Why I will prioretize IGR – Sokoto LG chairmanship candidate, Shehu

Mustapha Shehu is the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for the Sokoto North local government, in the council elections scheduled to hold on Saturday. A journalist, Shehu was Director Press during Attahiru Bafarawa administration and before his nomination as aspirant, he was a Special Assistant to Governor Aminu Tambuwal. He spoke to select journalists on what the people of the local government area should expect from him. Excerpts:

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, just officially confirmed you as its candidate for the chairmanship of Sokoto North local government council election. What should the people expect from you? 

Sokoto North is a metropolitan local government council. It enjoys many development projects from the state government because the state is located within it. So, roads networks, hospitals, major water projects, environment, etc are mostly provided by the state government. After we are elected and assume office, we will therefore complement state government’s efforts by providing and rehabilitating such other facilities and amenities like boreholes, clinics, and much more. We will undertake tour of public facilities, assess them and map out strategies of putting them in functional condition in order for these facilities to provide the needed services for which they were constructed.

Women are a vital segment of every society. We will therefore pay special attention to empowering women to become self-reliant. We will train them to have vocations in viable areas of trade so that, they will, at the end contribute their qouta in handling domestic issues. We will look at what our relationship is with the state universal primary education board and explore ways to maximize the opportunies to put our primary schools in good order. We will ensure that we straighten, within our confines, primary education which is the basics of every other education standard. Another area we will give priority if agriculture, which also within our powers, we will assist the state government in boosting in order for our farmers have bumper harvests towards food security.

To be able to provide service to the people, you need funds. How do you intend to have more funds independent of federal allocation to execute projects?

Internal revenue generation is key. So, we will study the current revenue generating systems to see how we can optimize it for enhanced tax returns. We will aggressively explore other systems of revenue generation that have been neglected explored. Sokoto North local government has good revenue generating sources that, if well harnessed, will do much to help boost our financial standing.

I think this problem has been addressed and is still being addressed by state government through a staff verification exercise. The government started with state workers and have started with those of the local government councils. I think once this is done with, we will not have such problem again. We will inherit a clean payroll where only existing workers are reflected. It’s a big task that the state government has taken off our shoulders.

I think I am well prepared though it is a big challenge. I should not afford to fail because the people have confidence in me. Many have described me as an honest, trustworthy and hard-working person. One should not afford to prove them wrong. I am prepared to ensure honesty and fairness. As a journalist and perceived critic, if I fail journalists would be ssen to have failed. My friends and family will be seen to have failed. On the other hand, if I try my best to serve my people well, we all shall take the credit.