I welcome you all with humility and gratitude
to the very first Town Hall meeting we are
hosting as a government. It is not yet one
month since we were sworn-in, but to the
extent that it has pleased Allah to bestow His
grace upon us, we have set about doing the
work of change that you mandated us to do.

During the campaign, we promised that we
shall be engaging and interacting with the
public regularly. We pledged that we will
provide you regular updates and listen to
your feedback, including criticisms and
suggestions. Here we are before you today to
do as we pledged. As we have started, so we
intend to continue, always striving to get
better at achieving results.

Immediately after we were sworn-in on 29
May 2015, we reported for duty with the
sense of urgency that you demanded. As we
expected, we met a state that is broke, and
whose schools, hospitals and roads are in
poor shape. We knew that a lot of sacrifice
will be required to restore the state to good
health. This government’s priority is actually
growth and development in a safe and secure
environment; because we understand that the
things that matter are the public goods of
quality schools, decent hospitals and good
roads; we know that leaders must pursue the
creation of a climate that promotes security,
social harmony and is therefore conducive to
bringing jobs and economic opportunity. Thus
our first step was to announce that the
deputy-governor and I will be taking a 50%
pay cut.

As we took briefings from the ministries,
departments and agencies in our very first
week, the depth of the financial problem
became clearer to us as well as the impact the
decades of impunity have had on the mental
attitudes of the institutions that constitute the
public service. As one astute observer of the
situation commented recently, the public
service does not serve the public; rather it
considers itself as the public and thus serves
only itself.

We emphatically reject this mentality. The
new government of Kaduna State has
therefore declared that the resources of the
state will be devoted to serving the public,
with schools, hospitals and roads; aiding our
farmers and doing our utmost to create jobs.
To do that, we must cut the cost of running
government. Ours will no longer be the state
that has too little left for the needs of the
majority of the people.

That is our guiding principle as we reduce
costs. And we have taken concrete action in
this regard. We have restructured our
ministries from 19 to 13. We have also
decided that we will have only 13
commissioners, ten special advisers and 12
special assistants. You all remember that the
previous government had 24 commissioners,
41 special advisers and about 400 special
assistants. But good governance is not about
recruiting vast numbers of political
appointees. It is about the smallest number
that can provide the quality of service that is
required.

We are saddened by the condition in which
we found the state. But we shall never use
that as an excuse for non-performance. It is
our duty to do our best always. That is why
we are finding creative even if difficult ways
to deliver on our promises.

What we have done

In our first month, we have done the
following things:

Governance Reforms

Prioritising the People: We have made clear
our intention to devote a larger chunk of the
state’s resources to providing public services.
We have signalled that a government elected
by majority vote should serve the majority.
Pay cut: the governor and the deputy
governor have taken a voluntary pay cut of
50%, and we have urged other political
official holders, elected or appointed, to
follow this example.

Cost-cutting: ministries have been reduced
from 19 to 13; while your government has
committed to appointing only 13
commissioners and the handful of needed
special advisers and special assistants. The
selection of the Commissioners, Advisers and
Assistants will be based on merit, capacity
and experience because what is priority to us
is getting the necessary skill sets that will
facilitate moving the State forward.

Biometric verification: Our government is
already conducting biometric verification of
its employees in order to update the payroll
and provide reliable data as to the precise
number of personnel in the public service.
Two of Nigeria’s leading banks, UBA and
Zenith, are working with us on this project.

Tax Reform Committee: We have set up a
committee chaired by Ifueko Omogui, former
chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue
Service, to review our internal revenue
generation structures, systems and laws. The
committee will recommend ways by which we
can improve our internally generated
revenue. This will reduce our dependency on
the federal government. We will be masters
of our own fate.

Transparency: We have signed up to Open
Budget, a tool that enables you to track what
we are doing with your money.

Health

Your government has already convened a
summit of Kaduna State Healthcare partners
to set out the state’s priorities in the Health
Sector, and to also ensure that all funds in
the health sector are streamlined to ensure
an effective coordinated service delivery. The
donor community and multilateral agencies
attended, along with businesses that are
active in the state’s health sector.
Kaduna State has signed an Memorandum of
Understanding with General Electric
Healthcare to modernise our primary health
centers and public hospitals. Both parties
have committed to identifying the specific
needs of the centers and hospitals, so that
modern equipment can be installed to
improve the diagnosis and management of
patients.

