Address by Engr. Rabiu Suleiman Bichi , SSG Kano State Goverment at Dandalin Siyasa AGM at Gusau, 2013

ADDRESS BY THE SECRETARY TO THE KANO STATE GOVERNMENT AT THE 2013 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF DANDALIN SIYASA HELD AT GUSAU, ZAMFARA STATE ON SATURDAY 7TH DECEMBER 2013. COURTESIES In the name of Allah, the compassionate and the merciful. May His blessings be upon our exalted Prophet Muhammad, SAW. I am delighted to have the opportunity to represent His Excellency Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State at the Annual General Meeting of one of the most important social media forum of our time, the Dandalin Siyasa. I am delighted to be among this gathering, more so because it signifies our part of the world has accepted the current trend, which involves converging online to deliberate and define What could be beneficial to us, what challenges us, how it could be remedied and all other benefits that could be derived there from. This anniversary is a proof of how far we have come in that respect. I am honored to be part of this board and will try to steer the course of this forum in the right direction, as one of its board of trustees members. The Dandalin Siyasa as an important medium of mass communication has indeed come of age and has remained one of the best veritable mechanisms of appraising the State and its instruments, the Society and happenings within it as well as the economy and its dynamics. It is in fact a source of guidance and insight to policy makers, politicians, administrators and statesmen who, in their quest and determination to serve their people in the best of ways, believe in the need for feed back or objective assessment of their actions, decisions or policies. In Kano State the administration of Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is premised upon the principle of serving the people credibly and to develop Kano State in all sectors. Being a cosmopolitan State and the most populous in the Nigerian Federation, the need of concerted and well informed approach to development is of paramount significance to the administration. We evolved mechanisms of measuring the pulse of the society in terms of the needs and requirements of citizens, their state of appreciation of government’s decisions, programs and policies and their views on how they should be governed. One of our sources of credible input in decision making is Dandalin Siyasa and of course other online social media forum. The objective assessment and the quality of contributions and commentaries by participants, their objective disposition to matters bordering on the overall common good and above all, the level of intelligence of the participants, which in our judgment, is exemplary, encourages us to from time to time, adopt some of the advises and positive criticism in implementing some of our programs. It will suffice to illustrate this point by making a reference to a particular episode involving the conduct of a Judicial Officer in Kano State who misappropriated the estate of a deceased to the detriment of heirs. Our administration monitored the commentaries on Dandalin Siyasa and pursued the matter appropriately to logical conclusion. Dandalin Siyasa is arguably a very important social media network committed to the development of the Nigerian State, particularly the northern part of the country renowned to have an excellent history of politics, administration, trade and commerce as well educational scholarship. The administration of Kwankwasiyya under Gov Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso which you coined RMK, is one of the state that runs the most transparent Government in the country. This can be attested to by the way and manner that all Government policies and decisions are published online and in national dailies as well as archiving such meetings on our website. In addition we have carried out biometric data on all civil servants including local Governments and judiciary. Kano state is also the first state that has introduced e-payment on all government transactions, and consistently enforce it. You may recall that even the CBN recognized and give the Governor an ward for this. Our government has taken education seriously. In fact our investment in education has consistently surpassed the Unesco recommend figure of 26% appropriation in the budget size to 31% for the last 2 years. Apart from the infrastructural development in the sector over 2000 students have been sponsored for both undergraduate and postgraduate studies at home and overseas. In the field of empowerment over 300,000 women and youth have so far benefitted directly from government programs under CRC, Lafiya Jari, and the 23 skills acquisition and capacity building institutes. Statistics have shown that this translates to 3million job creation. On infrastructure work on the famous wuju wuju and Sabon Gari flyover bridge which were recently awarded has started, in addition to the expansion of the 5 major entry roads into Kano, the flyover at silver jubilee roundabout, interlock paving of all our streets, traffic and street lights as well as the 5 km dualised roads in all the 44 local governments areas. Time will not permit me to recall all our achievements in the last 2 and half years, but those who leave or visit Kano will attest to the transformation going on. The ongoing construction works at Kwankwasiyya, Amana and Bandirawo cities is approaching completion. Permit me to however, observe that not all the commentaries and opinions expressed by participants are objective and well informed. Social commentary that is solely based on views and analysis from the standpoint of the observer, are often times subjective and sentimental. The process of governance and the art of politics and administration require in-depth participatory observance or meticulous scientific research in order to enable one unravel the dynamics of governance, politics and administration. The study of the environment is central and critical to understanding the complexity of politics and governance. Statesmen and administrators are guided by certain codes for their official conducts. They operate within the ambit of the laws of the society, which could rather be termed operational constraints or overriding public interest. What could ordinarily be considered to be in the interest of the citizens if put forward may, from the point of view of the law, be illegal to uphold. It is in this light that I want to ardently implore upon the multitude of our intelligent participants and commentators to strive to strike needed delicate balance between discerned societal needs and requirements on the hand and the provisions of the law pertaining to the leverage and limits of statesmen and administrators. It is imperative to stress that while it is obligatory for leaders to meet the yearnings and aspirations of citizens, it should equally be appreciated that such needs can only be accommodated in accordance with societal laws and in some cases, its norms and values and often times, in line with the overall public interest and available resources. The need for objective assessment of situations and the postulation of recommendations is thus of paramount significance on the part of social media commentators, especially those participating in Dandalin Siyasa. Finally, I want to restate my sincere gratitude to Dandalin Siyasa for the honor done to me and to my State, Kano. I pledge my support to the course and my commitment to the development to the network towards strengthening it into a strong and veritable source of credible information and data that will guide statesmen, policy makers and administrators in their efforts at charting effective road maps for the development of their respective domains. While appreciating what happened in Gusau, you will like this gathering to be jn Kano at the next anniversary, to show case the effort of this government in rebranding kano, and charting for it anew course. I extend the goodwill of His Excellency the Executive Governor of Kano State to this esteemed gathering as I request this AGM to grant my state the hosting right of next year's AGM (ISA). Thank you and God bless.