In this interview with NEXTER Reporter, ADELOJE OJO, the Special Adviser on Political Matters to Niger State’s Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago, Honourable Nmah Kolo, said the governor has exceeded the expectations of the people of the state because he came into governance prepared. According to him, under the New Niger Agenda the state is matching steadily on the path of development and growth. Excerpts: –
Gov Bago sprang a surprise by his victory in the election. What were the things that worked behind the scene to give him the edge?
I don’t think so. I don’t want to use the word surprise because Gov Bago represented the good people of Chanchaga in the National Assembly for three terms and was still counting. Looking at the profile of the other contestants, he had the highest political record. So, I was not surprised when he emerged victorious.
Since he assumed office, what has been his performance, and how have people, including his critics, viewed it?
I think the performance is seen by all of us, by all Nigerlites, and even you the journalists. I am sure that you know that Niger had never had it good like what we are witnessing today. He has impressed everybody. As you can see, the state has turned into a construction site. I think so far so good we are doing very well.
What is your message to his critics?
I think the critics have been putting us on track; it’s always good to welcome constructive criticism, and that is what is making us achieve the feat we are achieving here in Niger.
He is a listening governor. If we hear anything from the critics, we sit down and analyse and see how we can improve on what they suggest. We thank them for putting on the right track.
Recently, you held a stakeholders’ meeting. Can you tell us some of the issues that were raised and addressed?
What we had was a caucus meeting, and then we had a stakeholders’ meeting. I am happy to say that by all standards, I think this was one of the best caucus meetings we’ve had since the coming on board of APC in Niger, because the attendance was almost 100 percent. A lot of issues were discussed about the journey we’ve had so far in the state. The state’s chairman of the party briefed us about the progress we’ve made so far, including how the party has been stable, and we’ve been receiving high profile decampees into the party. The party is now proactive and all the local government chapters are doing very well. The governor has done something so unique in the country; today this is the only state where all the executives of the wards are being paid their monthly allowances; this is unprecedented.
When we had a meeting in Lafia, Nasarawa State for the North Central Zone, I told them all about what was happening in Niger; they were all amazed and happy. And most of them were asking us how we were able to achieve this.
So, I think the party is doing very well. We are more united than ever before. We don’t have any faction in Niger. We have one strong, united APC in Niger.
You have been receiving decampees from other political parties, if you want to give us a figure or estimate of those you have received, would you be talking of thousands?
Yes, I think it’s in thousands because it’s happening almost on a daily basis. Almost every day we receive them from various political parties. And it might interest you to know that in Niger, we have this excellent relationship among all the political parties. We have what we call the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC. It’s an independent body of political parties. We relate very, very well in Niger. And I think that is what has given us that political stability in the state.
Could you give us the name of a big fish that you have netted, and the number of people that defected to your party generally?
I’m a firm believer of the bottom-top approach. So, most of the decampees we have are from the ward level up to the state level. So, they are all big catches. I don’t want to be specific and I don’t want to mention names. But as for the numbers, we are still counting. It is happening almost on a daily basis, people are coming to the party in thousands because everybody has accepted the government.
You see, it’s very important for followers to have confidence in their leaders. The advantage the governor of Niger is having today is that a lot of people have this confidence that he’s going to perform and he’s performing. If a stranger, or even someone who has been in Minna enters Minna now he would be confused. It is construction, everywhere is construction.
What are your thoughts about these elaborate projects?
What is happening in Niger today is because of the leader we have. He was really prepared for leadership before coming in. He has this action plan of what he wants to achieve. It is really key and important for our leaders to always get set for leadership. You don’t start planning when you are already on the hot seat, so you come to government prepared. That was why immediately Gov Bago assumed office in May last year, he quickly began to work.
Work is being done across the 25 local government areas of the state. It is not just in the Minna that these massive construction works are taking place. We have this plan of having five kilometres of roads in each of the 25 local government areas apart from the Minna town where we have more than five.
Apart from that, if you look at the agricultural sector, where the state is doing a lot, everybody has turned to a farmer in the state today, and that is why I believe the state is going to feed not just the North Central, but Nigeria as a whole.
Some of your party members feel that they are not being carried along by this government; what are you doing to address this?
Yes, very true. There are so many people that have not been carried along, but we are doing what we can to rectify the situation. We discussed this during the caucus meeting and the enlarged stakeholders’ meeting. Very soon we will continue with the appointment of board members, board chairmanship, and others. We have made a lot of appointments already, but we want to absorb as many as we can. Apart from appointments, there are also other ways of engaging them and we are working towards that. It is one of the reasons why the government graciously created ministries like Small and Medium Enterprise whereby women and youth will benefit from various empowerment programmes. Apart from that, the government has succeeded in paying counterpart funds that will enable the state and its people benefit from many initiatives. This will go a long way to also assist in getting more people empowered productively.
Before the coming of Gov Bago there were complaints in the previous administration of marginalization of some parts of the state; has this been addressed and how?
I think we have successfully addressed that quietly. If you look at the way things are happening in the state today, every part of the state is carried, well-represented, and that is why we don’t hear any sort of complaints now. The governor is a nationalist; he is not a sectional leader. He’s thinking about the state, not about just any part alone. So, people know this as a fact and it has earned the confidence they have in the government, and that is why we don’t have that problem now. Nobody is talking about marginalization in Niger now.
Do you think there are enemies within who may want to hurt the government?
I don’t think so. I don’t think we have any enemy. That’s why I told you that we are more united than ever before. I’m not only commending the APC, no, I’m commending all the political actors in Niger. They are doing wonderfully well.
