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New York, USA

ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE TO YOUR FRIENDS

Forwarded by: Laolu Akande

GOVERNOR BAFARAWA OF SOKOTO STATE
ACTUALLY SAID "I RECEIVE ENOUGH MONEY FROM FEDERAL GOVERNMENT"?

Ordinarily, I couldn't have cared less about meeting Governor Bafarawa. I learnt my lesson about Nigerian governors a long time ago when during the reign of Governor Onu of then Abia State (old Abia State), he came to New York and I arranged a reception for him. A rival group arranged a different reception for him at the same time within ten blocks, which he didn't honor, and I was then accused of having stolen the governor. Since then, I foreswore that it wasn't worth my while to be franternizing with governors, and though I have been invited many times to meet with some of them when they come to New York, I have steadfastly refused.

But when a friend who has supported me in most things that I do, and been to every occasion I have been honored, I have to listen when he tells me that a friend of his - a governor - was coming to town and he would like me to meet with him. I have to torpedo my reservations and answer to his call. So when Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the former Foreign Minister of Nigeria, former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, and currently Under-Secretary General and Adviser on Africa at the United Nations, called I had to answer yes.

As the "Dean of the African Media in America," as my young colleagues have conferred that title on me, I take what we do very seriously. So I went with a very open mind to meet with Governor Bafarawa. In fact, I was more than intrigued that here was a governor from the opposition party in Nigeria, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), coming to be the grand-marshal of a parade in celebration of Nigeria's 44th independence anniversary. With the bitterness that continues to becloud the relationship with the Obasanjo administration's PDP, the ruling party in Nigeria, I was a bit dubious about the motives of his visit.

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So, on Saturday on the dot at 9.10 a.m., I arrived at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in Manhattan, New York, where Governor Bafarawa had lodged. Okay, as one of my young colleagues had commented after the interview with the governor, "with all the good things the governor told us, why is it that he chose to stay at the most expensive hotel in New York". When I arrived, there were about five or six others there. I asked why were they all down there and not yet with the governor since the interview was scheduled for 9 a.m. I was told that the governor's SSG or SSA (Secretary to the Sokoto Government or whatever, I d on't know) said he was still asleep. That made me unhappy because here I was an old man, having traveled a long distance and was being told the governor was still asleep. I said that was the problem with African leaders, not keeping time. Even Nigeria's President Obasanjo has the same problem of not keeping time, like the last time he was in New York and was 30 minutes late for the UN correspondents' press briefing and cut into the time of the next president, Parvez Musharaff of Pakistan.

But presently, the SSG came down, apologized and took us upstairs. I was pleasantly surprised to find the young governor fully dressed and waiting for us. Lanky and from my height, I could say he was fully a foot taller than myself which could make him 6' 7-8". He was serious, but charmingly disarming at the same time.

Governor Bafarawa began to discuss the accomplishments of his government, actually his accomplishments, and it was then that he astonished all of us by saying that he was satisfied with the amount of money that Sokoto State was receiving from the Federal Government of Nigeria. Sokoto State, he informed us, receives about N1.4 billion every month from the Federal Government. He didn't say whether that includes the allocation to local governments. "That's a lot of money, I must confess," said Governor Bafarawa. That was an astonishing admission, because to most of us who were there, that was the first time an Nigerian governor of a state had ever admitted to receiving enough money from the Federal Government. In fact, some of them receive a lot more than Sokoto State, some even receive five times what Sokoto State receives, yet they continue to cry penury. It is not only that these states receive a lot more money than Sokoto State, it is the carcasses of abandoned projects and unpaid workers that exacerbate the lie behind their corruption.

"Throughout the five years I have been in office," said Governor Bafarawa, "I have never borrowed a kobo. In fact, I continually maintain a surplus of N1 billion in the banks." In fact, during a private evening dinner on the same Saturday arranged for the Governor by Professor Gambari, one of the guests begged Governor Bafarawa not to leave that huge amount of money in the bank for his successor. "You will be surprised how the cookie will crumble as soon as you leave office," which he said he meant that the money will be gone before anybody could do anything to stop its theivery. The governor is not allowed to run for a third term.

A highly successful businessman before he ran for office, Governor Bafarawa said he went into government with a view of running the government the way he ran his companies, efficiently. "When I took office," he said, "workers in my state had not been paid for more than three months. So when we received our first allocation from the Federal Government, I called the Accountant-General and said to him, here is the money. Pay the workers. You know, he didn't do that. He tried to manipulate the workers to go on strike. Today in Sokoto State, every worker is paid on time." I am sure workers from other states would take note and may want to migrate to Sokoto State.

