By Tahir Ibrahim Tahir
Most people concentrate on the urban areas and forget about the well-being of rural dwellers. So, people from the comfort of their homes in city centres assume the role of armchair experts, formulating and successfully implementing projects and policies without peeping out the window for a second. Do they give a thought to the overwhelming rural population that does not enjoy the facilities and infrastructure or other amenities that the urban populace benefit from? Certainly not, as they do not know where the shoes pinch in the rural communities.
Proffering a solution for the needs of the rural communities was thoughtfully considered a while back by the Katsina state government, long before the local government autonomy judgement of the Supreme Court. Back on July 4, 2024; Dr. Dikko Radda, the governor of Katsina state, had a meeting with all the local government chairmen in Katsina state, along with their directors of administration and finance, to present to them the community development programme, CDP, which he had designed. This, he said, was an approach to policy formulation and implementation, that is inclusive of the communities. He stated that “if we allow communities to tell us what they need, it will make governance at the grassroots level more efficient and effective”. The CDP is the cornerstone of Governor Radda’s efforts in building a better future for the communities in Katsina state. The model developed community centres in each of the 361 wards around all the local government areas in the state. It aims to have these centres as beacons of socioeconomic development in Katsina state, ensuring that everyone has access to the development projects in the state.
The CDP has three structural layers: the programme steering committee comprising the governor, all the commissioners, and the programme co-ordinator; second is the joint planning committee consisting of the deputy governor, all the local government chairmen, who would work towards including community projects in the budget of each local government, and assessing project performances; lastly, the community level committee which would be in charge of managing all the community centres. They would also collaborate with traditional rulers, and engage with the communities directly through the programme officers that run the centres.
The community centres would have three main offices: the community development office which would handle economic development and infrastructure; then the community office which would take care of the vulnerable, handicapped, women, children, victims of banditry, and any other social support; and lastly the community learning centre which would promote education and all forms of learning, including moral orientation in the communities. The CDP was designed to tailor government projects, interventions, initiatives, and even palliatives according to the desires of the communities; whereby each group would be proffering or preferring one kind of intervention or another. Instead of having the government offering the traditional blanket approach to projects across all urban and rural centres, the CDP provides the communities with an approach that gives each community the opportunity to speak directly to the government, specifying what they really lack or need in their nooks and crannies.
Katsina state government has been doing so much for the more urbane people of Katsina, state with billions expended on different development projects to better their lives. Billions have been spent on construction of roads, bridges, building of hospitals and upgrade of healthcare centres to hospitals; sponsorship of hundreds of students to study medicine, computing, and AI technology. A lot of resources has also been spent on both federal and state owned institutions of learning in Katsina. Just recently, over N1 billion was released by the Katsina state government to Umaru Musa Yar’adua University as counterpart funding for TETFUND projects worth over N10 billion. Model secondary schools are being built across the state, along with the construction and renovation of 150 primary schools. Even sporting activities are being encouraged as 22 players from Katsina football academy have been sponsored to an exclusive international scouting event at Doha, Qatar; so that citizens of the state can tap into the multi-billion dollar football industry.
In all of this, the rural communities or dwellers appear shortchanged. And this is where the CDP programme has come in. Farming, including livestock farming is the mainstay of 90% of the indigenes of Katsina, especially in the rural areas. Identifying with this, the state government embarked on a massive livestock farming campaign to empower women, providing them with goats. Each woman got four goats, one male and three nanny goats. Each woman is empowered with about N200,000 worth of livestock.
About 3610 women were beneficiaries of the pilot scheme, with 10 from each ward. The women were provided with resources, training and the support they need to rear their goats. The programme also covers essential aspects such as animal nutrition, health management including vaccination, and sustainable farming techniques. The more robust and larger scale farmers are provided with 50 goats with each ward having one large scale farmer, making about 361 large scale farmers, each with 50 goats. The livestock are transported to each community where the recipients are. They are trained on running their small scale livestock farming.
The ambitious approach is intended to make Katsina state the leading hub of livestock farming in the entire North, Dr. Radda emphasised this at the flag-off of the scheme at Daura, in Katsina state. The government is also establishing a goat farm in Rimi local government area for the purpose of high milk and manure, breeding and animal husbandry, training, genetic improvement, and a goat production multiplier. The governor also launched the Rumbun Sauki consumer shops, to enhance food security in the state. Rumbun Sauki, as the name implies, will sell staple foods at cheaper prices than the rates ‘shylock’ retailers insist on toiling the people with. This will, of course, have a greater effect on the communities.
Tahir is Talban Bauchi.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Sky Daily