But when you say all the political parties, you have in mind that the PDP was a very strong opposition. What’s the relationship now?
Immediately after the election and the votes were being sorted out and counted, the first person that congratulated Gov Bago was the PDP governorship candidate, Mohammed Isah Liman Kantigi.That shows political maturity. That shows that Kantigi is a good sportsman. That shows he has the interest of the state at heart. And he’s the only candidate that didn’t go to court for any litigation. That was why the governor was able to swing into action immediately he was sworn in because there was no distraction, no delay, nothing. And that is why today we are okay, we are fine. We are moving as a state. We’re putting all political issues relating to the electioneering campaign period behind us. We are talking of delivering dividends of democracy to the good people of Niger.
Looking back to the same issue, many believe that Kantigi not going to the court, not confronting the governor, was because of your political sagacity. What is your take on this and how were you able to manage the situation?
You see, the advantage we had then was that we had been maintaining a very cordial relationship. Communication is very key in politics. We’ve been communicating, we talk to ourselves, we know ourselves, we don’t see ourselves as enemies. So, immediately after the election, we continued communicating, and that was why we had to reach out to him. He’s the one who reached out to the government, to the governor-elect then, and that is very good. He got a lot of credit for that, and we capitalized on that. We said, okay, we should continue with that relationship and that was why we visited him at home.
The projects Gov Bago is handling in the state are numerous and people are of the fear that he may not be able to finish them. What’s your thought on this?
I don’t nurse any fear. That’s why I told you. Number one. it took a lot of planning. We didn’t just start like that. It took a lot of planning for us to embark on any project. But in the event, let’s say in the event that we cannot complete any, government is a continual process. Another person will come and complete. But so far, I think Nigerlites should just relax. We are going to be fine, we will be okay. We’re going to complete all ongoing projects by the grace of God.
With the performance of the governor, we know he still has three years in the first tenure, in any time of election, do you think the Gov Bago will still secure the confidence and vote of the people?
I think he is a very lucky governor, and I have to give kudos to him for being very upright and for carrying everybody along.
Honestly, the rating of the governor today, I would have loved to leave that to Nigerlites, but honestly, I am so confident that if we were to have an election tomorrow this gentleman is going to come out victorious with even 110 percent votes, more than what he garnered in the 2023 election. Honestly, a lot of people are happy with what is happening, nobody is complaining. We put politics aside. People are just discussing Niger today as a state. People are happy that the state is now being mentioned across the globe.
So, I think so far we are doing very well. We don’t have any problem. And it’s not even time for politics now. We are discussing governance and what we are doing now is just work, work and work. Let me assure you that we will continue to give dividends of democracy to the people. So we are not discussing politics. When the time for politics comes, we’ll start. But for now, we wouldn’t want to be distracted by anything political. We are being focused now. We want to continue doing what we are doing. Definitely I will be very comfortable to call the governor a workaholic, he’s a workaholic. He has made all the political appointees to be workaholics too. There is no room for any lazy politician today or lazy appointee in Niger.
What’s the relationship of the state government with the federal government?
Oh, excellent. I think President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is so proud of the Governor of Niger State so much that he has been mentioning him at so many fora. So, I think so far the relationship is just excellent. And very soon we’ll start inviting the president to come and start commissioning many of our projects.
Would you want to let us into some of those projects that are already being lined up for commissioning?
We are not in a hurry to start commissioning. We would want to wait to complete the projects because the projects are so many and these projects really have direct bearing on the people. So, we are going to take our time, finish the projects before we start commissioning. Even inspecting the projects now is a big job because there are so many.
The president was in Niger to commission agricultural implements for the state agricultural revolution, what is the latest on the project?
So beautiful, a lot of activities are taking place now. If you go to the Minna Airport City, you will see that there are lots of activities going on progressively. Also, there are a lot of proposals and agreements that have been signed and very soon there’ll be a lot of groundbreaking ceremonies in that area. It is going to be a centre of agricultural hub in the country which will attract a lot of economic activities near the airport. There’s going to be an abattoir, a lot of greenhouses, farmlands, farm centres and so many things.
If you go around the state today you’ll be impressed with what you see, especially in the agricultural sector, because our people have embraced agriculture and I believe we’re going to have a bumper harvest this year across the state. The good people of Niger have really capitalized on having all the implements we have now; utilizing them very well. It might even interest you to know and see young ladies operating heavy duty equipment.
With these, would you say that the fear of hunger is gone?
Yes, its gone. The fear of hunger in Niger is gone. Not even in Niger alone, but in the entire country. That’s why I said earlier that by the grace of God Niger is expecting a bumper harvest. We are already feeding the nation.
Any plan for youth development?
Already plans are underway in the state to sponsor a lot of youths to a university in India whereby they are going to study various science courses. So, the youth, I think, they have a very loaded programme in the state, and as we go along, they will start to reap it.
Is there anything you think the government or the governor should have done differently?
Honestly, no. I think so far, we’re on course. He’s doing very well. That’s why I told you, I said he came in prepared. All you see, all the activities you see ongoing in the state are planned. And he’s turning them out one after the other.
What is your advice to Nigerlites?
We want to thank them for their continuous support and prayers, and we want to ask them to please continue praying for the governor and the leadership of the state. And we want to also use this opportunity to thank them because the support is awesome. I have never seen this kind of support to any governor in Niger. So, we have to thank them more sincerely for the support and encouragement. I want to assure them they will not be disappointed.
