Life And People
Sule Lamido: Keeping a Date with History -By Abdu Abdullahi
If Lamido was not here, Jigawa would have remained a hard to reach area without an airport and its facilities. Lamido thought faster that dignitaries would not find it cumbersome to visit Jigawa by flight so as not to make it isolated from the rest of the country.
Prior to May 29, 2007, Jigawa state was like a broken down vehicle. It was very obsolete, moribund in developmental dimensions and overwhelmed by the phenomenal forces of reactionary elements.
But never again! That was how Alhaji Sule Lamido as a governor protested and debunked that false prophesy mainly through pure intentions and proper actions. He came well prepared and equipped himself with the art and science of transformative leadership. With precision, he put on the ignition key and manipulated the vehicle to start moving. Sule Lamido’s regime soon gained popularity for its focus on a new Jigawa. Marvelously, his journey of hopes and transformations travelled through the nooks and crannies of the state and won many hearts. He was able to conquer inherited myriad of impossibilities to our bewilderment. It was the dawn of a new era and the beginning had just begun for Jigawa to be a theme of national discourses!
In transforming the state, he deployed a strong political will that worked perfectly. He departed from the old conservative order to a new radical circle. His appearance was well- timed and polished by Allah’s grace. He converted every challenge to an opportunity to produce an enigmatic project. He knew our urgent demands and diligently, hastily worked on them. He did not attempt to make governance easy, for that would have resulted in a mass failure. He heavily tasked his leadership to do the needful in an amazing style. He unraveled the Jigawa gigantic project and lavishly fulfilled our dying jingoism. That was how he saw, came and conquered the impediments to progression. Impressively, it was forward ever, backward never.
Before his retirement as a governor, he ensured launching a mini revolution within the spectrum of all things being equal. We saw him relentlessly living and agitating for our expectations against all odds. He propelled a good recipe for a genuine development. He did not make fake promises but made giant achievements his supreme pledges. In other words, there were no lies and betrayals in his struggles for a new Jigawa. Government of mediocre? Oh no! Sule Lamido did not like it! For him, the time was always right to do the right thing to push the state forward. His Jigawa dreams belonged to the state and its people. Eventually, he connected prolific ideas, consummate principles and available resources to lift us high.
Lamido never came last to defeat the forces of underdevelopment. He was always first to put Jigawa first. Lamido always saw his services to the state as an ideological obligation and not a political option. He gave Jigawa a new positive identity and a fixed direction. He did not jeopardize with the future of the state to invite the wrath of prosperity. His government created a quality standard of inevitability in our memories. That was why his leadership
never looked ugly and dirty. That was why his proclivity to government of sustainable focus was designed as a matter of noble purpose and result-oriented vision. Beyond today, there will be an element of timelessness about his broadbased development.
Jigawa and her people were not let down under Lamido. His deep passion for the state was well articulated and inspired the original mind to distinguish between a dedicated leader and a selfish type. His insatiable desire for a masses oriented government was not a political fraud but a political necessity. Lamido is real in every sense of the word; a dedicated leader, a professional politician, a stalwart jingoist. All his leadership values were held together and protected by the constitution of a vibrant ideology which delivered the state from underdevelopment to development.
If Lamido was not here, Jigawa would have remained a hard to reach area without an airport and its facilities. Lamido thought faster that dignitaries would not find it cumbersome to visit Jigawa by flight so as not to make it isolated from the rest of the country. He also innovated the idea of a modern Aminu Kano Triangle for political, economic, religious and cultural gathering to fit the purpose of an emerging new world. Lamido reasoned that grand gatherings were supposed to be transmitted on the television and documented for tomorrow’s benefits. He therefore created the Jigawa Television and equipped it with modern facilities that compared with those of Aljazeera.
He did not stop there. Something crossed his mind that Jigawa needed a conducive atmosphere for manpower development training to compete with global practices. The project of Manpower Development Institute was eventually actualised. It will continue to serve the needs of training of staff, conferences, seminars and is patronized by even people from neighbouring states. Related to this was the fact that he acknowledged the potency of the civil service in promoting and implementing government’s policies for overall development. Thus, he invested huge resources to construct one of the best secretariat complexes in the country.
As a growing state, Lamido did not forget the place of education for our prosperity. The children of Jigawa needed educational opportunities for the state rapid advancement. The establishment of the Sule Lamido University at Kafin Hausa became a reality. It has been serving the state to meet its educational challenges. Since Jigawa was developing and Lamido believed in national unity to foster nationalism, he wanted Jigawa to be a home to every young Nigerian. For this, he established one of the most modern NYSC camps in the country and equipped it with facilities to make living comfortable for posted corpers during orientation.
Living with the reality of effective health care delivery services, he did not forget that health was wealth and therefore upgraded the Shekoni Hospital to a specialist class to compete with the others nationwide. This was in addition to upgrading general hospitals at the local government level. Related to this was the establishment of a school of nursing at Birnin Kudu to produce health personnel to work in our hospitals. And of course, free medical services were provided for pregnant women and students.
Making a breakthrough on a new paradigm shift regarding development, he utilized the state resources to create semi urban centers for almost all the local government headquarters, providing them with infrastructures and social amenities of high quality. This even development brought about prosperities in the economic and social life of the people of those areas. Lamido was never heard enumerating his achievements because he knew that posterity would do that for him. Till his last day in office, he remained faithful to the state overall aspirations.
Almost eight years after his exit, he is still remembered by history for his viable projects that will continue to stand the test of time. His productive leadership remains a model for leaders with passion for development. That is how history honors Alhaji Sule Lamido.
