“Your Stake, Our Stewardship: Adamawa Midterm Score Card”
The speech in full:
By
Rt. Hon. Ahamadu Umaru Fintiri
Executive Governor
Adamawa State
14th- April, 2021
Fellow Stakeholders in the Adamawa project, this meeting has been called at
my instance so I can present to you the report card of my stewardship in the
State for your evaluation and further inputs as we move ahead.
In less than two months from today, our administration will be 2 years old.
2 years is half the lifespan of a single tenure in our constitutional democracy.
It is equally an age ripe enough to give an account of a mandate and support
freely and willingly given. It is my modest thought that before going out there
to engage the larger citizenry on our performance as an administration, it is
pertinent that I call a family meeting to present a score card and address
basic housekeeping matters.
Two years ago, you entrusted us with your collective support and made our
great party – the PDP, to grant us its flag; a flag we proudly carried to a hotly
contested election which saw us riding triumphantly to victory in spite of all
the huddles placed on our ways by the opponents. From the polling booths
to the courts, we collectively, survived all the machinations of the opponents,
subdued them and claimed our victory with fanfare.
On May 29, 2019, we constitutionally took the oath of office to serve the State
for the next 4 years. Since then, we went boots-on to the business of
governance and service to the people as dictated by the sacred lines of our
oaths. We met a State that was virtually devastated in all ramification,
requiring more than ordinary ingenuity to patch and revamp. Conscious of
the task at hand, we went all out, dared distractions and subdued
impossibilities. Today, the ugly narrative is fast reversing, Adamawa State is
changing and our people are happier. This fact is admitted even by our
fanatic antagonists.
It is against this background, that I thought you should be the first to know
where we are coming from, where we are now, how we got here and where
we are headed. This is very much in keeping faith with democratic
brotherhood and a fraternity that binds. It is my fervent hope that at the end
of this session, I should have been able to present to you a scorecard upon
which you would benchmark the administration, demonstrate your
appreciation or others and as a family, provide your candid counsel as we
move ahead into the second half of this administration.
Where we are coming from: The Scenario as at May 29, 2019
1. Insecurity
We inherited a socially destabilized society with a disenchanted citizenry
who live in constant fear of losing their lives, livelihood and properties.
While general loss of trust, attendant upon by ethnic and religious
suspicions and intolerance was brewing among our plural nationalities.
Absence of justice and fairness has instituted a culture of identity politics
which was negatively taking its toll on our people. Perennial farmer-
herder conflicts, was claiming lives, herds, farm produce and even
settlements of our people. The situation was so bad that no community in
Adamawa State can claim freedom from it. Kidnapping and unrestrained
urban crime such as the activities of ‘Shila-Boys cult went on brazenly as
if there were no constituted authority to contain them. The northern zone
which was just recuperating from the attacks of the dreaded Bokoharam
insurgents were practically abandoned to their faith with most of them
converting the emergency IDP camps into a permanent abode with no
hope of return to their ancestral homes. The State was sliding into
anarchy with no demonstrated authoritative commitment to sanity and
control.
2. Infrastructural Deficit
We inherited poor infrastructure. Despite the relative commitment of our
predecessors in constructing urban roads within the State capital and a
few other places, such effort was only good enough to place Adamawa
State at its lowest ranking of 33 out of 36 States in the federation. Rural
infrastructure has remained a rarity, as our access to our rural
communities remain a herculean task, if not impossible. This is not to talk
of other basic infrastructures such as electricity which was seen as prized
impossibilities.
3. Bloated and Ill-motivated Civil Service
We inherited a civil service which was deliberately bloated by our
predecessors out of brazen mischief. While the service was stuffed by a
lot of workers who were hurriedly recruited without due process, the
machinery of service was not oiled to provide the right results with the
level of indolence we met in the service. There were Backlog of salary
arrears and general uncertainty on wage dates and accumulated pension
areas of retired workers and senior citizens.
