It is pleasing to note that the machinery of government has finally been put in place in Sokoto State. The political developments that preceded the formation of the executive council gave the impression of a government that is nervous and in constant fear of an impending catastrophe.
Right from the selection, presentation, unique screening and clearance of the Commissioners by the 8th State House of Assembly, to the swearing in and portfolio allocation, were apparently done in an unprecedented manner and with hands on the chest. A clearer pointer to the haste in the appointments is the fact that about 1/3 of the local government areas of the state are not represented in the council.
Still, we congratulate Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal for cobbling together his executive council and allocate portfolios earlier than he did in 2015. Observers think the government’s new found speed is linked to the Election Petition Tribunal case hanging over its head.
Its action is clearly risk sharing because the more the stakeholders, the wider the sympathizers. It is also a way of creating a false impression of confidence and security in the eyes of the uninformed party supporters. Reports had it that the governor succumbed to pressure and arm twisting before he allocated the Local Government portfolio to his Deputy. The belief is that the governor is playing into the hands of some political schemers who desire to use the sensitive Local Government ministry as a launching pad for their 2023 campaign. Or maybe the Governor was not happy with the way his new Deputy handled the Ministry during their first tenure, with allegations of recklessness, disregard for due process and display of affluence.
Let us give the Sokoto State Government the benefit of the doubt and assume that early formation of the cabinet is well intentioned. The government will be well advised to take a cursory look at its past record of dismal performance, which made it the most unpopular government in the history of Sokoto State. The Aminu Waziri administration earned a reputation of broken promises and the average citizen lost faith in it.
Sokoto is today become a city of squalor and thirst. Water shortage and heaps of refuse all over the metropolis are making life unbearable for the residents of Sokoto metropolis.
The government should develop a solution to the perennial shortage of potable water in Sokoto. An ambitious water supply scheme was inherited from the Magatakarda administration which, if completed, would have saved the government from the present embarrassment.
The Aminu Waziri administration inherited water supply schemes such as those of Runjin Sambo, Tamaje, Old Airport, Gagi and Rugar Liman which had reached advanced stage of completion by the end of the Magatakarda administration. Add these to the Asari water scheme which was completed by the Magatakarda administration, and the projects have a combined capacity of 100 million cubic liters of water.
Unfortunately, the Waziri Administration deliberately abandoned these projects. His immediate past predecessors have left far reaching legacies in the effort to provide safe and adequate drinking water to Sokoto metropolis. For example, the Bafarawa Administration gave priority to water supply in Sokoto metropolis by importing and laying 700mm ductile iron pipes from intake to New Extension water works. He renovated most of the water works and made them functional which reduced hardship of supply water to Sokoto metropolis.
Similarly, the Wamakko administration went a step further by embarking on the establishment of several new water schemes that could solve Sokoto’s water problem for decades to come. The present administration however impeded the projects, caused untold hardship to citizens and left them at the mercy of water hawkers.
The former governor of the state, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, Sarkin Yamman Sokoto, was pained by the people’s suffering that he had to provide several water tankers which supplied water to many parts of the metropolis, free of charge, during the last Ramadan period. We are now witnessing a case of scarcity amidst plenty with state resources being diverted to service personal interests. People’s needs are being neglected while huge debts are being incurred and squandered.
Sokoto metropolis is also bedeviled by poor environmental sanitation that has turned the city into one huge dump site, with the threat of imminent epidemics in the state. Today, most streets in Sokoto metropolis have been taken over by mountains of refuse. Motorists have to surrender one lane to the refuse and use the second lane for traffic in both directions. This is most common along Maituta Road near the Main Market, around Marina Central Police Station, Shehu Shagari Road particularly Majema blind curve, Tudun Wada area and Sultan Abubakar Road near Specialist Hospital. Even areas close to the Sultan’s Palace are not spared. Blocked drainages are another major problem. As the rainy season sets in, they impede the flow of water, render roads impassable and combine with refuse to create disease prone situations as well as flooding. Aminu Waziri’s administration should have learnt from history and borrowed a leaf from his predecessors. Because of their commitment to better environmental sanitation in Sokoto metropolis, both Bafarawa and Wamakko administrations purchased many 10 toner tippers and pay loaders which they used with the help of a committed and motivated workforce to tackle the sanitation challenge.
Most of these trucks and pay loaders are not on the road today due to lack of maintenance. With more resources at its disposal today, the present administration should evolve robust 21st century technology that will solve problems of poor water supply and sanitation in Sokoto. This we so demand.
Squadron Leader [rtd] Aminu Bala Sokoto is Coordinator, Concerned Citizens of Sokoto State
