Some members Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and Journalists in Kaduna on Wednesday x-trayed the performance of Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna in the last one year of the second tenure of his administration.
The CSOs and media practitioners who converged to analyze and discuss campaigns promises and inauguration speech commitments by the governor noted among other things that the action of the government does not present it as one who is ready to unite the people of the state.
The was put together by Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) with the to analyze commitments documented during and after the election to strengthen media discourse.
It is also met to increase and strengthen the effectiveness of citizens and media engagement around identified governance blockages and commitments and to discuss strategies to effectively deploy tools for tracking, monitoring and reporting progress on commitments.
According to the group, the promise of Governor in uniting the state and get rid of communities strife has not yet been seen in the way and manner the government is acting and speaking.
They observed that the government is undermining its own principles by dividing instead of uniting her own people by the way address issues that concerns one section of the state.
They noted that a situation where some leaders from that section of the state serving under the government are becoming afraid of addressing their own people because of the way their issues are been handled is not a reflection of what the governor had promised.
On insecurity, the group said since the creation of the Home Affairs and Security Ministry, insecurity has been on the rise. They therefore charged the commissioner in-charged of the ministry to take the fight against insecurity out of government house and take it to the communities and farms where kidnappings and attacks are taking place on daily basis.
They also noted that the way political appointments are being made in the state can engender insecurity, saying, a situation where people who are not know by the community are appointed to represent can create mistrust.
They questioned the rationale behind the massive demolition of shops which they observed have rendered over 2000 trader jobless without an alternative location, noting that may further increase the level of poverty in the state.
They said putting the people first, should have met that the government is expanding the city not bringing down old structures that could have been serving as tourist sight scene.
They therefore blamed the state planning agency for poor planning in the past for not doing anything about the city for a long time.
On education, they noted that though there has been an improvement in the education sector in the state, but most schools pupils still sit on the floor, adding that as it is education is not absolutely free like the government has promised because parents still pay some amount of monies for their wards.
They argued that the free education for girls in the state has not translated into increase in girls enrollment which showed that the policy is not achieving it’s desired result. They also noted that no new contract has been awarded in the even before the second term begins.
Culled from NEWSWEB