, the state and local governments make regular investments in a 50:50 ratio to fund strategic schemes in the sector. Last year, N650 million was spent to sponsor 41 students to study medicine in Egypt while over 1 billion Naira was set aside for the payment of examination fees for indigenous students of the state. The state and local governments also sponsor the scholarship of students from the state in more than 100 schools across the country in the effort to build manpower for the States’ economy.

In the same vein, the Radda administration employed 7,325 teachers after they were duly screened. These teachers who now have permanent and pensionable jobs will boost manpower in the education sector.

Just last year, the state and local governments purchased 40,000 bags of grains which included rice and maze which were distributed to less privileged persons to cushion the effect of the withdrawal of fuel subsidy by the federal government.

Similarly, under the KT-Cares the Katsina variant of the Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus package, three goats were given to each beneficiary in addition to plowing machines and other agro-allied processing equipment as well as chicken and fish for breeding.

Other beneficiaries were grouped into clusters and each cluster was given N12 million to invest in commercial and agro allied ventures to help them become self-reliant.

Malam Dikko Radda has also in the last six months visited seven countries to woo investors and others sundry benefits for Katsina State. For instance, in Detroit of Michigan, United States, the Governor secured a free donation of ten containers worth of medical supplies to the tune of $10 million which will be distributed to medical facilities across the state.

He also visited South Korean investors where he established ties with ICT and and agro allied firms for partnership in Information Technology and irrigation farming respectively. In Turkey, Rwanda, and England, Radda met with investors as plans are underway to finalize terms of engagement in key sectors that are calculated to boost socio-economic development in the state.

These giant strides within just six months of the Mallam Dikko Umar Radda administration have in no small measure enhanced administration, service delivery and economic development in the 34 Local Government Areas of the state, and with more plans underway by the administration, it is hoped that the state will reap generously from the administrative acumen of Mallam Dikko Umar Radda.

Mannir Shehu is the chairman of Kurfi Local Government Area of Katsina State