Yobe @ 33: The journey so far, By Hassan Gimba

This week, Yobe State will become 33. On August 27, 1991, President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida sliced Yobe State out of the old Borno State, which was itself carved out of the North Eastern State that was hewed from the Northern Region.

The IBB regime thought it better to situate its capital in Damaturu. The British chiselled this sleepy, hazy, whistle-stop settlement out of the Alagarno district as a colony in 1902 when they conquered the Bornu Empire. It was no more than a little big village.

Yobe, then a largely agrarian state, has been lucky to have governors who, at their paces and vision, had all left some lasting legacies. The first of them was Sani Daura Ahmed, a police officer, followed by Bukar Abba Ibrahim (elected), and Dabo Aliyu, another police officer, after the return of the military. John Ben Kalio, an air force officer, and Musa Mohammed, an army officer, all followed in quick succession before Bukar Abba returned at the dawn of the current political dispensation.

Mamman Bello Ali took over from him, but his tenure was short-lived as he died about two years into his mandate. His deputy, Ibrahim Gaidam, took over the mantle of the state’s governance and was there for ten years. He handed over to the present governor, Mai Mala Buni, on 29 May 2019.

As pointed out earlier, each of them contributed to bringing the state to its current level, where Damaturu is no longer the sleepy, hazy, nucleated settlement of yesteryears.

Their leadership styles undoubtedly contributed in no small measure to how they handled state affairs. In the first place, all of them were concerned with human development. One may not be far from the truth if one says they were, knowingly or unknowingly, deliberately or by nature, guided by the principles of welfarism, which views the well-being of people as very valuable and necessary.

Perhaps this common outlook is borne out of two factors: the first ingrained by background and the second by knowledge of history.

The first has a lot to do with religion and geography. A Muslim grows up with the understanding that bettering the life of a human being is one way of attaining the pleasure of the Creator of human beings. That what you give out is actually what is yours because you would reap it in the hereafter. And they all are Muslims except for Ben Kalio, who was surrounded by Muslims. And so, they all prioritised human development, and generosity became their watchword. Geographically, they come from a part of the country that people worldwide have attested to their open-handedness and love for fellow humans.

Throughout history, we have seen that the only assured way for humanity to develop is through a deliberate policy of engagement and intervention by a state authority with human economic affairs.

After the Second World War, when America and Europe were faced with the poverty of the populace, President Harry Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948 on April 3, 1948. Named the Marshall Plan after the Secretary of State, George Marshall, the act proposed that the state provide economic assistance to restore economic infrastructure. It was a deliberate policy to strengthen the capital base of individuals and businesses to provide services and more employment.

Yobe State transformed from an agrarian state to a civil service state, and to make it metamorphose into an industrial state powered by sound businesses, the governors had to empower promising companies and individuals. This was also a method used by the late Sardauna, Sir Ahmadu Bello, in his quest to develop the north and uplift its people from poverty.

While they all empowered individuals in various ways, they nonetheless did not neglect the development of critical infrastructure. For instance, they all built houses, a sector grossly absent in the state.

Bukar Abba Ibrahim is credited with establishing many economic game-changers in the state, even though most became dormant. Some of them are the Yobe Flour Mills Company, Potiskum; Fertilizer Company, Gujba; Printing Press, Damaturu; Polythene/Sacks Industry, Damaturu; Dofarga Spring Water Company, Gulani, and a modern abattoir in Damaturu.

Mamman Ali’s projects included the Turkish Secondary School, which, to date, is educating Yobe children. He also built 17 model science schools, one in each local government.

Ibrahim Gaidam was responsible for building the University Teaching Hospital, an extensive road network, the cargo airport, and numerous other noteworthy projects.

One can arguably say the present governor, Mai Mala Buni, has achieved more in the sense that he encompasses all the good the others possess. While the generosity of most of them was limited to those they knew, Buni’s generosity goes beyond just those he knows and is not limited to only members of his party or a small circle defined by something mundane. Perhaps because he has been in politics since the Second Republic, he sees all as deserving of a helping hand.

His mantra of ‘Yobe First’ amplifies this. He believes that the best way to empower his people is by ensuring that they are awarded all contracts that indigenes can execute. And he has kept to that. In that way, he bolsters the local economy of the state.

He also believes Yobe should come first in education, health, industrialisation and economic activities. That is why the first thing he did upon being sworn in, in 2019, was to declare a state of emergency in education. He followed that through by launching an education development appeal fund, where about ₦2bn was realised out of the over N10bn pledged. The money is still intact as the committee of respectable persons saddled with its running is only utilising the accruing interests.

He has also built standard mega schools, trained teachers and sent over a hundred students to study various science and engineering courses on government scholarship.

In healthcare provision, he has built primary healthcare centres in all wards of the state and the largest maternity centre in the country. He has done so well here that he has become a reference point for some governors.

Governor Buni’s vision to lift the people of Yobe out of poverty has seen him resuscitating moribund industries and building others, such as modern markets, Trailer Park, and others, that have a direct bearing on the people’s economic well-being.

As earlier said, leadership styles define leaders and fashion their outputs. How do the styles of the various governors that governed Yobe to its current level affect their delivery of the dividends of democracy?

To be continued.