Truth is, It requires more than reeling out revenue figures generated by the state to assess performance and or throw away government efforts. It’s not how much a government generated that matters. What matters is how the generated revenue is applied whether fairly and justifiably or not. The billions being reeled out as revenues generated by Katsina State Government are the billions being paid contractors for the roads being built across the state, the renovated and rejuvenated schools and hospitals in our local communities, the numerous innovative poverty alleviation programs carefully designed to uplift living standards and indeed the general facelift Katsina State has been receiving from the inception of this administration to date. Yet, this general facelift is being skillfully avoided in the ongoing generic Katsina political conversations. We should go down to the specifics as contained in the regular press releases of the government aimed at carrying citizens along in their affairs. 

It’s disingenuous when only one column of the Katsina cashbook is being read to the gullible public for the purpose of accountability. Common sense, fairness and development-induced logic should expect more than mere generated revenue of the state to assess the quality of governance. It should entail a forensic review the of sectoral expenditures within the corresponding period of revenue generation as always provided after every State Executive Council meeting. 

Here, one doesn’t need to highlight the laziness of the mischief-laced interrogation methods adopted mostly the opposition to downplay the functionality of the government for obvious reasons. For instance, Governor Radda is constantly being reminded about his promise to run an open government for the purpose of accountability.  The video of the governor promising to do so is still circulating, obviously intended to mock him. Funnily, those adopting the video as a tool to embarrass him are only mocking themselves beside putting their intellectual credibility on the line. 

First, we have to understand (I know we can easily agree on this), that the job of a governor is as tasking as it’s time-consuming hence no governor could have the time and convenience to make and release regular videos of himself explaining how he spent every revenue accrual to the state. Instead, there are easy, standard and globally accepted methods for tracking government’s expenditure in a “Gwamnati-bisa-faifai” manner to ascertain accountability or lack of it. Somehow, for unpatriotic political objectives or simple laziness, approved methods of interrogating governance are ignored or absolutely abandoned in favor of a disingenuous option of exploiting the naivety and gullibility of a largely less exposed to governance segment of the society by reeling out big figures they could barely make sense of and claiming same has been stolen. 

Let me explain the concept of “Gwamnati bisa faifai” as against the distorted version being traded by the opposition as a score against Governor Radda. 

Since inception, the administration of Governor Radda has carried citizens through all its activities. The State Executive Council is only forum which decides how public funds are applied in Katsina State as in other states. Members of the Council are the governor who is the chairman of the council, the deputy governor, the SGS, the chief of staff, the PPS and all commissioners and special advisers. This is the highest decision-making body of the state. Every action the government is to take MUST be decided and approved by this council. Contracts must be approved by this council before being awarded to individual contractors. 

To enhance accountability, Governor Radda additionally established new agencies intended to either vet government contracts and ensure fair deals for the state or monitor public funds to ensure accountability. For these considerations he established Katsina State Bureau of Public Procurement and Katsina State Anti-Corruption Commission while also establishing a Project Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department. These establishments are intended to enforce probity and accountability. 

In line with Governor Radda’s “Gwamnati bisa faifai” pledge to enforce accountability, each time the State Executive Council meets, a press briefing is organized by the Commissioner of Information alongside the DG media to the Governor and relevant commissioners and special advisers whose MDAs were affected in the week’s decisions of the council. At these briefings members of the press are always given details of decisions taken by the council and allowed questions that could further enlighten the public on the actions of the government. Not a single council meeting was conducted by the Radda administration which was not covered in this manner. 

It then deserves objective interrogation of the opposition by members of the public to mention which column of Katsina State’s cashbook is not clear enough for proper public scrutiny and verification to calculate accountability? Is it the roads being renovated or provided where hitherto none exist, is the schools and hospitals having a facelift all over the state, is it the revolutionary drive of the Radda administration in the agricultural and health sectors, the unemployment reduction by, in one instance, the unprecedented recruitment of over 7000 teachers on permanent and pensionable basis (the first in Nigeria) or is it the employment and equipping of thousands of youths to serve in the newly created Katsina Community Watch Corp which was done to lessen the incapacitation of the state to provide security for citizens? 

It’s interesting why nobody is talking about the billions spent to upset backlog of pensions and gratuities and why nobody is asking those questioning the expenditures of the state to explain in simple language their obsession with the revenue generated while displaying zero awareness with the state’s expenditures? Rather than to be sheepishly pulled by the nose, people should be asking deep questions and accept nothing less than hard facts to assess both leaders and potential leaders. 

Let me even remind members of the public that an up-to-date Katsina State’s audited accounts are available and only fingertips away on the internet for public scrutiny and interrogations. Why, then, should the conversation continue to be ruled by the loosely knitted idea that Governor Radda is not fulfilling his pledge of “gwamnati-bisa-faifai?” Isn’t the internet the digital “faifai” we should be probing Governor Radda with instead of being stuck with the idea of probing reality with metaphors? 

Of course, there are aspects of government’s expenditure that are not meant for the public and that’s not for non-subscription to accountability but for a very good and justifiable reasons. No government in the world opens up its expenditure on security for public scrutiny and interrogation because there are aspect of security expenditure that are better kept secret because revealing them could expose the weakness of the government or lay bare its strength for enemies to study and strategize. These are the global standards as could be confirmed by experts in security and conflict resolution. 

Even to a novice, is Governor Radda expected to be creating regular videos of himself lamenting the logistics and policy impediments he’s facing in handling the problem of banditry viz-a-viz his constitutional limitations or is he expected to appear regularly on television telling citizens how much human and financial he’s losing in the war? Could the bandits get better input to strategize from anybody better than from Governor Radda himself? 

These are logical rules and Governor Radda didn’t make those rules. He’s only applying them as required by the sensitivity and exigencies of the security sector and ignoring such rules could only expose Katsina State to more and bigger problems. In this case, the first rule is survival not accountability. Accountability is for the living not for the dead. 

Then why not we concentrate on discussing the positives to identify how best to improve what’s already achieved. Who could deny Katsina State is spending lots of money to sustain its onslaught on the bandits terrorizing the state? Why are some bandits kingpins opting for peace-deals if they are not feeling the heat generated by the Radda administration? This should make sense to some people and have them appreciate Governor Radda for the heavy investments he’s making to strengthen the security architecture of the state in a manner that could protect lives and properties beside telling criminal gangs it’s no longer business as usual. Just few days ago the acting Governor, His Excellency Faruk Lawal, commissioned 8 brand new APC war trucks to enhance the protection of Katsina State, bringing the total of APCs acquired by the Radda administration to 43, the largest acquisition by any governor in the north with the exception of Borno State which is leading the category for the obvious reason of the deadly Boko Haram. Why is nobody asking the price of an APC truck or the price a single bullet? These are questions that could explain the good efforts of the Radda administration for its ability to impact the state in all sectors with one hand while battling bandits with the other. 

May Allah SWT in HIS infinite mercies strengthen the administration with more wisdom and courage to bring and end to problem insecurity. 

Concluded.