On assumption of office on 29th May, 2023, Governor Dikko Umaru Radda of Katsina State came with the Building Your Future Strategic Policy, which is to recreate the state and make the people live more amply, with the provision of physical and economic infrastructure.

Radda, while campaigning for the office of the governor, traversed the length and breadth of the state, including bandits’ enclaves, to have a firsthand knowledge of the problems and desires of the citizens of the state across the 361 political wards.

With his vision of leading the government that exists to build the future of the indigenes, the governor rolled out his sleeves and began his project’s revolution to actualise the citizens’ desires for a balanced development and an enhanced quality of life for the present and future generations.

He drew up well thought-out and exhaustively researched programmes and policies anchored on improved security; aggressive transformation of education, health, agriculture, water supply and urban renewal with boundless opportunities for citizens to pursue their goals and realise their potentials.

Security, being the cornerstone of Governor Radda’s future building project, is given the desired attention because the governor had created the Ministry of Internal Security and Katsina State Community Watch Corps in which 1,500 youths from eight frontline local governments are recruited and trained.

The sum of N560 million has been approved and released by the Radda-led government to be used in purchasing security equipment for personnel of the newly-established Security Watch Corps in order to augment the efforts of conventional security agencies in the ongoing onslaught against terrorists and other criminals.

Similarly, N7.8 billion has been expended by his government on procurement of 10 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), 65 Hilux vehicles, 700 motorcycles, surveillance cameras and other security gadgets. He also doled out N20 million as financial assistance to victims of terrorism, including security personnel. He equally enacted a security containment order.

His government has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to establish Peace Hubs and Preventive Facilities with a pilot project in Jibia to help reverse the threat insecurity has created in the state. A security advisory committee has also been inaugurated by Governor Radda-led government.

These, among other notable gestures, institutionalised Radda’s revolving security strategies to deal with security challenges hitherto pervading farming communities in 24 out of the 34 local government areas of the state.

On education for instance, Governor Radda had laid the foundation for the construction of three pioneer modern schools across the three senatorial zones of the state. The schools, when completed, will set standards for educational excellence and create equality and equitable access to education for residents, thereby reducing regional disparity in educational opportunity.

Interestingly, admission into these uncommon schools would be purely on merit irrespective of religion, tribal, region or political affiliations of the qualified students.This signifies Governor Radda’s dedication and commitment to fostering innovation, modern teaching practice and the state educational system. 

To avert manpower shortage in the education sector, the governor has absorbed 7,325 teachers on the state government’s S-power programme, part-time teachers and volunteers into the state civil service after thorough screening and examinations. This gesture has been described by the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the state as a giant stride towards rejuvenating the education sector in the state.

The government in collaboration with the World Bank through its Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, has commenced the construction of 150 new junior and senior secondary schools across the 34 local government areas of the state.

Each local government in the state would have at least two junior secondary schools and one senior secondary school in line with the national policy on education. The 150 schools, which comprises 90 junior secondary schools and 60 senior secondary schools, are to be built in two phases.

The architectural design of the schools shows that each school would have 10 classrooms for junior secondary school, while the senior secondary school would have 12 classrooms, multipurpose laboratory, chemistry, physics, biology laboratories, as well as latrines and a stable water supply system.

With technical support from Radda’s government, the Bank also distributed a whopping sum of N100 million each to 15 additional secondary schools, amounting to N1.5 billion for renovation under its AGILE mega grant.

A comprehensive needs assessment has been conducted by the governor in the state’s health sector to resuscitate its comatose nature. Thus, he has inaugurated two dialysis centres and increased the number of beds in the centres from two to 16 for effective and efficient healthcare delivery.

Governor Dikko Umaru Radda has graciously awarded foreign scholarships to 41 indigenes of the state to study MBBS at a recognized university in Egypt and disbursed N744 million for their two-year tuition fees and upkeep allowances.

His government also recruited an additional 94 health personnel for the secondary health facilities, including medical doctors, nurses, midwives, medical lab scientists and pharmacists in order to boost the health sector.

While the entry point for medical doctors has also been upgraded, the Radda’s led   government has reviewed residency allowances upwards. He built and equipped a 12-bed kidney centre that will provide dialysis and other care for patients with renal diseases at the cost of N680 million.

The governor’s plan is to expand the facility with more dialysis beds and other care facilities. 3,470 HIV testing kits and other essential consumables were recently procured and distributed by the state government to 347 primary healthcare centres in the state. These include; HIV reactive testing kits (RTKs), 500gm of cotton wool, 100 methylated spirit, registration booklets, HIV referral forms, monthly summary forms and patient folders.

Invariably, Radda’s investment in healthcare is focusing on efficiency and affordable healthcare for the people at the primary healthcare centres without neglecting the secondary and tertiary levels of healthcare across the state.

As a trained agriculturalist, the governor has finalised a new extension service programme that will introduce extension farming and increased the numbers of extension workers from 72 to 600 as he prioritised the agro-economic development of the people of the state.

Unarguably, the establishment of Katsina Irrigation Authority, will also revolutionise agriculture by providing sustainable water resources, boosting crops yields and ensuring sufficient food production and security in the state.

This agency will facilitate efficient water management practices, reduce reliance on rainfall agriculture and mitigate the effect of climate variation. It will equally provide responsible water use, minimise wastage and enhance the overall productivity and resilience of farming communities.

By developing and focusing on irrigation farming, Katsina State under Governor Radda is taking a very bold and significant step towards economic diversification, job creation and poverty reduction in the state through agriculture.

On social support, Governor Dikko Umaru Radda had graciously purchased 40 buses for the Katsina State Transport Authority. 15 of the buses are being used for inter-city services and the 25 are for intra and inter-state services respectively.

Various water projects initiated by the previous administration of Governor Aminu Bello Masari had also been completed by Governor Radda within his first one year in office. He has spent N400 million to upgrade the Ajiwa water treatment plant and pumping station with new high-lift pumps, raw water submersible pumps and pipelines.

The government also expended N1.4 billion on water treatment chemicals and diesel in the past year across nine water treatment plants and arrangements are on pipeline to adopt renewable energy to tackle diesel consumption.

To address flooding in the state, Radda’s government has allocated and expended N570 million for various flood and erosion control measures. The government in collaboration with the World Bank also funded the Acresal Project to construct stormwater drainage management infrastructure. 

Thus, the Katsina metropolis phase II is progressing for N11.2 billion, while the construction of phase II intervention Riverbank protection for Jibia town and a flood control emergency site are ongoing at the cost of N10.8 billion.

With these numerous unrivalled transformations and achievements through sustainable future building projects in just one year, analysts argued that Governor Dikko Umaru Radda may perform better than his predecessors.

Culled from Katsina City News Magazine