Salaam my dear Katsinawa and Daurawa! It is Friday once again and here I am as a fulfilment of my pledge to let you have a glimpse into what I have for Katsina, a pledge I hope you will etch in stone to hold me for. Last week I talked about my micro economic vision for Katsina State which if you will recall were those programmes I said, as a Governor, could be done immediately and easily with little or no ado. This is based on the administrative powers conferred on a Governor which do not necessarily require 3rd party consultation and approval to execute. Today, I am going to talk about my macro economic vision for the state. This vision entails those programmes and projects that are cost intensive, massive in nature, international in dimension and time consuming. I may not finish all as a Governor even in 8 years but I will require the first two years of my administration, inshaa Allah to set the ball rolling. Like I have previously said, I will take advantage of the Nigerian challenge to turn it into an opportunity in Katsina, that was the reason why I have chosen POWER as the centrepiece of my economic policies. If you will recall, I have once told you that in my capacity as a staff in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation I was privileged to be involved in the works of the Yar’adua Power Sector Reform Committee in 2008. There, I learnt that what Katsina needed as at then was 79 megawatts of electricity to have uninterrupted power supply. Then we received a proposal from an agent of Goldwind, a renowned global renewable energy firm for the construction of 1000mwt capacity wind farm at no cost to Nigeria based on the national wind survey already undertaken by Lahmeyer. The project was at no cost to Nigeria but requiring partnership that will see Nigeria taking over the farm after 30 years. We all know Nigeria. Issues to do with regulations, tariffs, transmission and above all what is there in it for me killed the whole project. Now having known that such could be done at so cheap a cost, immersed in me the current confidence that in Katsina I can build 200 mwt capacity power generating plant to power my state using similar arrangement. This is certainly exceeding our requirements for I doubt if much has changed so significantly as to alter the requirement much higher than what we had in 2009. My proposal is to build a 200 mwt capacity plant using thermal energy that will give Katsina 24 hours of electricity supply. I will build this plant at a suitable location in Daura and using all the West African protocols I know of draw a gas pipeline from Niger Republic, which is just less than 100 kilometers to power my plant. I will ensure a detailed scientific survey that will determine a match between what Niger produces and the equipment that we will use. My choice of Niger gas as you all know is based on proximity, reliability, economic advantage and security. It takes a minimum of 20 months to build a power plant for a serious minded administration. Having achieved this, I will follow all necessary constitutional and extant regulations to take Katsina off the national grid by ensuring an amicable severance resolution. This is made even more achievable considering the current reforms within the power sector. God knows if I have power in Katsina the sky is my limit! As at the last count, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria MAN has declared that over 860 industries have shut down in Nigeria due to power. Reason being that they required AGO and LPFO to power their machines which were and are not always available. Where they are, are sold at cutthroat prices. At the end of the day, they produce at a very high price and on coming to the market they meet goods of similar or lower quality imported from China selling at a price far lower than theirs. That way they had to sell at a price lower than their production cost or close shop. Profit is the reward that keeps us in business. Nobody sells at a loss and still remain in business. This informed why most of them were forced out of business. I will constitute a committee of technocrats and business men to work out necessary incentives and other packages to go after these industries all over Nigeria. I will pursue Sharada and Bompai in Kano. I will pursue Kakuri in Kaduna, Trans Amadi in Portharcourt, Onitsha in Abia, Ilupeju and Ikeja in Lagos, Oyo, Ondo and Benin to the best of my ability. I will target to have all of those industries relocate to Katsina and inshaa Allah if I end up with 50% I would have achieved much. Now turning home, I have at my feet one significant blessing that I can use. Katsina state is made up of approximately 7 million people. This is abundant human capacity that any serious administration could exploit. The greatest countries in the world that I know today were made great not by the natural resources they have but by the human resources they have. USA, China, Japan, Germany, Singapore etc are what they are because of the right investment in their people. With 7 million Katsina cannot just be poor. I will build tomato processing company to absorb our irrigation in Dutsinma, Safke, Jibia, Ajiwa, Danja and Kafur. I will build a ceramic industry to absorb our kaolin in Kankara, Dutsinma and Malumfashi, I will build a glass manufacturing company to absorb our glass sand in Daura, Malumfashi and other places across the state. I will build a sugar factory to absorb our sugarcane in Danja and other places. I will build rice processing plant to absorb our production in Dandume, Faskari, Sabuwa and Funtua and encourage wheat production. I will build an international market and abattoir in Maiadua and follow it up with the revitalisation of the leather factory in Daura. I will revitalise Funtua textiles and encourage the ginning of cotton by providing capital as a loan to ginners. I will exploit our abounding coal in the state, gold, granite, gypsum, phosphate, uranium and what have you. I will open up Katsina to the world and I will make Katsina ready for the world! I will construct a rail line from Funtua to Daura via Katsina and with the right negotiations extend it to Kano. This is to aid the evacuation of what we will produce and to provide easy and cheap access to the state since we are landlocked. These are not easy projects and certainly not cheap but they will certainly be made easy by our will and collective resolve. I will establish a Katsina Bank for Rural and Urban Development to assist small businesses and middle manpower and crafts that will aid these development. Our BATCs will become the breeding houses of our required labour and will have their curricula packaged and retooled to accommodate this. I know most of you are worried about the funding source but I can tell you international financing of today requires only the right will, the right policy, the right environment and the right people to thrive. If we can make Katsina that we are home! Any question you have let us meet at Katsina Dialogue for Change by 10pm tomorrow. Thank you and God bless!
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 08:03:43 +0000