Why We Don’t Award Contracts To Non-natives – Masari

The Executive Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari, speaks to PEMBI DAVID-STEPHEN on how his government has gone about re-invigorating the state’s comatose education sector and why the state does not deem it fit to award contracts to non-natives. 

Right from the days of the Colonial masters, Katsina State has produced educationists; so, it came as a surprise when it was learnt that the state government refused to pay the fees for the Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) and Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) fees for the students in the state, because the students have been failing. If this is true, what measures have been put in place or are planned to be put in pace to ensure that these students pass their exams?

First off, during the campaigns, we promised to do something about the issue of education in the state. Even while taking a stroll, you can see the decay in the primary and secondary schools. We believe in foundation education, so we were not surprised when the figures given to us for 1999 to 2013 reflected that 250,000 students sat for the WASSCE examination within the period and that, out of that number only 28,000 got five credits. This represents about 10.5 per cent.

The result for the National Examinations Council (NECO) was better, with about 52,000 or thereabouts getting the desired five credits, representing about 20 per cent or thereabouts.

In 2014, 45,000 and few hundreds were presented for WASSCE and NECO. Sadly, out of this number, only 4,000 got five credits and above. With this, you can see that the number of students meeting the requirements to go beyond secondary school are no more than 11 per cent, or so, on the average. Of this figure, this represents the total number of students of Katsina State origin; whether they live in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna or here in Katsina.

By the time we took the aggregate of 2014, we discovered that 17,000 of them were from public schools. Out of them, only 370 got five credits and above. This is two per cent. Anyone who cares to verify this can go to the Ministry of Education.

Over the years, the government spent over N1bn to register these young people for these examinations; yet, we are not getting up to five per cent from the students in public schools above the five credits’ line.

The fundamental issue is addressing the foundational education; that is, primary and secondary school education. We agreed on that. Also, the ministry of education muted the ideas of ‘mock exams’. But then, the mock exams will only give you an idea of those who will pass the exams and no more. In no time, the Ministry of Education informed us that the students and the parents kicked against it.

The young people we are churning out are just meant for the streets, because they cannot go beyond that level. They end up going to unrecognized schools, bag unrecognized certificates and become sources of problem and worry for the state when they return.

So, when we say that we are changing, we are doing so for good and for the better. We started by having a base-line study, visiting more than 2000 primary and secondary schools in Katsina and, also, made a head-count of the school children. We discovered that only 60 per cent of the registered pupils go to school and that of the total classes in these schools, only about 19 of them are properly furnished. The other 80 per cent are uninhabitable and unfit for learning.

We also discovered that, after rehabilitating these classes, you need 260 more classes to accommodate the extra children and you need 7,500 more teachers to balance the ratio among these 700,000 students (it actually is a little more than 690-something). Of this number, only 190-something thousand sit on desks and chairs. All the junior secondary school students sit on the floor. I saw them. If you were in-charge, would you leave these fundamental issues and address a secondary one? I would not.

We have made estimates that, from primary to senior secondary education, to put in the needed infrastructure and contain the ideal number of students, we need no less than N45bn. This amount will go into the rehabilitation of schools, refurnishing of classrooms with chairs, desks and every other form of upholstery needed. Most of the teachers do not have desks on which to mark the class work or chairs on which to sit. They make do on the mat or sit on the floor. The situation is fairer in the secondary schools, perhaps, because they have a population of about 377,000. If we have that population and only 300,000 are attending, that is about 80 per cent.

How about the reading culture? What is being done about that, given that most of the libraries which the state boasted of are those built when the state was part of the old Kaduna State?

Most of them are no longer libraries. I visited one of the libraries and the whole books I saw there could fit into a medium-sized carton.

How about the ICT centre?

The ICT centre? First off, they have just one functional desk top and they are not connected to any of the satellite; whether it’s NIGCOMSAT, VSAT, etc. For a population of 1,750, the design capacity is 750. This means that anything meant for one person is being shared by three people.

How do you intend to get over this mess?

Our intention is to begin with a number of schools as part of the pilot scheme. About N23bn is required for primary education by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is a direct responsibility of the local government, while the state government takes charge of the secondary education.

