Governor Danjuma Goje of Gombe State is one person who is gradually showing his national leadership credentials. In the past six years of being governor, he has shown tremendous leadership qualities. He has overwhelmingly impacted on the lives of the citizens of Gombe in three areas: water supply, education and the new International Airport, starting almost from scratch. Still, what makes Governor Goje tick, according to observers, is his background and education which shape his philosophy of governance.
When Goje was sworn in as Governor, Gombe had no tertiary institution. As the governor himself told this magazine. “The state had no single institution of higher learning. Both the primary and secondary schools were comatose.” But he set for his administration the task of overhauling special science secondary schools, improving welfare package for teachers, establishing tertiary institutions in the state, setting up scholarship awards to deserving students as well as training and retraining programmes for teachers. Goje’s signature project in the education sector is the Gombe State University, established in 2004.
His other major achievement is the construction and upgrading of the Gombe State Airport to international status.
Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State
Of the present crop of governors, one who is capable of taking over the mantle of leadership in Nigeria today is Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State. Not only is age on his side–he is one of the youngest governors in Nigeria today–he is also well educated. A medical doctor, he is currently serving his second term in office.
And he has several landmark achievements to show for his stewardship. Some of them include the greening of Ilorin, Joint Project execution with local government councils, constant supply of electricity, agricultural development and job provision.
Six years of Saraki as governor has seen the state taking giant strides. In Nigeria today, the state is probably the only one that can boast of electricity supply for most hours, made possible by the Ganmo Electrification Project initiated 26 years ago but neglected by successive governments in the state over the years. TheNEWS investigation reveals that the Saraki administration has undertaken to complete on his own National Integrated Power Project, NIPP.
Donald Duke
Even before he left office as governor of Cross River State in May 2007, Donald Duke had been touted as a likely successor to former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Apart from his youthful disposition and confidence, Duke’s achievements during his eight-year rule of Cross River State was characterised by infrastructural and human capital development. All these, make him suitable for the presidency.
More so, Duke’s effort at attracting investors and tourists by elevating the Calabar Christmas Carnival to an international height plus his administration’s construction of the multi-million dollar TINAPA Resort Centre and the upgrading of the Obudu Cattle Ranch recommended him to many Nigerians as a very capable leader.
Duke himself believed if performance in office was a yardstick for measuring eligibility for the office of the president, his achievements would speak for him. Some of these span the agricultural sector, where various cash crop plantations were established. Roads and bridges linking many towns with the central city centre were also constructed and upgraded. Also, boreholes were sunk in various communities to ease the problem of water shortage.
Whether in the area of electrification, healthcare, education, poverty alleviation, culture and tourism or internally generated revenue, Duke made his impact felt.
Governor Lamido Sule
Few years back, a journey through Jigawa would have presented to any traveller the spectacle of a state that lacks the essential ambience qualifying the region to be a state in the first place. In most parts of the state, the picture of scanty development and rural existence was clearly painted. Even the capital, Dutse was lacking in the trappings of a capital, many years after the state was carved out of Kano State.
Lack of basic infrastructure continued to repel investors who found no attraction in the economy of the state which revolved around subsistence farming with outdated tools and methods. But on assumption of office as the state Governor, Sule Lamido immediately embarked on a journey to turn the fortunes of the state around.
Propelled by a zest to inject life into the state, Governor Lamido embarked on visible projects to improve living conditions. Provision of basic infrastructure like good roads, housing and water supply became the paramount assignment. For starters, 900 housing units were built in Danmasara and Shuariah areas. With the wave of construction came ample job opportunities that hitherto never existed in the state.
A manifestation of Lamido’s compassionate trait is the unprecedented allocation of N28million monthly to the physically challenged, numbering about 4,050 as of 2008. Able bodied citizens are also taken off the streets and enrolled at various vocational centres dotting the state. The aged are also catered for in the scheme.
Raji Fashola, SAN
Though relatively unknown before the 2007 governorship polls, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State has, through his development efforts and administrati2ve acumen become the darling of many Nigerians. His firm grasp of good governance techniques is so evident that some are even beginning to call for his ascendance to the presidency of the nation.
Yet before he was elected in 2007, many critics even within the Action Congress, his own party, did not believe he could deliver the dividends of democracy. In their reckoning, he was not the typical Nigerian politician, trained in the murky waters of gutter politics. Besides, this group of critics was so sure that Lagos was too complex for a neophyte to run.
Two years after, however, the wildness of Lagos has been tamed by Fashola who has so far distinguished himself in the areas of environmental renewal and infrastructure provision. Fashola has taken steps that confounded even the most recalcitrant critics to make sure his mega-city dream, where traffic will flow freely, is a reality.
To achieve this, he began getting rid of miscreants and illegal traders from such grey areas as Oshodi, Ojuelegba, Tinubu Square, Falomo and Apongbon. He redesigned roundabouts, expanded roads and intersections and installed street and traffic lights.
Fashola is also on the verge of making history by constructing an estate on the Atlantic Ocean. Known as the Atlantic City, the project is expected to be one of a kind in Africa when completed.
Nuhu Ribadu
Nuhu Ribadu, the immediate past Executive Chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is currently a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development.
Born in 1960, Ribadu studied law at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State. That was from 1980 until 1983, receiving a Bachelor of Laws degree. He was called to the Bar in 1984. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him EFCC boss in 2003 and reappointed him in 2007. But he was removed and sent for a course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, in Kuru, Jos and, eventually, sent out of the Police Force.
In spite of this humiliation, Ribadu has nationwide and cross-continental appeal because of his anti-corruption crusade, which ran many advance fee fraudsters aground and ended in the conviction of corrupt people.
His strength is his incorruptible nature and cross-ethnic appeal
Atiku Abubakar
Atiku Abubakar, the Turakin Adamawa, the former Vice-President of Nigeria was a major force, holding the late General Musa Yar’Adua’s political apparatus, People’s Democratic Movement, PDM. But when things fell apart between him and Obasanjo, Atiku joined the Action Congress, AC, on which platform he contested the presidency and lost.
But in a dramatic U-turn, Atiku went behind his colleagues in AC and met with his arch-enemy, Obasanjo. To critics who now call him a political almajiri, that was political suicide because, he cannot be trusted in PDP, neither would AC confide in him any longer.
However, he is now trying to work with Major General Muhammadu Buhari to form a mega party. But whether the chemistry of the two men can fuse is another matter.
Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari, a former Nigerian Head of State, was the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP.
A passionate, incorruptible patriot, Buhari’s problem is his party which has compromised and has, therefore, been weakened by the ruling PDP.
Patrick Utomi
Patrick Utomi, the presidential candidate for the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the April 2007 elections, is young, intellectual and cosmopolitan
Born in 1956, Utomi is a fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria. He used to teach at the Lagos Business School (Pan African University) as Director of the Centre for Applied Economics.
By Teeco Designer
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