Umar Namadi, the Jigawa State Governor, is an astute administrator and a chartered Accountant by training and profession. With a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, he became a chartered accountant in 1993. He also holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), from Bayero University, Kano.
He worked with Dangote Industry, where he rose to the position of Group Financial Controller. He was appointed as the Jigawa State Commissioner of Finance and served in this capacity for four years, before he became Deputy Governor of the State from May, 2019 to May 29, 2023.
In this exclusive interview with the General Manager, Northern Operations, BusinessDay, Bashir Ibrahim Hassan, Namadi, popularly called “Danmodi”, symbolizing entrepreneurship, knowledge, decency, humility and commitment to public service, speaks of his clear vision to lift Jigawa to greater heights, as embedded in his 12-point agenda, based upon which the people of his State voted him into office in the just concluded 2023 elections.
Your Excellency, let’s meet you and share your vision.
My vision is embedded in my 12-point agenda. These cut across education, health, water resources, agriculture, environment, ICT, and other equally critical spheres of human endeavor. It’s the vision of a greater Jigawa state, the exact title of the 12-point agenda. To show our intent from the start, we have inaugurated a 16-member State Executive Council of people appointed based on their competencies, their reputations and their exceptional capabilities. Our vision is to simply take Jigawa to the next level in development terms.
What strategies do you plan to deploy to boost the economy of Jigawa state and achieve the laudable objectives of transforming the state?
The strategy is to get the right people in the right places. In addition to the right people as Commissioners, we also have a veteran administrator as Secretary to the State Government (SSG). Also, in the next few days, we will announce the appointment of seven technical advisers who are professionals to the core as Technical Adviser on Health, Basic Education, Higher Education, ICT, Energy, Environment and Agriculture. In addition to these, the Civil Service, being the critical engine room that will drive government policies, will be rejuvenated through training, retraining, discipline and enhanced welfare.
Jigawa, no doubt, is one of the safest in terms of security. Looking at the vast land, can you talk us through the investments you would like to bring in to strengthen agricultural production and improve IGR in the State?
One of the major objectives of this administration is to develop the entire agricultural value chain. We will also review the agricultural policies to ensure that they meet our expectations. In addition to these, we will try to expand our cluster system of farming, a system introduced in 2016 that has really boosted agriculture in Jigawa State. We will boost dry season and rainy season farming. As you know, the cluster farming is a situation whereby people are divided into clusters and a piece of land of about 50 to 100 hectares is given to them, together with inputs and extension services. At the end of the harvest, they pay either in cash or in kind and when they are paying in cash, it will be based on the prevailing market price. So, we will expand the system to cover the entire Jigawa State. We will also try to expand our irrigation facilities and encourage about three sessions of farming every year. We will also encourage investors in out-grower schemes, as well as establish processing factories. With that, more people will be involved and we will be able to expand production. We are focusing on rice, sesame, hibiscus, wheat, groundnuts and millets. We will improve the varieties and provide extension services to them.
You are familiar enough with the state of the state’s economy. Please tell us about the IGR, specifically. To what extent do you plan to boost it?
The IGR has been very low and this is because of the low levels of economic activities. Before you introduce tax, you should be able to know if the economy can absorb the shock that its introduction will bring to the family. So, first, you need to build up the economy. Over the years, this is what we have been doing and we are confident that we will achieve it. Under our 12-point agenda, we hope to, within the first two years, raise internally generated revenues, at least by at least 49% of what is coming from the Federation account. We are also trying to reorganize the Board of Internal Revenue to explore several other options for increasing our IGR without necessarily creating a burden on the people. We are conscious of the economic status of our people. So, I am assuring you that the 49% target will be realized.
Your Excellency, what should Jigawa people expect to see specifically in the area of Youth empowerment and education?
As you can see, the two are a part of the 12-point agenda. In terms of education, the first thing we did was to break the Ministry of Education into two — Basic and Higher Education. With this, we have two seasoned educationists managing the sector. Just recently, we appointed a renowned Professor as the Executive Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), supported by very competent members that will assist him. We are going to appoint two very competent advisers who will be given targets, as well as SSAs on Education, who will report directly to the Special Advisers. This is in addition to SSAs on Monitoring and Evaluation who will monitor attendance in schools and how the curriculum is being implemented in the schools, as well as projects being executed in the local governments. The Special Assistants will also report to the Special Advisers on Education. These are the new structures coming up. In addition, we will narrow the deficit gaps in quality in both the basic and higher education sectors. We will also introduce serious disciplinary and rewards mechanisms to ensure that people do what is right. We will strengthen budgetary provisions in the education sector, which is currently about 32%. We will maintain the trend. We will also strengthen human capital development to strengthen the quality of teaching and learning in the sectors. We are also going to lay emphasis on ICT, because we feel it will help us cover the gaps.
Also on Youth empowerment, we have created the Jigawa state Agency for Youth Empowerment and Employment, headed by a seasoned administrator, as the Executive Secretary. Currently, the agency has a portal that will take a census of all unemployed youth and their qualifications as part of efforts to strengthen our data base.
