Alhaji Yusuf Mohammed Maccido, is the Commissioner of Water Resources in Sokoto State. He is a Prince of the Sultanate and one time Secretary of the Sokoto Local Government Council and Principal Private Secretary to his father, the later Sultan Muhammad Maccido. Yusuf’s passion for service to the people is not surprising, because as a prince, service to the people is a way of life. In this interview, Maccido shares key insights about significant achievements recorded so far in the water sector by Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto, especially the improvement of water supply across the state. Excerpts.
“Governor Ahmad Sokoto is a focused and compassionate leader who has under two years restored the hope of the people in government by delivering services…the people of Sokoto State last witnessed development in 2007” -Maccido
QUESTION: Commissioner I know it would be extremely difficult to avoid reacting to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) orchestrated media attacks against the Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto’s administration, but can we start from what you have been doing as a Commissioner of Water Resources to ensure that the people of Sokoto State have access to water.
Answer: I absolutely agree with you that we should as much as possible try and ignore the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and concentrate on the difference that Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto is making in governance unlike what our dear state suffered for eight years in the hands of Aminu Tambuwal. But like you know, they are mischievous and we have a duty to debunk their infantile lies. If we keep quiet Nigerians would believe their propaganda. It’s really unfortunate that PDP has refused to accept that we not only defeated them but have completely buried them by doing the things they refused to do like providing water for the people, building roads and schools etc. The PDP plan is to bury our efforts with their negative publicity but thankfully the good people of Sokoto State are well informed about our governor’s efforts to change their despondency to one of hope. Again as much as I don’t want to talk about the opposition PDP, I really can’t keep quiet because they committed murder by their failure to work for the people. When we came the water supply system in Sokoto State had virtually collapsed, even the ministry of water resources lacked water. So how can a ministry that can’t take care of itself take care of the people? What they (PDP) did in denying people access to water was criminal; can you imagine a place like Sokoto State that’s very hot without water? The situation we met was a total disaster. So, before his appointment of commissioners the governor constituted a committee to immediately restore water supply to the people. The other challenge was that the state account was in red but the governor had to source money to finance the committee, to buy chemicals for water treatment and to fix broken down equipment that were critical for the operation of the water corporation. The governor deserves commendation for the immediate steps that he took, including the immediate sinking of emergency boreholes, and procuring water tankers to supply water to the people. This is what leadership is all about. And once I was appointed the governor’s unambiguous mandate to me was to ensure that I resolve the situation and moving forward to ensure that this never happened again. The governor did fantastically well confronting the challenges.
QUESTION: You talked about the emergency committee that the governor was forced to put in place?
Answer: The committee was a child of necessity and it performed creditably well. Like you know the water in Sokoto state like some other places in Nigeria is hard. By the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Nigeria Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ) the underground water in Sokoto state has a hardness that exceeds the permissible limits due to a number of factors. The most important take away is that it’s a matter of concern because hard water is not safe for drinking and impacts negatively on the efficiency and lifespan of appliance like electric kettle, baths and other appliances that require water for operation. It even prevents soap from lathering. So it is important that it’s treated because it also causes dry and itchy skin, it has taste etc. This is why treating hard water is very expensive. This background is very important so that people may understand the situation because even at the National Council on Water, most of my colleagues don’t seem to understand why the North gets some priority in water projects. Working with the governor the committee restored power after payment of the outstanding bills; they equally addressed the issue of obsolete equipment, which I met on my appointment. It’s scandalous that no pumping machine was working and this affected the pumping of raw water for treatment; same with other critical equipment and machineries. To worsen matter this equipment cannot be bought off the shelf and they are extremely expensive. You need to open letters of credit, and the equipment manufactured to your specifications. In the interim we had to fix them because again there was no budgetary provision to buy new ones. I respect the governor’s prudence and insistence on due process and his appreciation of the challenges and finding solutions to the problems. He supported our efforts to get experts from anywhere to overhaul the equipment, which we did. The governor also ensured funding for the purchase of chemicals because without treating the water it is as good as not giving the people water.
QUESTION: So how have things changed?