Now, we have the figures; so, when we make a budget, we define three clear plans. From what we are getting, how much can the local government commit annually and how much can the state commit annually for primary education? When we have amassed all we need, we can now look at the schools which are the most affected. If we will begin with 50 schools, we will take a minimum of 15 schools from every zone.

If we will take on the first 10 secondary schools, we’ll take a minimum of three from every zone. If we think we can do anything with the savings we have since we came to office, before December, we can take on five secondary schools and five primary schools, respectively, and rehabilitate them based on the existent structures, before talking about additional structures.

But, for uniformity’s sake, we need to begin in 2016.

Coming back to the issue of payment for WASSCE; we paid. We paid for WASSCE, over N500m. What advised was that the committee on education should go to every school and ensure that everyone eligible and present in school should be registered.

If you look at the register, it says there are 1.2 million pupils in primary school, but the actual figure shows that we have 690,000-plus. That is some percentage below the projected figure.

In the secondary school, we have 377,000-plus, while the actual count is 300,000. This means that about 77,000 persons have dropped out of the school. Coming to the registration thing, if you are paying based on what the register says, you are paying for those who are not in school. Some of the people who are used to benefitting from this are the ones whipping up sentiments and saying that the government has refused to pay the registration fees for WASSCE, JAMB and NECO. Those who are in the civil service are the ones who are benefitting from that and they are not happy that we are reforming the education sector in the state; thus, they are spreading wrong information and black-mailing us. Be that as it is, I must tell you that the government has paid.

Today, I have sent my liaison officer to the NECO office in the state to get me the NECO secretary, so that we can find out about the proper figure and get to pay the right amount, without getting short-changed.

Also, what sense does it make for us to invest over N1bn in an exam which only 370 or 400 (2 per cent of the total figure) will scale through? Of course, some will get two or three credits in both examinations to add up, but what sense does it make to throw good money after bad? The investment, I must say, is not worth it.

Some states encourage their young people to go to school by providing feeding in these schools. Is the Katsina State government thinking about that?

We promised to look at the issue of school uniforms and school fees, depending on the resources available to the state. As at this day, the state is getting 50 per cent of what is was getting a year ago, because the price of crude has dropped a record low ($47).

Talking about money and the enormous amount you need to resuscitate your state, what are you doing to improve the internally-generated income of the state? Katsina has a lot of tourist attractions sites, but in the report of the committee which wrote about your first 100 days in office, none of these avenues for revenue generation was raised…

We are being honest and realistic. When we talk about tourism, we are talking about foreign nationals coming to visit most of these places which we, as Nigerians are not very keen to do, in the first place. But, given the security situation in the country, where we have to provide double the security which the state provided before, we had to think before leaving it out or including it.

If you go to other nations where tourism thrives, the governments of these nations have laid down law restricting anyone from going anywhere after 6pm. What I am saying here is that we have to restore peace and confidence before we can go on to talk about tourism and its accompanying positives.

We have lots of tourist attractions in our country, but the fact is that we have to restore peace, confidence in the security of the nation, before striking out in that direction.

Any other means of generating internal revenue?

First off, you need to ask yourself how many people in this country pay their taxes. Only people who are employed or contracted to get work done pay taxes. I am sure that if you go to Nigerian cities and mount a road-block, asking for proof of tax payment on licenses for vehicles and automobiles, you will be shocked. Over 50 per cent of those who ply the road do not have licenses and, even if they do, they do not pay taxes on them.

We have to get the people to appreciate the importance of paying their taxes. We all depend on government to do this and that, but the government cannot do this without money and the money has to come through taxation and other forms of government earnings, especially now that the money coming from the federation account is being reduce by half.

We do not know what next the whole thing holds for us; I just heard the other day that crude has lost 0.04 per cent of its price.

Between last August and September, Katsina lost over N900m; that is for the state government and not the state government. So, the revenue is going down. Yet, people demand more from government. How can government do all that, when you have refused to pay your taxes?

Will we see the return of Jangari?

