By David Onimisi Lawani
The governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has said that banditry and kidnapping have not affected the state’s ability to attract investments opportunities in any form noting that the major challenge has been population explosion and urban-rural phenomenon.
El-Rufair who appeared as a guest in the Channels Tv good morning show said the local government council election has further unified the state because those who lost in the election didn’t perform and the referendum was on them.
He said further that banditry which is a rural-urban phenomenon a few years back but that it has assumed a different dimension. He said the state government had had to stop work in some local governments councils because of insecurity.
His words: ” Banditry is essentially a rural phenomenon. And, that is why initially we are calling it rural banditry and has now moved closer to urban areas. But when it started two and half years ago, we call it an essentially urban-rural phenomenon.
”And that has not affected the ability; to attract investments in the state. In the last two years, we have attracted more than two to three billion dollars of foreign and domestic investment into the state. We have also engaged in massive infrastructural development across the state and everywhere.
” It is only in the insecure local government. Here, I am referring to Binirni Gwari that has been afflicted with this problem for a long time. That we have had to suspend construction work of some of our roads, schools, hos[itals and so on. We have done extensively like three Metropolitan areas like Kafanchan, Kaduna, and Zaria to catch up on the infrastructural development.
Kaduna state has fallen behind others in terms of infrastructural development ”while we are facing population explosion and rural-urban migration. But, in the last two years, we have done significant investments. And this is still ongoing and this is just a foundation. I hope that our successors will continue to build on it.
” Education is the best asset you can invest in any child. I am a product of education. I am not the son of anybody but today, I am a governor because I got educated. And, I got educated in public school.
This is why we are very focused on education on ensuring the revival of public education. We have invested significantly in the last few years. We have taken unprecedented steps of sacking 22, 0000 teachers and hiring 25000 qualified teachers to improve the quality of education. And, we are investing aggressively there”, he said.
He advised that the idea of differential scores for schools most especially to the north is making the north lazy and it should not be encouraged. He noted that people should be supported to work harder so that they can compete globally.
He disclosed that the ambition of the terrorists and bandits was the closure of schools and they are happy that it is turning that way, he added that schools will soon reopen as advice by the security operatives based on security reports available to him shows it will.
”Now, the north has always been behind in education as a disadvantage region from independence even though we have been given preferences; jamb scores and all that. And that has not helped. It has made our people lazy. I guess this differential jamb and scores, I think people should be encouraged to work harder and compete. And we are preparing our children in Kaduna state to be competitive not only in Nigeria but globally. We are giving them the best possible education. Weare invests heavily in them. Weare investing in teacher’s development.
”The schools are closed now on the advice from the security agencies. That they need a couple of months to undertake massive security operations.
They are doing that and we are confident that from the next two weeks we will start the gradual opening of schools.
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We have moved many of our students from rural areas to urban schools. I am not sure we can protect urban schools thereby increasing the congestion in urban schools that we know we can protect that have taken their exams. The ministry of education just brought a proposal for the gradual opening of our schools.
We know that education is the most important thing that we will have to do. And, we are backward. The continuous closure of schools is what the bandits and book haram wants. And we are not going to give them away. We prove the safety of our children and teachers first. We are working on that.
”As I said, because of the massive security operations that are going on, the situation is improving. It is not reflected in the newspaper headlines but I receive security reports every day and I know things are improving. And, we already have a proposal to begin the gradual opening of our schools and we are going to enhance the protection and safety of our schools by the time they are all fully opened. We are conscious of our responsibility.
We are going to catch up on the curriculum. We are not going to lose anything by the special grace of God. Education is key and the rise up and work harder to catch up and be competitive not only with Nigeria but the rest of the world”, he said.