Answer: Since my assumption of duty as commissioner, every month without any delay the funds for procurement of chemicals for water treatment is released as is expected of a responsible government. During Aminu Tambuwal’s administration funds were released whenever the governor felt like, because he was hardly around and he didn’t know the state of affairs. That administration was a tragedy. Again because Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto cares about the people he has entered into a partnership with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and luckily for us the former Minister of State of Water Resources is from Sokoto State and he was of tremendous assistance in several respects. The only problem is the delay in the procurement process. The 40 million gallons per day water project was initiated by our father, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, during his administration. As at the time he left office the project was 70% completed. Unfortunately the Tambuwal administration that came after our leader recklessly abandoned the project in the eight years it held sway. Governor Ahmed Sokoto has rightly decided to complete the project because completing the project will surely go a long way in addressing the lingering water shortage the metropolis and environ are experiencing and again because if he refuses to complete the project not only would bill of tax payers’ money already sunk in the project be wasted and the cost would drastically improve.
The other project is the expansion of water supply to the new areas of the capital that are developing….like you know Sokoto is rapidly expanding, and there is the need to service the new areas. I saw a report in one newspaper that the former administration of Aminu Waziri Tambuwal awarded the contract to a Chinese company for the supply of water to the people and for the construction of the 40 million gallons of water per day, but he characteristically abandoned the project. Unlike Tambuwal who abandoned the every project that he inherited when he took over Governor Sokoto has continued with the project and indeed every project that is of benefit to the people because it will help ensure constant water supply. This government sees itself as a continuation of the Senator Wamakko administration so we are completing the projects that he started but which Tambuwal abandoned for no reason. And this is the reason I am very angry with officials of the Tambuwal administration for criticizing this administration when they achieved absolutely nothing. Quote me that the Tambuwal administration was a disaster. He was a big flop and this is why he lost in 2019. Tambuwal promised to build houses for the people but as usual failed to build one unit in eight years while Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto has completed the 500 housing units started by our leader, Wamakko, and commenced the construction of another 500 housing units bringing to a total of 1,000 houses completed under one and half years. And remember that the governor bought some houses from Federal Government. So the administration of Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto is not in any way comparable to the inept administration of Tambuwal. Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto is focused, responsible and God fearing which is why he has achieved less than two years what Aminu Tambuwal couldn’t achieve in eight years.
QUESTION: Can you kindly complete your answer on the water project
Answer: I want to assure you that once the project is completed we will have the capacity to supply 100% water to the people of Sokoto State. We are working on power supply which is critical in water supply like chemicals. We hope to get sufficient power because it is very important in our plans to deliver water round the clock. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to our consumers to promptly fix leakages and ensure that water is not wasted because it costs money to produce water and we can never recover our cost from their payment. I am extremely grateful to the governor for the unprecedented investment in the water sector. The last time we witnessed this was during the administration of Senator Wamakko. We are embarking on an enlightenment campaign, using religious and traditional leaders, to reach the people on the need to pay their bills and fix bursts.
QUESTION: So what other critical projects are you working on?
Answer: The other project we are working on is a rural scheme that would ensure that the rural areas where our people live have access to water which the governor promised during the campaign, hopefully by December the project would be completed. Apart from water supply this government has done a lot in building roads, in the rehabilitation of healthcare facilities and has invested billions in agricultural projects because our state is largely an agrarian state. We are definitely keying into President Bola Tinubu’s agricultural policy. Under the programme about 5,000 acres of land would be prepared for farming. The programme is a nationwide scheme. It is a joint initiative of the state government, the federal government and the World Bank. It is about 780 Million dollars. Officials of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources have been to Sokoto to identify the dams that we are going to use for the project. We have applied to use to use four dams of which two are owned by the Federal government – the Goronyo and Kware and the other two by the State Government, the Lugu Dam. Part of the project is the repair of the dams and reinvigoration to the land more arable. If we are able to make it work the impact would be massive in terms of food production. And it would definitely improve standard of living of the people.
QUESTION: What are the other achievements of your ministry?
Answer: The other achievements of the ministry under my watch includes the installation and reconnection of pipelines for water supply, replacement of submersible pumps, and ensuring that availability of safe water for the people and industries despite the challenges of operating the plants; like the high cost of diesel due to lack of electricity, and the vandalization of critical equipment by hoodlums. The governor hates excuses; he wants the job done and then you can explain. And he has shown us the way by moving the state forward despite the Tambuwal administration leaving him with an empty treasury, unpaid pensions and gratuity and several other crisis.
QUESTION: What else has the government of Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto done for the people considering the harsh economic situation?
Answer: You really need to know Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto to understand his philosophy of governance and politics. For instance the governor is someone who constantly looks at the impact of any policy from the perspective of how it would benefit the people. This is critical for the governor. This is why he spent heavily in procuring trailer loads of rice and fertilizers that were distributed free of charge to the good people of Sokoto State. The end objective of his policies is the improvement in the quality of their lives. He would rather spend the resources of the state on the people than use them to hire private jets like Aminu Tambuwal. And being an accountant he knows that the government would ultimately benefit from what might look like waste in better health for the people, which would invariably mean less visits to the hospital and other spin offs like increase in internally generated revenue. The Governor has positively touched every part of the state with projects and every sector like he promised during the campaign.
