...Says Sokoto will not be isolated
By Abdallah el-Kurebe
The Sokoto state governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Saidu Umar has bowed that, if elected to head the affairs of the state on March 18, his administration will a government of the people, for the people, ad by the people.
The PDP candidate made the pledge during a chat with journalists in Sokoto on Monday.
According to him, on public policies, his administration will consult widely before taking major decision.
“For every policy that affects the generality of the people of Sokoto state, we will consult widely before taking major decisions, and in that consultation, we know that the majority matters. We will work with the majority, and with what is the best for the state at that particular time on that issue,” he said.
Umar further said that his administration will do a lot of engagement and consultation, because, according to him, “We have learned this over the years in the present administration of Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and we will continue on that note.”
The candidate said although Sokoto is conservative in religion and culture, the state will be opened to, not only other parts of the country but also the rest of the world.
He added that he will ensure quality governance in line with global best practices.
“We will not want Sokoto state to be isolated and for the rest of the country to be seeing us and describing us as people that are conservative. Yes, we are conservative when it comes to our religion, culture, and norms but we will want to engage with the rest of the country.
“We won’t want to go below any standard. Anything that relates to any part of the country, we will want to go into that competition and we will want to adopt it to be part and parcel of our country.
“Ours will be different as you know we are living in the 21st century, and therefore, people say it’s a digital age and the world is global so we want to be with the rest of the world and Africa.
“There are international standards for everything. We will aspire to strive to meet those standards. By the time we leave office, we will want to see a new Sokoto state where our youth will be more educated, healthier, and more engaged productively.
“Not only for the youth but for the rest of the state. That is our aim and where we will concentrate on and work very hard to ensure that whatever we are doing is measurable by standards in Nigeria and beyond,” Umar said.
He noted that since the state has low internally generated revenue (IGR), his administration will go into investments that are revenue-generating.
“Sokoto has a very low IGR. We can’t go about putting taxes on people in the name of revenue collection. Yes, we will collect taxes but we won’t overburden the public.
“The best alternative we have is for government to go into investments that are revenue-generating. In the past years, governments over the years particularly in Africa have been discouraged from going into investments saying that government should not be run like the private sector.
“We will run ours like a holding company whereby we have several investments that are bringing in revenues and sustainable inflows that are coming regularly.
“We can’t be going about every month to the federation account to take stipends like some salary earners and come and start spending the stipend where it won’t sustain us for the next two weeks.
“We will invest heavily in the private sector where we will generate revenue to assist us in running our affairs.
“Not only IGR, but we also have so many of them looking for jobs to do. If we are able to bring them up, it will help reduce unemployment through direct employment. There will also be vendors selling their products and services to those companies.
“We will also have off-takers of various products that will go and market those products. In three ways, we will have generated job opportunities in the state, and above all, if we are around or even after we leave, if government feels that these companies are no longer required, Government can divest either investor from the state or outside the state that can run them better as private entities where we can not go wholly or good enough to go wholly, we will do private public partnership,” the PDP candidate explained.
He also said that of priority will be the projection of the state to the global audience through the use of public relations specialists, and journalists.
He called on the electorates to come out on March 18, and vote for the PDP.
“We have seen the outcome of the last exercise. ours is to ensure we come out en masse to vote for our candidates in the governorship and state assembly. Not only voting but voting rightly as we have invalid votes.
“Most times, we have voters who are not sensitized on how to vote properly. Voting rightly and of course, as everyone has been saying, making sure your vote counts up to the last point of collation,” Umar, who is also the Ubandoman Sokoto, said.