4. Financial Crunch and Fiscal Indiscipline
In 2018, the annual IGR of Adamawa State was about 6 Billion. This was
considered paltry in this age where every State is deploying all its arsenal
to transit to self-reliance and sustainability. We inherited a Suffocating
140-Billion-Naira debt burden which we had to service every month from
the Federal Allocation. As if this was not bad enough, there was standing
monthly overdraft line to pay salaries provided by commercial banks that
chocks. This has led to budget indiscipline and non-compliance with
extant appropriation laws.
5. Deplorable Education System
Our Education system was in a deplorable state. With Dilapidated
schools’ infrastructure; Ill-motivated teachers; insufficient instructional
materials in our schools; abdication of feeding in our Boarding Schools;
inability to pay counterpart funding for UBEC projects in the State (since
2015); refusal to lift the burden of sponsorship for school fees and
registration of national examinations such as WAEC and NECO, off the
shoulders of our already impoverished parents, etc., our education
system was reduced to a dreadful ebb.
6. Poor Health System
With tiresome access to secondary health facilities; crumbling and
inadequate infrastructure in existing secondary health facilities across
the State; poor state of hospital equipment and general lack of sufficient
medical consumables in our hospitals; insufficient staff in both Primary
Health Care Centers and Secondary Health facilities; lack of State health
and social insurance to support the poor and the vulnerable Our health
system was among the worst in terms of access, service and delivery;
Distinguished Stakeholders, I have taken the pain the take us through some
of these gloomy indicators so that you can have a mental picture of the
situation at hand when took over. I am not lamenting. Far from it. I do know,
these are pitiably extraordinary problems created by the wrong people in
leadership. And your collective anger that you require a true leader to turn
the fortunes of the State for the better was the result that brought me on
board. The sure way to thank you for this decision is to periodically give you
a detailed breakdown of what we are doing to reverse the ugly narrative.
Where we are Now
Upon assumption of office in 2019, we were aware of the daunting task
ahead. So, we were clear on the energy and intellect required to surmount it.
We reeled out our 11 Point Agenda which is now the compass of the
administration. The first task was to unbundle the financial crunch and
restore fiscal discipline. This is the most important, though intangible, part
of our reform. unfortunately, it is the most unappreciated by outsiders
because it is not a physical project that can be touched and commissioned.
Sometimes, I sit down and wonder, where the State would have been by now,
if we had not done what we did in this sector? We deployed all our ingenuity
and re-engineered the financial mesh of the State. This financial re-
engineering was able to lessen the weight of the debt burden on our
shoulders and provided us with the required oxygen to breath and unleash
our energy on other sectors. We went on to key reform drivers such as:
• Reduction in the cost of running government
• Prudent management of the scarce government resources
• Enhanced Revenue Optimization System
• Meticulous insurance of Value for Money and
• Improved Payroll Management systems
While instituting a culture of discipline around these key drivers, to
engender transparency and accountability, we submitted completely to the
Treasury Single Account System (TSA) to manage Revenue Collection and
Accounting Processes, Capital and Recurrent Expenditure Payments. This
helped us to record all government inflows of revenues from IGR, FAAC and
other sources.
We removed the chocking standing overdraft line provided by commercial
Banks. This removal returned sanity to the compliance with budgetary
provisions, expenditure pattern and government ability to pay salaries as at
when due.
We achieved discipline in our budgetary process and implementation. This
led to the budget size of N244Billion earlier approved by our predecessors
to be reduced to N143 Billion for 2020 which was considered more realistic
for 2019. Subsequently, in 2021 the budget size was N140 Billion. In view of
the global COVID-19 Pandemic,this is necessitated by the amount of revenue
generation internally, Federation accounts, Capital receipts, grants and
other sources. The desire of this administration is to have a realistic Budget where expenditures are matched against revenue.
We equally achieved prompt payment of Salaries and Pension of workers
and retirees. We have been faithful to our commitment to pay the wages and
pensions of our workers on the 23rd or 24th of the month; we are among the
first state to implement the upward review of minimum wages which was
passed at N30,0000.00. We not only implemented the minimum wage as
approved by the Federal Government, but implemented a Minimum wage of
N32,000.00 to Civil Servants on GL 1 – 6 and also agreed on the
consequential adjustments to those on GL 7 and above to civil servants of the
State.
