From:Femi Oyelola in Kaduna
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has advised the North West Development Commission that the only way it can succeed is by collaborating with the state governors of the geo-political zone.
The Governor gave the counsel when the commission’s board led by its Chairman, Lawal Abdullahi, paid a courtesy call at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House.
Governor Sani argued that as elected Governors, they know areas where the zone is lagging, adding that “if you come up with programmes as a board without working with us to have common programmes and agenda, you may not succeed.”
According to him, the people will not own such programmes which do not have the input of Governors and as such, they will not support them no matter how they are conceived.
The Governor further advised the Commission to conduct a needs assessment of what the people want, by holding town hall meetings and getting inputs from the Governors.
“But having said all this, we are ready to give you 100% support. I know that you are also discussing with relevant stakeholders, but there are no stakeholders in this critical situation than the Governors,” he added.
Governor Uba Sani advised the Board to develop its programmes and “we will sit down as North West Governors and where we need to make an input we will do so.”
“Even we as Governors don’t have the monopoly of wisdom. I urge you to hold town hall meetings, where you gather critical stakeholders to know what needs to be done.
“I think it is important to come up with plans and timelines, so that you can develop comprehensive programmes that will be implemented religiously. That is very important.
“If you do that, I can tell you that history and posterity will be very kind to you. But if you don’t do that, it will not be kind to you”, the Governor said, promising to give the commission all the support that it requires to succeed.
The Governor of Kaduna State also gave the commission office accommodation and a utility vehicle to facilitate its work.
