Photo: Worldatlas
One of the issues that would help decide the governorship election in Gombe State is the level of governance, especially pertaining to accountability and transparency.
No fewer than 27 political parties will take part in the March 2, 2019 gubernatorial election in the state, but all eyes are on the two major parties, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC), which controls the government at the national level.
Apart from political parties, youths, women and student groups have joined in the search for the next governor of Gombe State.
The controversial PDP governorship primary, which forced Dr. Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna to join APC, helped to expose the incumbent governor’s secret desire to contest for Gombe North Senatorial seat.
The development triggered public interest in Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo’s stewardship as well as the kind of governor the state deserves to succeed him. A popular social critic in the state, Muhammad Baba Gombe, recently lent his voice to the demand for accountability as basis to set the standard for the next administration.
Addressing journalists in the state, Gombe noted that the world over government is a subject of accountability, and declared: “When a government makes proper accountability a legacy with a view to ensuring that the people get value for the resources spent while in office, it becomes a foundation for subsequent administrations to succeed.”
While stressing that nothing burdens a state like debt, the social critic noted that in governance, “it is often very inviolable to always bequeath a benchmark that will provide a soft landing for the next administration to heave a sigh of relief in terms of kick-starting the day-to-day business of providing the dividends of voting in such administration.”
In Gombe State, the history of legacy building has become an intrinsic aspect of governance because successive governments made it an unassailable responsibility to ensure that the next administration does not get burdened to death.
Perhaps, it is the attempt to keep track of governance that the issue of accountability has become topical in the state as the election draws nearer.
Most gladiators believe that the current administration has deviated in all directions from the norm of leaving behind a legacy for succeeding administration through perceived misplaced spending that has shown that the people of Gombe have not gotten the value for all the revenue collected in the last seven years.
It was that perceived discrepancy between the huge revenue and the work that the present administration claimed to have done in terms of projects, which formed the crux of Gombe’s observations. The discrepancy is evidence of poor accountability and financial abuse vis-à-vis all the allocations collected so far in Gombe State.
The state government recently gave its scorecard, showing the achievements of Governor Dankwambo in the past seven and a half years.
Some of these achievements included upgrading of the 1500-bed Women and Children Hospital, construction of a dialysis centre in Specialist Hospital Gombe, construction of College of Nursing and Midwifery, Dukku, construction of a snake-bite treatment centre in Kaltungo and the installation of eight dialysis machines.
According to the governor’s aide, Junaidu, the government also rehabilitated pipelines to Kwami, and constructed a dam at Boh, Shongom local council.
In the education sector, government renovated more schools than construct new schools, while in the agricultural sector, government succeeded in procuring 250 tractors and the establishment of a non-functional micro-finance bank within the last seven years for an agrarian state like Gombe.
However, the government is being criticized that at a time when the agricultural policy of the Federal Government through Anchor Borrower Programme is yielding results and enriching farmers, the state government remained inactive in the agricultural sector.
The government said it constructed several roads within the state, built N4 billion International Conference Centre as well as procured N4.4 billion hospital facilities, which are wasting at the warehouse.
Baba Gombe lamented that even with the huge revenue collected from the federation account, Paris Club refund and internally general revenue for seven years, the government could only claim those paltry achievements.
In addition to the revenue, the government is accused of piling up huge domestic and foreign debts running into billions of naira and millions of dollars.
“As a matter of legacy, the people of Gombe must task the state government to be financially responsive for once by paying all debts before folding the napkin of its debt-driven style of leadership in the state.
“With the N30 billion bonds secured, yearly average of N31 billion as FAAC disbursements to Gombe for seven years which stands at about N217 billion, the IGR and Paris Club refund, there has been an unprecedented neglect of infrastructure as evident in the Pantami Stadium, International Airport, rural roads like those in Nafada axis of the state, hospitals and schools to mention but a few,” he said.
He contended that unjustifiable borrowing, which has defined Dankwambo administration, is proof that good leadership has taken flight in Gombe State.
“It would take an administrative guru, which PDP does not have in Nafada, to usher in a new lease of life and bounce Gombe back to become the jewel in the savannah in all sectors of governance in the state,” Gombe remarked.
He recalled that in 2016, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which focuses on Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements, disclosed that Gombe State received a total N31.41 billion while the IGR stood at N3.57 billion, making a total revenue of N34.98 billion.
Further he said: “In 2017, Gombe State received N31.23 billion and also the state government got 13.4 billion Paris Club refund. Despite similar allocations from 2011 and other IGR means of raking in more money, the infrastructure on ground is not what the people expect to see.
“Shockingly, in spite of the FAAC allocations to the state government, the incumbent governor, on assumption of office, secured N30 billion bonds in the name of infrastructure that are either a proof of financial waste in large proportion or an evidence of a round peg in a square hole as far as governance is concerned in the state.”
Gombe said all the gaps could explain why Dankwambo insists on imposing Senator Nafada as the next governor so that the debt status of the state will remain a mystery to the people.
“The governor knows that in a situation where Gwamna had won the primary it would have been difficult for him to be used as stooge in view of his impeccable character that has made him the Sardaunan Gombe and a vanguard of trust.”
The question on the minds of many people in the state now is, what legacy will Dankwambo leave behind for the next administration?