With the relative success in unbundling the financial crunch, we took on a
multisectoral approach to development.
We invested heavily in the peace and security of our people. We launched an
aggressive campaign for peaceful coexistence and made justice and fair play
the watch word of our administration. We reclaimed the trust and good will
in government, which our predecessors wasted. This reduced the heated
tension among and between our ethnic nationalities and identity groupings.
We hosted a security summit and redesigned the Security architecture of the
State to accommodate local intelligence and incorporated vigilantes and
local hunters in the frontlines; we procured and donated 60 Toyota Hilux
Trucks and 50 Motocycles to Operation Farauta; Acquired 10 Toyota Land
cruiser Trucks for Operation Lafiya Dole; Procured 30 operational Trucks
from local Manufacture IVM to support Vigilantes and Local hunters in 21
LGAs of the State; paid monthly stipends to Vigilantes and Local hunters in
the State; organized a joint Taskforce raid on mini Sambisa which is the den
of the dreaded urban miscreants known as Shila boys in the State Capital.
These proactive measures and many others which will remain covert, were
enough to send the message to the underworld that there is a serious
government in place. The result is the relative peace we now enjoy.
Interestingly most of our IDPs camps are being closed and our people from
the northern zone are gradually returning to their ancestral abode. The
perennial farmer-herders conflict has been reduced to the bearest minimum.
In the Education and Human Capital development sector, we lessened the
economic burden of impoverished parents by introducing a tuition-free
education in our public schools and paid for WAEC and NECO fees our final
students in the public schools; we reintroduced the school feeding system
with balanced diet in our boarding schools. We awarded Foreign scholarship
to over 120 Students currently studying medicine, engineering and sciences
in India; we equally reintroduce annual bursaries to indigent students
studying in the various tertiary institutions within the country. With support
from UNICEF and KFW- German Partners, we are constructing and
rehabilitating over 80 Schools in Fufore and Guyuk. We are equipping the
schools and distributing instructional material, sporting facilities to the
public school. We have Paid outstanding UBE counterpart funds from 2015
– 2020. This has enabled us access the required funding for the construction
of over 5000 class rooms in basic education schools across the State. We
have completed selected internal roads with storm water drainage totaling
5.3km in Adamawa State University (ADSU) and convocated graduands of
the School, an event last conducted in 2013.
In the health sector, in order to ensure equitable ccess to secondary health
care services across the State, we are constructing 5 new 60 cottage
hospitals in Gombi, Girei, Lamurde, Shelleng and Demsa and upgrading the
ones in Fufore and Jada. we are also renovating and upgrading facilities in
the General hospitals located in Ganye, Numan and Mubi. We have provided
a modern Infectious Diseases Center (IDC) to manage and contain epidemics
generally. This has been put to use in the containment of COVID -19
Pandemic. To improve the quality of service delivery in our Primary Health
Centers, we have recruited over 1,200 personnel into the Primary Health
care system.
Working hard to bridge the infrastructure gap, we have embarked on
aggressive urban renewal programme. Our signature projects in the State
capital under this Programme are the Flyovers and grade interchange with
underpass at Total junction and Police roundabout respectively. To
compliment these monuments and ensure a coordinated traffic management
and guarantee free vehicular movement within the metropolis, about 20 km
road network have either been provided or rehabilitated. The details are as
follows: Yola Town : 0.75 km zumo street, 1 km Mbamba street, 1.2 km Mafia
quarters road, 1 km Doctor’s quarters road, 3.2 km Yolde pate – Nyibango
road with 2 span bridges, 2.5 km Philip Maken road with links, Masakare, 1.5
km Lagos street, Hometel road , 2.31 km Falu road and links, karewa, 2.7 km
Mambila and Jambutu street, Nasarawo, 1.35 km old Government House
road and links, 3.185 km Bachure road, 2.2 km Nepa road, 2.2 km
WeeklyScope road and 3.2 km Benue Street; the urban renewal project is
also extended to the various Local Government areas: 2.5km Izala-gwaida
Mallam-Rafa Wayam in Numan, 3.5 km European quarters road in Hong, 6.6
km Gulak road in Madagali, 3.8 km Jada Township road in Jada, 5.1 km
Michika Township road in Michika. We are also completing works started by
our predecessors: Resumption of work on 37.5 km Kiri – Sheleng road,
Completion of 7 km Buwangal – Sangasumi road in Ganye, resumption of
work on 33 km Pella – Maiha road and Completion of 5.3 km internal roads
in ADSU among others.