QUESTION: I can’t ask you to assess your boss or an administration that you are part of
Answer: (Cuts in) I agreed to serve under Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto because I believe in his capacity to deliver the goods. He is committed and passionate about our dear state and he hasn’t disappointed me. I am not in any way assessing him, but saying what I know as a member of the Sokoto State Executive Council which debates policies and approves contracts. Normally many administrations use their first year to lay the foundation for projects and not for the commissioning of projects, but the governor has commissioned several projects; first he was determined to restore hope and because he understood that the state having suffered from lack of governance, that there was an urgent need to deliver. When Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto lost the 2019 election, he never left Sokoto State; he was always with his people, and that has helped him in addressing their problems and the challenges facing the state.
QUESTION: Was this why the PDP boycotted the local government elections?
Answer: Absolutely! The people are not stupid even though some people see or take them for granted. But they paid the price. Why couldn’t Aminu Tambuwal win with a landslide in 2019?
QUESTION: Back to the water projects are you just targeting the Sokoto metropolis?
Answer: There is the water scheme for the local government areas, so it’s not like we have concentrated on the capital city only. It’s just that some local government areas fall within the metropolis. Again because of tight resources we are following our programme strictly. When we are done with this programme, we would have effectively covered at least four local government areas and some part of the old city of the capital. We are constructing boreholes everyday but it’s still not enough because the last administration refused to provide the people with water, schools and even when it awarded contracts for roads they were abandoned after full payment. We have already started the rehabilitation of some earth dams across the state. The governor intends to rehabilitate all the 72 dilapidated earth dams before the end of his first term.
QUESTION: I’m interested in dam management. Does that come under your ministry, if so what are the status of the dams in your state?
Answer: Dams are supposed to be under my ministry but the problem is that dams have multiple uses – agriculture, power generation and for domestic use. We have a department of dam in my ministry, but because it’s interwoven we all cooperate to ensure that our people derive the full benefits. But it definitely does affect the implementation of projects especially if we have silo mentality at the Federal Government level they are trying to work out which ministry will drive the president’s agricultural programme. Meanwhile there is a committee headed by the Vice President, with the Ministers of Water Resources, Agriculture and Environment, as co-chairmen. The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Power is the Secretary, all are part of the efforts to ensure a smooth implementation of the Sustainable Power and Irrigation in Nigeria (SPIN) programme which is a collaboration between the federal, state governments and the World Bank. Under the scheme the existing dams in the state will be used for irrigation of more than 50,000 hectares of land for dry season farming across the country. There’s also an electricity component that would hopefully increase hydroelectricity power. Like I said earlier about 780million Dollars has been earmarked for these projects. The government just finished the programme on Irrigation Against Cutting Plants. It was executed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with World Bank, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and World Bank.
QUESTION: Can you give me your honest assessment on the implementation of the 9 – Point Agenda of Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto?
Answer: Now you are asking me to assess my boss. I want to believe that you are convinced that I will be sincere as a prince and a good Muslim. To be honest with you and indeed Nigerians I have not seen any governor since our father and leader, who is as committed to improving the quality of life of the people like Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto. He might be young, but he is determined to making a difference in governance, and like the accountant that he is, he is very prudent with the resources of the state. He insists on value for money. He consults widely and is very decisive.
QUESTION: What are the other qualities of the governor that’s endearing?
Answer: I want to commend the cordial working relationship between the governor and his deputy, especially because the governor who constitutionally has enormous powers has decided to treat his deputy with utmost courtesy. The deputy governor is in charge of the Ministry for Works. Our deputy governor is not a spare tyre. He is a good man.
QUESTION: But the governor was deputy to Aminu Tambuwal?
Answer: Yes, he was but he resigned on principle when he noticed that Tambuwal wasn’t interested in developing Sokoto State, and was more preoccupied with his doomed presidential aspirations. He definitely had wished that Tambuwal took his job more seriously. He contested against him in 2019 because he knew that the state was going to suffer if Tambuwal was to govern it for another four years. And he has been proved right. In the court of public opinion, everyone believes that Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto won the 2019 election but was denied his victory by the judiciary. As a man of faith he didn’t give up and the result is a man committed to making the state better. It’s his way of paying back the people who stood by him in the 2023 elections.