We have signed the 2015 Kaduna State-
UNICEF 2015 workplan. The state government
is ready with its counterpart funding for the
agreed initiatives in healthcare, nutrition,
HIV/AIDS, water, sanitation and child
protection.

Installation of two dialysis machines and the
repair of three dialysis equipment at Barau
Dikko Hospital. Arrangements are being made
to purchase consumables for the next 12
months so that dialysis will be affordable to
Kaduna citizens.

Security

Peace Committee: A committee, chaired by
the respected General Martin Agwai, is
working to identify the causes of conflict and
insecurity in Southern Kaduna and thereafter
recommend ways of tackling the problem.

Interstate cooperation: Kaduna State is
working with Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi and
Niger States to design a collective approach to
common security challenges in the forest
ranges that strides our respective States. A
meeting is being held today with the
respective State Governors and Security
Agencies to advance the implementation of
this initiative.

Presidential support: Kaduna State has
briefed and updated the president on the
security challenges, and the president has
pledged FG support for the comprehensive
security plan.

Relief: We have conducted multiple aerial
surveys of the Birnin-Gwari area and have
visited affected communities there and in
Southern Kaduna, offering medical assistance
and condolences.

Prisons: we have visited prisons in Kaduna
and Zaria, pursuing rehabilitation of facilities
and decongestion. As a result of these efforts,
98 persons awaiting trial for minor offenses
were released by the Chief Judge of Kaduna
State.

Infrastructure

Zaria Water Project: We have ordered
accelerated work to complete this project as a
priority item for our government. We have
visited the site of the project and reviewed it
with the contractors. A firm decision has
been taken to commit funds monthly so that
the project can be completed by early 2018.

The African Development Bank and Islamic
Development Bank, the major funders of the
project, have been consulted and they share
our desire to speed-up completion. In
addition, we are working on a project to
upgrade the capacity to supply water to
Kaduna residents through a new Kaduna
Water Project.

Job creation

Kaduna Cabs: We have initiated a scheme to
revive taxi services in our major urban
centres. The aim is to create jobs for owner-
drivers who will help improve the commuting
experience with their comfortable cars and
excellent customer service. The scheme is
starting with 200 vehicles in Kaduna, and is
being implemented in collaboration with
Peugeot. We have already placed adverts to
invite participation in the scheme.

Indorama: Our drive to attract new investors
to the state has attracted positive response
from Indorama, a leading player in
petrochemicals. They have selected Kaduna
as their regional distribution centre. They
will be building warehouses, fertilizer
blending plant and a training centre in
Kaduna.

Shopping Mall: Our main urban centres,
including the state capital Kaduna, are
lacking modern shopping malls. We have
indicated our readiness to partner with
capable investors in this sector.

Agriculture

Fertilizer: One of our first actions in office
was to stop the unfair practice of allocating
subsidized fertilizer to prominent persons to
the detriment of ordinary farmers. We
launched the 2015 fertilizer sales season in
Kachia with a clear structure that sells
fertilizers to interested persons from
designated sales point. We shall be reviewing
and improving the process of procuring and
distributing fertilizer to make access easier
for the farmers.

A New Agricultural Policy is being prepared
with the aim of enhancing the capacity of the
sector to create viable jobs; improve farm
productivity and raise the involvement of
Kaduna citizens in the value chain.

Sanitation

Clean city agenda: We have met the
sanitation contractors and have expressed to
them our dissatisfaction at the squalid state
of our urban areas. We want our towns and
cities to be clean, and we shall do it.

Sports

Kaduna has, for the first time in a long while,
hosted an international football match when
the Super Eagles played a friendly match with
Chad at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium. Our
people turned out to see the game, showing
that Kaduna is a sports city. That impressive
turnout has now placed us on the radar to
host many competitive matches because the
football authorities now know that our great
people will actually come to the stadium, fill
it up and cheer the players.

