Saluting Katsina model for basic, effectual economics

Since penultimate week when it played host to scores of editors, Katsina State has remained unforgettable to the high echelon of the Nigerian media, and this is for very good reasons.

Considering the insecurity in a few states in the North-East of Nigeria, Katsina was thought an unlikely destination for close to 300 senior journalists and scholars, even though it is located in the North-Western zone, which had largely been shielded from the senseless terror attacks till Kaduna and Kano recorded their own unfortunate share of the infamy.

But it turned out that the 10th edition of the All Nigerian Editors Conference (ANEC), where issues germane to development of the nation and the media profession were discussed, would record one of its best attendances ever, and perhaps one of the most intellectually-stimulating sessions.

Safety, the primary concern of the editors and their guests, was the first in which Ibrahim Shema’s state ranks very high. It was remarkable, not because a battalion of soldiers and policemen were detailed to look after the august visitors.

No!

I cannot recall any overt policing of either the conference venue or the six hotels earmarked for delegates all over Katsina city. One could even argue that the state government deliberately refrained from turning the city into a garrison while the conference lasted so as not to give the impression that the editors were just being temporarily secured.

Even at the Government House where the governor welcomed early-bird delegates upon arrival, it was by far the most under-policed government house that I have seen in Nigeria, so much so that one could be allowed into the Chief Executive’s presence with his mobile phones if one had the decency to turn them off. At the conference venue, not a few of the guards spoke Yoruba and carried no arms.

Katsina, it did appear, was no state under siege or tension and it was welcoming to all and sundry, including those saddled with maintaining law and order.

In its slogan, the state boasts of being the home of hospitality. Indeed, it is no fantasy island at the Fadama hotel, and elsewhere in town, where the adventuresome among the visitors discovered that the night needed not end before morning wee hours in this land that has produced for Nigeria both the No 1 and No 2 citizens at different times, interestingly from the same family. Also, it is a good testimony to its hospitable mien and safe ambience that youth corps members from different parts of the country are able to work, dress and associate without let or hindrance. The theatre at the government house paraded actors reminiscent of Africa Magic (Hausa) channel on DStv and what looked like Katsina’s pop music culture, oozing sheer creativity.

This state typifies the good old North; which, really, is how it ought to be.

But by far its most impressive scorecard is in the areas of deft economic management and apparent good governance, almost like an unadvertised lifestyle. Impressive road networks, newly constructed schools and institutions, a new 35.000-seater stadium, massive landscape for agriculture and mechanized farming as well as the new Government House – a truly befitting architectural masterpiece – among others, signpost developments in Katsina state, thereby constituting evident improvements to an environment that I had earlier visited four years ago.

However, Shema’s commendable achievement is in understanding the basic needs of his state and the people and ensuring judicious application of its resources.

In an otherwise civil service state like this, prompt payment of salaries is a yardstick for measuring performance and this is one key area where Shema ensures non-negotiable compliance. By the 25the of every month, Katsina workers get their salaries without fail, just as pensioners enjoy their dues, and this is in a state that was among the first to comply with the new minimum wage structure. Being a lawyer, the governor’s high regard for quality education and human capital development can be gleaned, especially with the N11bn spent on the completion of the state university, named after his predecessor and late president, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua. Education is free here  and Shema’s passion to get as many as possible enlisted is seen in the construction of 34 Girl-Child primary schools, in addition to 100 standard primary schools as well as 260 conventional secondary schools all over Local Governments. Yet, the N800m used yearly to underwrite the cost of WAEC, NECO and NABTEB for students in his state further demonstrates the governor’s commitment to learning.

All these, remarkably, are executed on a debt-free budget at a time that several states, either oil-rich or naively insolvent, have turned borrowing into their latest pastime. Not only has Katsina run a zero-debt profile since Shema’s assumption, itself a carry-over from the Yar’Adua administration, its new N8bn Government House was built not from federal allocation or its Internally Generated Revenue, but, by Shema’s glowing admission, from profit that accrued from wisely investing its monthly IGR of about N1bn.

Ostensibly, the late Yar’Adua must have seen something worthy in this quiet, debonair Shema to have made him a successor. A one-time chief law officer of the state is now its chief economist, running his territory smoothly on monthly allocation from federal government and toiling to improve on the state IGR to serve mainly as liquidity for further investment. By so doing, white elephant projects are avoided while probity, by people’s admission, is encouraged.

Katsina state may appear fortunate with its manageable population of barely a million people, sprawling farmland and an enviable ranking at No 6 on the monthly allocation table with a total of N7.3bn (for state and local governments) collected in January this year for December 2013 allocation. But Shema’s model is a lesson, tellingly indeed, that a state can run effectively and  profitably too, without going a-borrowing, yet devoid of chest-thumping vainglory.