I will keep our source of funding for this project close to my chest. This is because we are trying to create an independent funding that will give us the opportunity to train and empower as many as of our Youths as possible. When trained, we will equip them with the necessary tools to work with. The training will be well structured to focus on demand base. It will be demand-driven training. At present, we have seven skills acquisition centers in Jigawa and we are going to re-evaluate and re-equip them where they lack the basic equipment. We have commenced discussions with a German agency, and we want to replicate those training acquisition centers across the State, as mentioned earlier. The training will be for professionals to help us create the necessary middle manpower. We are targeting the gas industry that is currently booming in Nigeria. We are developing welders and other artisans and technicians whose skills will be required across the country — not only in Jigawa state. So that they can work anywhere their skills are needed.
At the recent CEO conference hosted by BusinessDay, which Your Excellency attended, the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, was full of commendations for the rice factory you established in the State (which was before joining politics), whose rice product was of high quality and could be found in major Super Markets in the country. He said, as the then Minister of Agriculture, his Ministry had to look for you, commend you and support your factory. What is your comment on that?
As you know, I came from the private sector and specifically, I rose to the position of Group Financial Controller at the Dangote Industry. So, I developed the interest in manufacturing and was passionate about raising projects that will empower my people. Again, in Jigawa, we produce a lot of rice and I was surprised that there were no rice processing factories in the state. The one in existence then was old and was not functioning well. So, I started the factory on a medium scale because I didn’t want to go for loan. After six years sojourning with Dangote, I told myself that if the factory has to continue, I must relocate to Jigawa to be able to run it. So, I decided to move on. I had to invest my severance package into the business and we were doing as many as 20 tonnes per day of rice processing. The quality was very good and we created jobs for several youths. As at that time also there were very few rice processing factories in the country. When I left Dangote, I was appointed into the National Health Insurance Scheme, but I later came back to take over the management 100% and things were doing better. The factory is still operating, but, unfortunately, we have not been able to expand it more than that because of the huge capital outlay required.
How will this experience help you in assisting investors who may want to come to Jigawa to invest, since you have been through the process yourself?
We were the first to embark on out-grower schemes in Jigawa state. We just give you money to buy inputs and at the end of the day, you bring your rice and we value it at the prevailing market price. A lot of our people were empowered through that. It was very successful. I know that even as a private person, I used this to help improve the lives of so many people. When I was doing this, I wasn’t expecting any rewards, but, today, that singular thing has helped me greatly. Even though I may have forgotten what I did to people, yet many of them didn’t forget. So, talking about investors who may want to come here, I can assure you that they will have a lot to gain from us. As someone who has been through the process, I know where the challenges are and I can help them and guide them on how they will do it better because we have the experience.
For investors interested in coming to Jigawa, what will you say you have that is very competitive and which your administration offers them?
We have the land, which many states cannot boast of. Secondly, we are the most secured state in Nigeria. God has helped to protect us. One of the most important factors investors are looking for today in Nigeria is security. In Jigawa state, labour is in abundance and it is very cheap and, as you know very well, Jigawa has been ranked very high on Ease of Doing Business for a very long period. The last evaluation rated us as number 2 amongst the 36 states and FCT. So, the environment for business is very conducive and very attractive.
Looking at your ascendancy from the position of Finance Commissioner to Deputy Governor and now the Governor, what would you say was responsible for this — was it planned or it just happened by accident?
First of all, I give thanks to the Almighty Allah who gives power to whom he chooses. From the onset, I went into politics because I wanted to help my people. They were being exploited without anyone to speak for them. At the time I joined the APC, nobody gave us a chance because it was entirely a PDP dominated environment. My local government was considered to be the backbone of the PDP. But we trusted in God because He knows why we entered into politics. Many were therefore surprised that we were able to defeat the PDP. God helped us. I was in Abuja when my name was submitted as Commissioner to the Jigawa State Assembly for screening. To be fair to the Governor, he never contacted me. Maybe he knew that if he had contacted me, I would reject it and he knew that was what I would do. But because he took me by surprise, it would have been an embarrassment for me to say “No, I don’t want it.” So, that was how I became the Commissioner. That was how he also made me his Deputy Governor. Even the Governor, too, I was here in Abuja on an official assignment, when he asked me to go get the form for Governorship. I never believed that I would become the Governor. Because he is my boss, I could not tell him no.
You have promised to rejuvenate the Civil Service to become more effective. We are also aware that you have set up a committee on some allegation of corruption in relation to the Agricultural farming project in the State. Can you talk us through how you intend to tackle corruption in Jigawa?
Well, like I said, this position is a trust and we are very conscious of the fact that, one day, we will stand before the Almighty Allah to give account of how we handled this public trust. So, we are very conscious that this will definitely happen and nothing will stop it. I think it is only fair that we do whatever we can do to safeguard this public trust. The people we are serving believe we can do something for them. If you look at them, you will see that they need that help. You as an intermediary trying to stop that help from getting to them, certainly, we cannot take that. That was why we decided that we will set up that committee and whatever comes out of it we will implement it 100%
What legacy do you want to leave behind?
Certainly, at the end of my administration, I want to look back and say that I have moved Jigawa forward and that the vision of making it great has been achieved. I hope and pray that this will happen, Insha Allah.
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