What we intend to do

In the following months, we shall be focused
on the following issues:

Education : we shall begin implementing our
comprehensive agenda to improve education.
School repairs, and the provision of facilities
like furniture, water and toilets will begin as
we fulfill our responsibility to provide a
better learning environment. Alongside this,
we shall begin to enhance the capacity and
quality of the teachers generally, and we
shall pay extra attention to getting more and
better teachers in English, Maths and
Science.

Health: hospital upgrades, in terms of
facilities and equipment, will be accelerated
as our MoU with GE Healthcare is steadily
implemented. We have a commitment to
properly equipping our hospitals so that most
of our people’s healthcare needs can be met
by our own public hospitals.

Township Roads : neighborhood and
township roads in our major urban centres
will be upgraded to the extent we can within
this rainy season.

Transport: our multilayer transport
architecture will be executed. That includes
preparations, studies and projects to put in
place:
– the new cab scheme and expanding to Zaria
and Kafanchan,
– a BRT system for mass transit starting with
Kaduna,
– a major project to establish Kaduna-Zaria
light rail system between Shika and through
the Kaduna Metropolis and up to the
Refinery,
– new bus and truck terminals in Kaduna,
Tafa, Mararaban Jos and Zaria

Security

Comprehensive security plan for Southern
Kaduna and the Birnin-Gwari/Giwa axis
Forensic laboratory under the control of our
State Internal Security outfit – Operation Yaki
– to enhance the investigative capacity of
law-enforcement agencies

Clean Cities: We would not allow our urban
centres to continue to be defaced by waste.
We shall be improving waste collection, then
we would introduce sanitary inspectors and
engage the public in a voluntary commitment
to make our cities clean.

Rural and community development: Under the
leadership of our Deputy Governor, we shall
be mainstreaming the Millennium Village
Pampaida programme as a viable model
across our rural communities. It will have
components to improve education, healthcare,
rural roads and the farming activities that
engage most of our rural residents.

Job Creation : your government will
undertake direct recruitment of qualified
doctors, nurses and teachers to urgently raise
the quality of service in our hospitals and
schools. We shall also employ at least 50
youths per ward over the next four years, in
our initial efforts for traffic control and
environmental enforcement. But try as it
might, government can only employ a
minority of youths who need jobs. Thus we
remain focused on creating a favourable
climate for the private sector to create jobs.

Textile Revival: We have the support of Mr.
President to work on policies and schemes
that will revive this sector as viable and
sustainable employer of labour. We are
cooperating with current and potential textile
investors on a package that stimulates the
value-chain from cotton farming to
garmenting.

There is so much to do, with fewer resources.
But we have no option than to deliver quality
performance for the people who have
invested so much hope in us. We need your
understanding and support for the difficult
decisions that we must take if we are to serve
you to the best of our ability. We will need
committed people in and out of government
to contribute to achieving the goals we have
set out.

We are not shrinking government for its own
sake. We are making government leaner so
that it can work better for you. Let us all
make sacrifices for change.

Above is the Keynote address by Nasir El-
Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, at the
first Town Hall meeting of the APC Kaduna
State Government, at the Hassan Katsina
House, Kawo, Kaduna, on Saturday, 27
June 2015

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cc: lalasticlala

When you have technocrats in govt, management of the people, resources and every fundamental needs become seamlessly neat, prompt and concise.
Professional politicians are our bane.
That El Rufai will be a phenomenon as a governor in Kaduna has never been doubted by me one day as I know his pedigree and his capabilities as Minister in FCT.
Oya fire down Mallam, small man with mighty guts and knowledge.

El-Rufai is already proving to be the best choice Kaduna people ever made. Bold decisions being taken in every sector. No more giving fertilizer to politicians and traditional rulers; no goverment sponsorship of pilgrims; no giving food items to rich politicians during Ramadan; fewer ministries and commisioners and so many other people-friendly decisions.

Ahhh its sooooo sweet to imagine all these things. Already its interesting I cant wait till its done. Eff PDP. Sai El Rufai Sai Pmb Sai Apc

He answers to no one. Elrufai single handedly financed his campaign and he doesnt owe any dam person as such he can make decisions without consulting any godfather.

I like him...kaduna will be great.

Its a shame some governors would envy his style but there hands are tied to their financers