Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and the Changing Face of Kaduna State Civil Service -By Timothy Dokpesi Adidi

It is very much in good faith I begin this piece not as an ally to the
Governor of Kaduna State or a friend to the Governor of Kaduna State
and neither a paid social media consultant to the Governor of Kaduna
State. Most times when I relate to people and make them understand
that the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai
does not know the author of the open letters that constantly buzz the
social media, many doubt me. Nonetheless, no matter what, it is very
appropriate I sometimes take a stand and know where I stand. The role
of critiques in the society is not just to condemn and attack the
persons who their criticisms are targeted at; but it is meant to open
widely the eyes of the recipient of the message of the critique in a
manner the recipient is not been offended.

Hence, the job of a critique does not mean unpatriotism or disloyalty;
nobody has a monopoly of truth. As such, I will make this
categorically clear if you ask me a direct question about the Governor
of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai; if anyone should ask ADIDI,
Dokpesi Timothy “Do you like the Governor of Kaduna State, in the
person of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai?” and I will respond saying “Going by
what people say of him as a person I dislike the Governor of Kaduna
State but going by what I see him doing in ensuring the growth and
well-being of the people of Kaduna State, I like him”. For those who
dislike the Governor and give me reasons to dislike him base on their
experiences with him, and of which I am not part of, gives me the
reason to dislike him. But, again disliking him is not founded on a
solid basis because the experience is not a testimonial experience.
Moreso, I am not in a better atmosphere to judge such experiences; but
at least with your experiences as been portrayed and unknown to me
will make me dislike Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and with this we can still
be on the same page; but for me disliking his person is not founded on
a solid basement because I base my likeness on the Governor not
because of his person but because of the works he is doing.

It is very true that Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has human mistakes and
whether they are intentional or not only God knows; and again I am not
in the best position to judge his intention. But again, I also want to
agree with the critics of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and the position taken
and this I cannot shy away from, because such reality on ground that
his infrastructural development in Kaduna State is concentrated in the
Northern part of Kaduna alone is an established fact base on palpable
conjectures but not conclusive. It is not conclusive because the
Governor of Kaduna State still have three more years to leave office
and it is very possible and very hopeful that within these remaining
three years the baton for infrastructural development can be changed
over to Kaduna South. Hence, this position as taken by his critics
needs a more grounded empirical and rational justification before we
can make a hasty conclusion. Despite their position and hasty
conclusions I think we can still be on the same page.

Again, more importantly, it is better to even have something to hold
against the Governor of Kaduna State when it comes to his policy
framework and cosmopolitanization agenda. I think it is better to hold
the Governor of Kaduna State responsible when he refuses to drive his
infrastructural development to Kaduna South than to hold nothing
against him. In fact, it is even more dangerous not to have something
to hold against him. This definitely will mean the silencing the
opposition voice in the State and this will not be healthy for a
vibrant democracy. Let’s for now hold the fact that the Governor has
not done much in Kaduna South as compared to Kaduna North; and again
this means we are on the same page. Until then, lets us wait till 2023
so that by the time nothing is done we have something against him and
which is better than not having anything against Mallam Nasir
El-Rufai. But again, we should be concern of the dynamics of
politicking and the game of numbers for this is very crucial to
democracy.

Recently in Kogi State before the elections as the campaigns was going
on the Governor knelt down to beg for votes I found it not appealing
but it does not in any way give me any reason to water down his
political achievements in matters of good governance. Although, what
he did was appealing to some people and not appealing to others; but
that is his person at that point strategically doing the job he was
sent to do; for some of if given the opportunity might even do worst
as far as politicking is concern. In any case, the issues have to be
addressed in a manner it will be clear to everyone.

There is a need to understand the dynamics of governance and to
understand the policy framework as a process; and this is because good
governance does not come only with infrastructural development but
also a development that is integral for the growth of the state. It is
better for a state to focus on integral development than to focus
mainly on infrastructural development. Integral development naturally
and necessarily comes with infrastructural development.
Infrastructural development alone does not naturally and necessarily
come with integral development. This I think for me is where we are
not getting it right with the Governor of Kaduna State Mallam Nasir
El-Rufai.