"Again, when I came into office, I would ask for a file on a certain project. The file would disappear, and if it appeared, it would take maybe about three months. That's why I decided to start awarding contracts, and tell the contractors to go and start work. When the civil servants saw what was happening, they realized I was very serious." Obviously, when you would call for a file, especially a file where money is supposed to pass hands, you invariably have to cough up some money before that file emerges for action. "Every contractor in my state has been paid. We don't owe any contractor who has finished his contract."

"If my state is not number one, in terms of accomplishments, I can safely say it is number two. I have constructed more than 750 kilometres of roads. When any student in secondary school in my state comes to school, he or she has a computer to work on. I have increased enrolments in schools. Right now, I have 50 students who are in Bulgaria studying medicine. When they return, they will act as role models for others to see that they too could succeed." As to how many of those were female, he replied four. A gender question elicited a comment from Governor Bafarawa that he has an inclusionary policy, and has one woman who is a Commissioner in his cabinet. "That's a good beginning talking of Sokoto State," he said. "Why is it that they are always appointed as Commissioners for Women's Affairs," a questioner asked. "My Accountant-General is a woman, which is a very important post," replied the governor.

Governor Bafarawa again surprised everybody when he said that he couldn't criticize the Obasanjo government. "I am not going to say President Obasanjo's government is a failure or not a failure. Though I am from a different political party, we are all part of that government. If that government is a failure, then we are all failures."

Of course, the elephant within the room, as one young journalist said, was the question of Sharia, and then the introduction of fees for non-indigenes by his Zamfara counterpart, Governor Ahmed Sani Yerima. Governor Bafarawa initially became testy. "I don't want to talk about any other state, I want to talk about my state, Sokoto State." The Governor then went on to accuse journalists in Lagos of fanning the embers of controversy by just sitting in Lagos and writing all kinds of things without investigation. "Let them just leave Lagos for once and come to a state like Sokoto and investigate. In fact, during the case of Safiya Husaini, (the young woman who was sentenced to death by stoning by a Sokoto Sharia court)" the Governor began, "I decided not to say anything at all. I kept my cool. People talk about Sharia as just a question of cutting off peoples hands or stoning people to death. That's not what Sharia is about. It is about social justice. Sharia demands that you give away 40% of your revenue annually to the impoverished members of the society." (When he said this, I was thinking of the Dangotes and other Northern billionaires who, if this was true, every Northerner would be swimming in money).

"Every Nigerian is a Nigerian, no matter where that Nigerian lives. I don't believe in the indegenous or non-indegenous issue. There are hundreds of thousands of non-Sokoto people living in Sokoto, and some have lived there for more than 30 years. You can't ask them to go back to their state of origin to vote when there is an election. That would be too costly for them. Even in my own cabinet, I have an Igbo man."

"The press," continued Bafarawa, "has a great part to play in Nigeria's survival. They need to be careful how they discuss some of these issues, they need to do more investigation rather than just making up stories."

After demurring for a while, he lashed out at an suggestion that he was positioning himself to run for the presidency in 2007. "I don't know why people should be asking that question of a man who still has 2 1/2 to go on his term about running for another office. That's the problem with the press. I want to concentrate on doing the best that I could do for the people of Sokoto State. That is my immediate goal. Plus," he added mischieviously, "I have 19 children I have to take care of. Some have finished college; I still have more take care of." The Governor turned 50 years this month.

If all things were equal in Nigeria, with the kind of records that Governor Atahiru Bafarawa has compiled in Sokoto State, with his record on education, the completion of over 750 kilometres of roads, a balanced as well as a surplus budget amounting to over N1 billion, a moderate religious tolerance even from the state that seats the Muslim Caliphate in Nigeria, Nigerians would be looking seriously at Bafarawa as a man who could ascend the presidency of the country.

Unfortunately, Nigeria's politics is money politics, and already three billionaires from the North are vying for the post, assuming the ruling PDP party zones it to the North, including current Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, former Head of State and Nigerian strongman, retired Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and retired Gen. Muhammad "Buba" Marwa.

Sadly, that may not come to pass. But nevertheless, it was such a refreshing experience to see such a fresh face from Nigeria who believes in the words "service to the people."

Dr. Chika A. Onyeani is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Africa's No.1 weekly newspaper in America, the African Sun Times, as well as the author of the highly acclaimed and No.1 bestselling book, "Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success." He has two other books coming out soon.