'YES, GOV YAKOWA SLOW, BUT METICULOUS'
• Mikati
A chieftain of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and 2011 gubernatorial aspirant in Kaduna State, Shaibu Idris Mikati said Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa is on the right track.
In this interview with Daily Sun, Mikati who stepped out of the race at 11th hour to pave way for Yakowa at the primary election, added that though the governor is slow in administering the State, he is very meticulous. Excerpts:
Assessing Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa
When you reach a certain level in life, there are things you do and there are other things you probably do not need to do. I have direct and unimpeded access to the governor. If I have suggestions, I am able to reach him and express my views. If there are things I think he should do, I go to him and he listens to me. Lots of people have little or no understanding of how governance works.
Let me give an example. The average monthly wage bill of the state is in the region of N1.8 billion. That was when the minimum wage was N7,500. If we increase it to N18,000 per month, how much does Kaduna get from the Federation Account every month? It is N2.3 billion and if you remove N1.8 billion from N2.3 billion, how much is left? And how much is the internally generated revenue? May be N1 billion monthly. What can the governor do? He is not a magician and he still has to attend to the House of Assembly and do so many other things.
But the psyche of Nigerians has been fixated on seeing things done so fast and believe that government should put food on the table for the people. The only way I think government can do that is to provide the enabling environment which I believe the government is doing. However, the security situation has not been all that favourable. Since the post presidential election violence, we have been having series of curfews in Kaduna.
Even if you have the resources, when there is no peace, how can you develop? You cannot achieve any meaningful development without peace.
The state House of Assembly has just passed the budget and critics should give Yakowa time and let us see what he will do for us. Even at that, so far, we have seen where developments have taken place within this short period of Yakowa as governor.
In my local government, Birnin Gwari, I have seen a number of locations where contracts have been issued for roads to be tarred. We need to manage our expectations. Nigerians are so demanding, they want to see Rome by tomorrow and Rome was not built in a day. May be Yakowa is a bit slow, but if you want to be meticulous, you do not need to rush things. It is probably right for him to be a little bit slow so that he can come out better when we begin to se the democracy dividends.
2015 governorship elections
There was never a time when I unilaterally decided I was going to contest the governorship election. It was always a situation where a group of like minds sit down and suggest that I go into the race. I did it first time in 2007 and the second time in 2011. I think I am almost done with coming out to contest the governorship elections.
But you know that as a practicing Muslim, one tries to keep to the rules of the religion. Whatever I do or whatever I become, it is not by anybody's power but the power of the Almighty Allah. So, if Allah destines that I will contest again, then I may but who knows whether we will even witness 2015. We never envisaged a situation where late President Yar'Adua would not go for a second term but he could not even complete the first term.