Some Nigerians if not most Nigerians believe more on Infrastructural
development rather than Integral development. The integral process of
development is very slow but intensive and the benefits do not come
immediately; but infrastructural development most times is not
integral because it makes the city beautiful but lives the individual
empty without anything to offer the society and city. This is exactly
what happened during the military era as we see more bridges and roads
been constructed but left the people handicapped without even valuing
themselves and the human right they possess. This is the very reason
Matthew Hassan Kukah (The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese in his
book “Witness to Justice”) will always take the position that the
hangover of what we experience today is as a result of the military
failure in doing the right thing. It is still this same hangover that
is affecting most of us in one way or the other to think that
infrastructural development is the only way to development, and
therefore, if we do not see good roads in front of our houses then, we
are expected to complain. But, with a purposeful need for integral
development as the basis for driving good governance, then there is a
need to critically evaluate Mallam Nasir El-Rufai from such
perspective.

The civil service and its workers have taken a new dimension and the
very reason most people are not looking into these areas of
achievements is because it does not affect them directly; but it is
also part of an integral process. The management staff of the Kaduna
Civil Service as it is now knows that it is no longer business as
usual in the Kaduna State Civil Service. In the past years anyone who
visits an office of a civil servant in Kaduna is known to be either
sleeping while at work or absent from work. This administration is
fast putting everyone on their toes even up to the Directors and
Commissioners in ensuring service delivery and a result-oriented civil
service. It is no longer a Civil service were the principle of
administration are just been applied for the sake of its name but the
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai government is combining both the principles of
administration and the principles management sciences in ensuring
investors in people and a profit-oriented civil service in Kaduna
State.

Nowadays, you see civil servants coming home as late as 7pm to 8pm
compare to the past were a civil servant goes to office by 9am and
closes at 11:30am. Punctuality in the civil service in Kaduna is now
the sole of business. Recently, from a close source who works with one
of the civil service commission in the state told me how the Deputy
Governor of Kaduna State came into their office unprecedentedly to
carry out a routine assessment of all the staff. During the routine
assessment, they were able to check the register of all the staff page
by page and ensure there was a great deal of service delivery in that
department and how the staff responds to punctuality. The source told
me how this has been going on for quite a while now and everyone is
beginning to realise it is not business as usual. This is indeed part
of the integral developmental process and we must understand this
dynamics for fruitful engagement or else we shall be missing the
point.

Today in the Kaduna State civil service we hear familiar words in
management that are meant for enhancing the principle of
administration; there is more emphasis to have Quality Assurance, ISO
Certification, Merit as the basis for employment, Information
Technology Compliance, motivational strategy and job satisfaction etc.
The reverse is now what the individual can offer the government and
not what the individual can get from the government. Government indeed
needs efficient and effective people and not people who see government
work as an option because they believe there are no challenges in
government job. An average graduate leaves the University in search of
government job because they feel they can combine it with other
things. This reminds me of an experience I had recently in one of the
government offices when a young man entered into the office and of
course he works in that environment; immediately he came into the
office he said he knew the Secretary will not be on sit and he was
very sure because even when salaries are paid she does not come to
work and complains she has no money; and even now that salary has not
been paid he knew the situation will become worst and will be an
excuse of her absence. His certainty was a confirmed certainty because
as soon as he entered the office she was not on sit.

We need a proactive civil service and this will definitely make
promotions to come by merit and competence. Unfortunately, we are
aware how in some civil service departments you will find eight (8)
people doing one job and you wonder how government will sit down and
just pay salaries to those who are not working and contributing
nothing to the growth of the state. This is exactly what we need to do
to fish out ghost workers from our system and be sure of employing not
for the sake of creating jobs but for the sake of making government a
proactive driven organization.

Therefore, with this improvement, I hope the Governor of Kaduna State
will translate this integral cleansing for viable and tangible impact
in Kaduna State in a way and manner he will achieve all that needs to
be done for the process of growth and good governance. As he carries
out this noble task it should also be done with a great deal of
political benevolence so as not to put so many burdens on the people.