This is not only about the return of jangari, it is about people paying for the licenses of their vehicles and, even, the license to drive and insurance cover, even for bicycles. These are civic responsibilities any responsible person should be aware of and perform. But you will be shocked when you go tour areas and begin to check.

Those who pay tax are those who go to collect their tax clearance. If you don’t, you have not aid your tax. On a street, you will find more than 1,000 shops and none is paying taxes. No one pays for the billboards. When you go to our markets, you find thousands of bags of corn being sold in our markets and thousands of herds of cattle being sold…not a kobo comes to the government.

How do you intend to boost agriculture in Katsina State?

I think that agriculture has been the main-stay of Katsina’s economy. We have appointed a firm that has been an agricultural consultant to international organisations to help us out. What that company will do will be to carry out a soil survey on Katsina State and recommend certain crops, fertilisers and farming implements for certain areas.

If you go to the extreme northern part, bordering Niger Republic, you can easily dig. If you come to the central part, it is not too hard or too soft. The southern part is clayey and will need heavy farming implements. This and the physical survey to determine how many farmers we actually have in the state are some of the things we are doing presently.

While we are talking of the distribution of fertilisers and other farming input, the consultants did not put fertilizer as a priority; there were more important things on the list. We are beginning afresh, opting for methods which will improve our survival and help us grow better crops. I believe that if we face agriculture and produce enough cash, food and other crops in commercial quantity, revenue flow will be automatic, because there will be the emergence of processing mills for cotton (which will lead to garment-making) and others.

To this effect, Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states have formed a committee and we are working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to improve rice farming and distribution in the area. This is because the CBN is no more offering foreign exchange to anyone who is importing rice or any other thing which can be produced within the country.

In the area of livestock, we have concluded plans to get cattle herds from Niger, to boost production of milk (about 1 to 1.5Ltrs). Farmers in Kano and Kaduna have done that using local feeds; it is not rocket science. All that is needed is a little help for the local cattle rearers.

What are your thoughts about the ministerial list?

Well, you cannot fault any of them; they have all contributed something, no matter how little, to the political development of the present republic. Also, if you look at their qualification and experience, you cannot fault them.

Considering that we are in an era of

change, what measure of change should we expect from Katsina in the next four years?

We have already begun. First off, we will not allow anyone take the money meant for Katsina’s economy. That is why we say if we award contracts outside, we will have no one from Katsina to do them. We have advised the local governments to patronize local companies.

Now, if local government C wants to award contracts for the renovation of classrooms, it will take into account the price of some of the building materials within and, by the time the contract is awarded, the contractor will be able to purchase timber within the local government. Same goes for roofing sheets, cement and others.

We don’t want a situation in which we award a contract of about N1m or N2m to a contractor and, instead of buying within the state; he jets off to Kano to go buy the things he needs. That cripples the business of the man who sells timber and roofing sheets in the village. Why can’t you buy from this man in the village and help his business grow? This thing we keep talking about capacity development; that is how it begins and spreads nationally. This is the best path to growth.

Also, we are considering a situation in which, if we award construction jobs, the contractor will have to employ local people who have skills or not (depending on the job description) for the duration of the contract.

When these people are applying for the next job, they will quote the experience gotten from this other job they engaged in. If, before the contract is ended or, when it ends, the contractor gets another job in, say Gombe or anywhere else, and, if he finds you suitable, can take you with him.

This is why we are not keen on awarding contracts to none-natives.

Besides the bail-out, you need a lot of money for these lofty pr0jects which you have; do you have plans to apply for a loan?

The CBN, through the FG’s intervention, is offering a way out, because the economy is down and needs to get right on its feet. Some states cannot pay salaries; others are in deeper trouble, financially. The picture I painted in education is the same in the health sector.

If there is an opportunity to get this money from somewhere else and repay in a number of years, it is better to take it and invest in these young ones and the sectors. When the young ones thrive and the health sector is robust, these healthy, learned people will be the ones to contribute to the economy of the state and ensure that that loan is paid back.

It is a welcome development for states in need of funds to invest to take the opportunity and do that, invest in health, security, education, small and medium scale investments, etc.

In our case, when we get it, we will sit down and consult with the people on the areas of best interest for the state and her people.