To open up our rural areas for access, we have leveraged on our partnership
with the Rural Access and Mobility Programme (RAMP II) supported by
world Bank to construct 341 km of Rural roads across the State. Key among
them are: Yolde Pate- Prison to Yadim (27.91 km), Parda Muninga – Fufore
(18.09 km), Kwanan yaji – Amdur (15.58 km), Longa Ewa – W/Yombe
(19.71 km),Hong – Mujili – Kuva Gaya (25.58 km), Mayo guli – Manjaken –
Salma (10.90 km), Numan – Bare (7.42 km), Shelleng – Bakta(16.93 km),
Toungo – Kiri (11.47 km), Polwewire – Ndikon (13.14 km), Ngurore –
Mayobelwa – Gongoshi (9.3 km).
The rural electrification project has equally reconnected communities of
Michika and Madagali LGAs to the National grid after five years of
destruction by Boko Haram Insurgents. We have also connected Tahau in
Demsa LGA, and are connecting Toungo LGA to the grid.
Youths development and empowerment have been elevated to an
institutional level by creating the Ministry of Entrepreneurship
Development and an Agency of Poverty Alleviation and Wealth Creation to
provide the right skills for our teaming youths and prepare them for self-
reliance. This will also stimulate the development of Micro-small and
Medium Enterprises in the State.
Our agriculture and livestock masterplan developmentis on course. With the
establishment of the State Livestock Transformation Office (SLTO). We have
commenced the Cocoa Rehabilitation and Regeneration Programme in
Toungo and Ganye LGAs, consistently procured and supplied fertilizers and
other farm inputs to our local farmers at subsidized price, completed the
ultra-modern Jimeta Abattoir as well as well ongoing rehabilitation of
selected Abattoirs in the State. We have also engaged a consultant on the an
end-to-end Agribusiness Development which would empower our farmers
to unlock the relegated economic base of the State. A preliminary analysis,
reveals that the State IGR will grow by over 90% in a Span of 10 years from
the agribusiness alone.
Where we are Headed
Fellow Stakeholders, above are our modest achievements even in the face of
glaring impossibilities by the time we took over. This is further worsened by
the hard effect of the COVID – 19 Pandemic on the economy. Going forward,
we intend to:
• Build institutions for sustainability and unleash the required sectoral
reforms that can drive development and entrench a culture of
patriotism and progress.
• Set a tall standard of good governance where accountability and
people centered policies and programmes are key.
• Shrink the infrastructural gap by completing all projects initiated and
even the ones abandoned by our predecessors.
• Empower the youths and women through carefully crafted
entrepreneurial programmes
• Make Adamawa State a preferred destination of choice for investment
• In the next two years, introduce a sustainable social intervention
program that can cushion the effect of the current economic reality,
fight poverty and create a minimum safety net for the poor and the
vulnerable.
Distinguished stakeholders, this is our scorecard. Today we submit
ourselves to the temple of popular mandate which is the hallmark of
democracy. You are free to ask questions, make comments and also offer
suggestions. I am here to provide answers but primarily to learn from your
inputs and be guided by your wishes and desires . Let me hasten to remind
us ones again, this is a family meeting and you are called into it because you
are an integral part of the family.
Thank you and God bless.
.
