Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State disclosed this while delivering his perspective as an executive governor on the topic of Oil, Peace and Development at the All Nigeria Editors Conference held in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Friday.
Governor Shekarau explained that the majority of the militants didn’t believe that peace would bring development. “If people believe that their leaders are not honest and sincere, nobody will need to tell them to fight,”Mallam Shekarau emphasised.
The governor challenged all Niger Deltans to be morally upright. “Each and everyone of us has a responsibility to play. You either keep busy in peace or they will keep you busy in pieces,”Governor Shekarau added.
He admonished political parties, journalists, teachers and other professionals in the country to cultivate the right attitude to life. He said the success of his administration in Kano was nothing but a vigorous commitment to societal re-orientation programme, otherwise known as a daidaita sahu.
He pointed out that he considered it the most important legacy that his administration would bequeath on the people of Kano, saying, “the intent is to build human beings. Kano has been peaceful because of societal re-orientation.”
He said the negative trends of violence attributed to Kano in the past could not have been reversed without attitudinal change stressing that, “unless we put ourselves into it as leaders, we will end up deceiving ourselves and get nowhere.”
Answering questions from participants at the conference, Mallam Shekarau attributed his securing a second tenure in the state to ‘shared affection and concern’ of Kano people. “We are in peace with Kano people,” he offered.
On the issue of the myriads of problems confronting the country, Mallam Shekarau enumerated the antidote to them. These are sincerity of purpose, proper planning, harnessing of human resources and effective management.
Responding to a question on a recent report that Kano city is one of the cities in the country with high rate of drug addiction, the governor agreed with the report observing that this is as a result of population burst and the booming commercial activities in the city. He, however, indicated that his administration was making efforts to stem the negative trend.
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