Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu
By Sani Faruku Dangaladima
There seems to be a gang up against the Kebbi state government as it relates to a claim by one of Nigeria’s frontline newspaper – The Guardian which, a few weeks ago, published a purported interview with the Kebbi state Commissioner of Works Abubakar C. Ladan.
In the so-called interview, the paper quoted the Commissioner as saying, among other things, that the Kebbi state government had spent a whooping N376 billion on roads construction and rehabilitation across the state since coming to power in 2015.
The report had generated varied comments across media circles. On the social media in particular, interested parties including opposition elements had cashed in on the ‘’revelation’’ to carpet and lampoon the Kebbi state government on the claim. Many commentators, who have swallowed the report hook, line and sinker, went haywire in their condemnation, arguing on the propriety of the report and going for the jugular of Governor Atiku Bagudu.
Road construction is one of the key areas in which the Kebbi state government has given huge priority. Agriculture was about the most prioritized as can be seen in the huge successes scored by the Atiku Bagudu administration.
But the news which emanated from the publication had casted aspersion on the Kebbi state government, because even though much has been done in road infrastructure across the four emirates of the state, the huge amount quoted was beyond reasonable comprehension in view of the scarce nature of monthly allocation from the federation account.
So, understandably, many pundits not just questioned the veracity of the claim of the amount, but went further to attempt politicizing the matter in order to score not just political points but to rubbish the modest achievements of the state government.
Curiously, a denial of the figures which was quickly put together by the Kebbi state Commissioner of Works A.C. Ladan and the spirited attempts to get the Guardian to correct the misinformation failed to get a listening ear. In a Press statement issued by the Commissioner in Birnin Kebbi shortly after the publication of the contentious misleading news report, the Commissioner denied ever mentioning the scary figures quoted and in fact disowned granting the interview itself all together. He accused the reporter of writing the figment of his imagination, arguing further that even when a denial was made and transmitted to him, the newspaper flatly refused to give it the same prominence that was given to the originating report.
In the statement, the Commissioner said that the information he released quoted the sum of N57 billion as the correct amount said to have been spent by the Kebbi state government in the repairs of road, construction of new ones across the state and the construction of many bridges and drainages running into hundreds of Kilometers since 2015. The Commissioner also emphasized that the claim by the Kebbi state government was verifiable because all the roads and drainages were identified local government by local government and challenged anyone with doubts to visit the locations, interview benefiting residents and report same to refute the claims.
Pained by the refusal to apologize and correct the misinformation, Alhaji Abubakar Ladan gave an ultimatum for the reporter to correct figures or risk legal action. While the matter is still going back and forth between the two sides, it is worthy of note to say that no right thinking person would have believed the figure as quoted by the Guardian anyway. N376 billion is so scary to be contemplated. It is unbelievable that a report of this nature will see the light of the day given the figures involved when it is public knowledge that resources constraints are a reality in the context of the fiscal difficulties the country is going through today.
The fact is that at every point in its relationship with the people of the state, the Atiku Bagudu administration has been responsive with updates in the way it carries out infrastructure development efforts.
At every stage, the Governor himself has been known to brief the people of the state intermittently on key decisions and expenditure. It is therefore quite unfortunate that any newspaper would, on its own create suspicious high figures, ascribe them to the Kebbi state government when in reality the correct figures were quite low and refused to correct the figures even when a denial was made. This smacks of deliberate attempt to mislead the public, create suspicion in the minds of the people and give the Kebbi state government away as insincere and unworthy of public trust.
It is clear that opposition political parties and their sundry cohorts within Kebbi state have infiltrated the noble profession and have found readymade allies who have thrown the ethics of their profession to the dogs in order to present the ruling party in bad light as the country inches closer to 2023 general elections.
The right thing to do is for the media and all men of goodwill to join hands with the Atiku Bagudu administration to, not just continue to unveil its people oriented developmental programs in Kebbi state, but so that it succeeds in its ambitious agricultural reform policy as enunciated in the national agricultural development program of the federal government which seeks to make Nigeria self reliant in rice farming.
Kebbi state is today leading in the country in rice farming. This gain has placed Nigeria on the threshold of becoming self sufficient and on the road to attaining capacity to feed the entire West African region.
