The Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, has opened up about the challenges and progress his administration has faced since he assumed office.
In an interview with Arise TV on Monday, Lawal stated that when he took over office from the ex- governor Bello Matawalle, Zamfara was a “mess in every aspect” with widespread insecurity, a crumbling education system, poor healthcare, and financial debts.
“When I took over as a governor, Zamfara State was in a mess in every aspect of life, be it security at the highest level, education at the bottom, healthcare at the bottom, human development capacity almost non-existent, and it’s one reason why I had to declare a state emergency in education as well as healthcare.
“There was not a single drop of water for five months in Zamfara State when I took over, and we were able to solve that in just three days. So, in fact, the liabilities were unbelievable, but as a leader, I had to find a way to be able to take care of that,” he said.
Governor Lawal detailed the financial debts he inherited upon taking office, and how he had to clear the backlog of unpaid salaries, pensions and debts.
He continued, “When I took over, there was nothing in our treasury, so many debts. I only inherited N4 million. The records are there, with all sorts of liabilities, ranging from a backlog of salaries of four and a half months, judiciary owing 1.6 billion, WAEC-1.6 billion, NECO-1.4 billion, and so many other challenges which I had to face head-on.
“The first thing I did was to clear the backlog of those salaries. I had to make sure I went in some kind of agreement with WAEC as well as NECO so that our children could sit for WAEC and NECO, and not only that, to also be able to get some of those certificates, the one they wrote in the past, that they were not able to collect because of non-payment.
“When I took over, the salary of a civil servant in Zamfara State was 7,000 naira, just 7,000 across the state, state and local government. I had to quickly do what I had to do to jack it up to then the minimum wage of 30,000 naira.
“Not only that, since 2011, pensioners were not paid to the tune of 16.5 billion, which I was able to settle everybody as of last month. That has been cleared. Every civil servant from 2011 pension was cleared, and we’re now paying the 70,000 minimum wage.”
Lawal also explained how his administration reformed the education sector, which was in a dire state and tackled financial challenges in the sector.
He said, “When I declared an emergency in education, it had to be holistic. If you look at the condition of our schools at the time, it’s unbelievable. So, as we speak now, we were able to turn things around. We have renovated over 400 schools, fully renovated, and furnished across all the 40 local governments of the state.
“We’ve settled NECO. We’ve settled WAEC and other liabilities, like scholarships. We’re able to settle our students in Sudan. We’re able to settle our students in India, and we’re now in the process of finalizing Cyprus. This is what we’re doing in education.”
Speaking on security, Lawal noted that his government is making efforts to reduce violence.
“In the past, we were hearing that 100 or 200 people were being killed daily, but you hardly hear of that now,” he stated.
While acknowledging that there had been a recent incident in Tsafe, he downplayed reports suggesting that dozens of people had been abducted.
“Yes, there was an incident in Tsafe but I’m trying to verify the number, I don’t think it is up to 60 people that were abducted. No, it’s not correct,” he said.
“Things are changing for the better. Zamfara was facing serious security challenges in the past, but things have changed. It is something that has been inherited for over a decade and we are making conscious efforts to reduce it to the minimum.
“It is one of the reasons I set up my own security outfit when I came to power, and they’re doing very well,” he added.