Former Governor Sule Lamido, has been criticized by many and praised by others for his eight-year reign in Jigawa State aptly known as “The New World.”
In this interview with our Regional Editor (South), IBANGA ISINE, the former governor addresses some of the criticisms against his administration and offers a rare insight into his past.
PT: What was your primary motivation for joining politics?
Lamido: You may not believe it. I was in business and working with a company in Lagos called Chrysler at No 49 Creek Road, Apapa. We were involved in the importation of toothpastes, Vaseline, Heinz varieties, Quaker Oat, etc. It was also involved in the making of confectioneries. I was doing very well at the time. But I was very concerned about the country because I considered Nigeria as my primary constituency. In those days, I used to drive from Ijebu Ode to Ore and then to Benin and then to Uli, Ihiala to Aba from where I went to Uyo and Calabar and then went to Nsukka after crossing Itigidi River from where I came up North. Really, I knew every part of Nigeria and its traditions and the level of poverty in the country. When I left that company in Lagos in 1978 and by 1979, I formed my own company in Kano.
PT: What was the name of the company?
Lamido: Bamaina Company Limited is the name. As I was saying, I was doing well but somehow, I found myself in the then Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, a party that had a lot of concern for humanity. PRP was a party that had so much like for those who are weak, the young and the orphans. It was a party that was primarily concerned about humanity and touched by situations which were below human standard.
Besides, as a child back then in my village, I was well off by every standard and my father was very prosperous. I had a good upbringing and I was pampered and loved and I did not know hunger. But even then, I also saw the contrast in the neighbourhood where many people were poor. I did not, however, for once imagined, why I was like this or that but I was concerned about the poverty in my immediate society. I think it was that concern and what I saw when I was young in relation to my status and those of others and my faith in Islam which is all about humanity. I have never believed in being a European, American, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Ibibio, Anang etc. I have always believed in humanity. It was that single consideration that defined my political belief – what I felt about human beings, what I saw in their lives, their social status and their comfort, misery and agony. I have always been concerned about how human beings are agonized by deprivation. These have defined my political belief – humanity.
PT: After serving in the national legislature, appointed as federal minister and recently a governor for eight years, can you confidently say you have fulfilled those dreams you had for going into politics?
Lamido: Get it very clear; human beings are not satisfied with anything. Like that animal that cries “moo, moo” the more they get the more they cry for more. And there is no way any human being can get to a level of contentment. Every human being is always aiming for something higher and to me. I cannot say I was able to really attain my dream because whatever it was cannot be defined by all what I did or what is found on the ground. Leadership is all about making improvement in whatever one is doing and making things better. I cannot really say that I fulfilled my dreams. I wish I could do more. I had done my best and I cannot go beyond my limits but obviously, I wish I could do more.
PT: Jigawa, the state you governed, was and is still rated one of the poorest states in Nigeria. Are you worried about that?
Lamido: You see Jigawa State is a part of the Nigerian family and to me anywhere there is poverty or anguish, a Nigerian should be worried. Whether it is in Jigawa State or Akwa Ibom or in Lagos, it is your brother or sister who is going through the poverty. Even when Jigawa is rated as the poorest, it is a source of pain and embarrassment but I also know that it is a Nigerian problem.
When I became the governor, I assembled all the leaders of the state including emirs, malams, political leaders and others and say look, this is how our state has been rated among others in the federation and I think it is an embarrassment because in spite of all the things claimed to have been done, it does not manifest in terms of education, economy etc. Jigawa’s poverty is caused by denial and deprivation. So whatever you see today in Jigawa State came because we the people on our own decided to save ourselves from ourselves by developing the state by ourselves and rally the people to solve our own problem and then give everything we have to Jigawa State. I think if there is any improvement in the state, it was through the collective sacrifice of our people across all divides.
PT: In the course of our investigation, we found that many primary schools in the state are dilapidated and this was confirmed by the permanent secretary in the state ministry of education. What can you say to this?
Lamido: You see, if you know what we inherited, and then you will understand the enormity of the problem. But when you say that we are the poorest, it means we are also poor in education, we are poor in agriculture and in infrastructure.
We were at the lowest level with so many competing needs. When you come in and face with such situation, how do you holistically address these issues? Education is very critical, so also is health, food security and infrastructure. So you begin to think on how to apply available resources based on priority. We paid serious attention to education because when we came in Jigawa State was only voting about five percent of its budget to education. But based on the need I met on the ground and based on available resources, we had raised the budgetary allocation to the extent that we even exceeded the UNESCO target of 25 percent. This was a state that spent about five percent of its budget on education and by the time I came in, we raised it above UNESCO standard. Again because of our terrain, by the time you re-roofed one primary school, the following year, the same storm will come and remove the entire roof. So it was a continuous thing. No matter what you do, because of the area is very windy, you find that most of the roofs will be blown off.
My first commissioner for education was Prof. Ruqayyah Rufa’I, who later became the minister of education. In the first two years of our administration, we were able to address 50 percent of the schools affected by wind storm in the state. Later on, all the schools were renovated. But it was not only renovation we did because in most cases after the renovation, there was no furniture. If there were no roofs, then it means they were no furniture and enrollment was low. So when we addressed the problem of roofing, we also looked at furniture, feeding and books. It was a huge phenomenon and a continuous effort at rehabilitation. We used available resources to address these issues at every given time.
PT: If one is building a super structure, the foundation is very important. And in this case, primary education is the foundation for any educational development. How much did you spend in the primary education during your eight-year tenure as governor of the state?
Lamido: In our budgets and because of what we found on the ground we invested so much and unknown to us, we had even exceeded the UNESCO target. It is not about the quantum, it is about the budgets. It is difficult for me to say it in quantum but before I left, our primary school enrollment had increased by more than 20 percent. The rot we found was a huge thing we had addressed continuously. We were not only engaged in renovation, you know education is one huge industry in which when you get the structure, you worry about the furniture, the books and then you also look at the learning environment including the teachers who must be properly trained. We also looked at the issue of education inspectorate system to ensure that they monitor what is being done by the school management. We also set up management committees for schools and they go round to see what were being done, including the environment and the curriculum. I mean it was a huge problem.
The fact that we were able to give over 25 percent of our budget to education means we were very committed to the education of our people.
PT: If you had put that much into the system, why is it that over 70 percent of the schools we visited didn’t have furniture?
Lamido: I don’t know it when you say there was no furniture. You see, when we came in, some schools were virtually empty and then the urban schools were having over 50 pupils per classroom sitting down on the bare floor. If also look at the pattern, you will find out that in areas with high population, school attendance is more and vice versa. I don’t know what you mean when you say you didn’t see furniture. Your conclusion may be wrong because you have to look at the schools in terms of those in urban centers, those in semi-urban centers and those in rural areas and must also look at the enrollment and population. You don’t provide furniture just like that. It has to be based on the population and enrollment of pupils. When you have between 20 to 30 pupils per classroom, you don’t give more furniture to such schools. We hired very committed and professional person, who is also an educationist as my commissioner for education. And so in looking at the issue, you need to know what the enrollment in Jigawa State was in 2007 and what it was after I took over and up to 2015 to be able to know the difference.
