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Tame insecurity, boost revenue, Katsina Gov-elect urged

Ahead of the May 29 inauguration, some stakeholders in Katsina State are upbeat about their expectations for the Governor-elect, Dr Dikko Umaru Radda. Amid daunting…

Ahead of the May 29 inauguration, some stakeholders in Katsina State are upbeat about their expectations for the Governor-elect, Dr Dikko Umaru Radda. Amid daunting challenges, they have set an agenda for the incoming governor urging him to tackle insecurity and improve the revenue base of the state, among others.

A political analyst and Head of the Department of Political Science, Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina, Dr. Kabir Umar Musa Yandak said he expected positive things to come to the state under the stewardship of Radda. He said his conviction is predicated on the level of education and the administrative experience of the governor-elect.

“Even though they say a politician can promise to build a bridge where there is no water, the way Dr. Radda went around Katsina State during his campaign and with the kind of promises he made, my expectation is he will perform wonderfully well.

“This is more so because, throughout the years, in the history of Katsina State we have not had a governor who is more educated than Dikko Radda; he has reached the level of Ph.D.

“A scholar in political science, Pluto, had advocated for leadership through ‘a philosopher king’ saying, a society will be more efficient and effectively governed by a philosopher king. That is someone who is knowledgeable enough to carry out the management of such society,” he said. 

Dr Yandaki added that apart from his level of education, Radda has been an experienced and astute administrator because he started dealing with societal management right from the grassroots level. 

Advising the incoming administration, Dr. Yandaki suggested that they should begin by tackling the problem of insecurity in the state as well as addressing the root causes of poverty.

“For him to succeed in that, I will advise Radda to focus more on rural dwellers, because that is where the problems are more rampant.

“He should leave the urban areas and move to the rural areas and help them get potable drinking water, education, agriculture, and more that will better their a lot, which will help in reducing the problems of insecurity,” he said. 

 

‘Tame insecurity, improve revenue’

Expressing their expectations from the Radda administration, the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CCSO) in Katsina state said their major concerns about the state were the issues of insecurity and resources to run the government.

Speaking with Daily Trust, the Chairman of the coalition, Comrade Abdurrahman Abdullahi, said: “Our expectation is that the incoming administration should come up with more security promotion strategies that are result oriented, and could tame the insecurity that the state is facing.

“If you have observed recently, the major outcry is that due to the major onslaught on bandits in Zamfara State by the security agencies, they have started relocating to Katsina state and that is posing a major threat to the state.

“It is therefore expected that the incoming administration should come up with more aggressive measures through collaboration with the security agencies and empowerment of local security outfits, which is the vigilantes, to face the challenge in good time.

“Secondly, the new government will inherit a huge debt, and there is a backlog of gratuity for government retirees since 2019 and this year alone, there will be about 5,000 to retire from the state and local government civil service. 

“Therefore, the most important thing is that the new government must think outside the box in mobilizing resources to run the government.

“In doing that, there is the need for the government to see how it can merge, align and realign some of the ministries and MDAs in order to reduce the cost of governance,” Comrade Abdullahi said.

He added that attention should focus also on donor agencies coming into the state and the government should ensure that it automates the revenue generation and centralize the coordination of donor intervention in the state with a view to blocking the fraud taking place when ministries are allowed to manage donor funds.

But the governor-elect seems not to be oblivious to the daunting task ahead, especially coming from a state that produced the outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari.

“Oh Allah, if you know that I will fail if this mandate is given to me, that you would not get involved in my affairs, that you would not support me in running the affairs of the state, Oh Allah give it to someone who is capable.”

This was the prayer with which Radda, concluded his few remarks during the APC governorship primaries in Katsina.

While he was making that appeal, Radda was not the person tipped by the majority of observers in the state to clinch the APC ticket as there were apparently two major contenders ahead of him. 

He was however consistent in that prayer throughout his campaign and appeared confident of winning the primaries. He won the ticket and went ahead to win the general election, winning 33 out of the 34 LGAs of the state, and garnered almost twice the votes scored by his closest contender.

 

 Campaign promises

Daily Trust reports that during his campaigns, Radda had promised the people of Katsina State at least eleven major things. He reduced these into a document, “Building Your Future Strategic Policy Document” that includes public service reform, security, agricultural, educational, and health sector reform.

Others are internally generated revenue (IGR), MSMEs, social care, land reform, traditional institutions, and religious affairs.

Radda said he would administer the state through the document on BLOCKS framework, which he explained stands for Budget, Laws, Organizations, Community, Knowledge, and Security.

This, according to him, meant that budgetary allocations would be appropriate, in accordance with the laws, through the right organizations to meet community needs. These, he added, must be knowledge-based and in a secure environment.

Born on September 10, 1969, to the family of late Barebari Umaru and Hajiya Safara’u at Hayin-Gada Quarters, Dutsinma, Katsina State, he came from the Sullubawa Royal Dynasty.

He started his early education at Radda Primary School from 1974-1980 and then proceeded to Zaria Teachers’ College from 1980-1985 for his grade two teachers’ certificate. 

Dr Radda studied at the College of Education, Kafanchan, and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, earning a National Certificate of Education (NCE) and a BTech degree in Agricultural Extension respectively.

He also went to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria where he obtained two Master’s Degrees and a Ph.D. He was a classroom teacher from 1989-1999, then worked as a banker from 1999-2003.

Radda began his political journey in Charanchi Local Government where he was appointed caretaker committee chairman in 2003. He then contested and won the election to become the Executive Chairman, of Charanchi LGA in 2005. 

Again, when his tenure ended, he was appointed as chairman caretaker committee of the same local government.

He then served as a Senior Legislative Aide to Senator Sadiq Yar’adua (Senator representing Katsina Central) at the National Assembly, from 2012 to 2014.

The period from 2013 to 2015 gave birth to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Radda emerged as the APC National Welfare Secretary, a position he held from 2014 to 2015. 

After the 2015 general elections, he was appointed as Chief of Staff to Governor Aminu Bello Masari.

Radda was appointed Director-General of the Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) on 14th March 2016 for a 5-year term in the first instance.  With the enormous experience he garnered in the public and private sectors of the economy, he was able to serve creditably, and on March 12, 2021, he was re-appointed.

 

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