Mohammed Danjuma Goje is serving his second term as governor of Gombe State. Before he was elected governor in 2003, he had been minister of state for power. He came with an “Action Plan” for developing the state and has been implementing that plan. In this interview with Anza Phillips, Goje talks of the success of the efforts he has made in developing Gombe State. Excerpts:

Newswatch:  You have been able to cover so much grounds in the provision of infrastructure and amenities in the state as the executive governor. How did you do it?

Goje:  It has to do with management of scarce resources.  In nature, when you are squeezed, your best comes out.  Because we are at the bottom of the federation account table and having so many problems to solve, we have to device the means of solving these problems.  To do this, we had to prioritise our projects and keep strictly to that.  For instance, if you budget for a construction of a rural road today, and tomorrow you take that money and spend for a chieftaincy title, certainly, that job will not be done.  Here we avoid all that.  And with very prudent management of the scarce resources, we have been able to do all that has been done.  Right from the ouset, my team and I agreed to work hard to move the state forward. And we also did agree to make some personal sacrifices.  We agreed to forgo some of the perquisites that go with the offices, especially in the areas of embarking on foreign trips, unnecessary ceremonies etc. so as to add value to what we do.  All these trips people embark on so as to make money, we don’t do them here, so as to conserve these resources with the aim of developing the state. 

Newswatch:  Which of the projects executed by you is dearest to you?

Goje:  The Gombe State University.  This is because education is the basis of all things.  For example, without education, I wouldn’t have been sitting down here today as the governor of the state to be interviewed by Newswatch. I do realise that education is the foundation of everything.  Of all the things that we have been able to do in the past five years, what gives me pleasure is the establishment of the state university.  And let me point out here again that we are building many hospitals, health centres and providing them with facilities and equipment so as to cater for the health needs of the people of the state.  And we do realise that all the investments in the health sector will be of no use without producing the necessary personnel.  To do this, we had to improve the condition of service of the existing health personnel in the state.  And today, Gombe State pays medical doctors the highest salaries in the country. Katsina State used to be the highest, but we have surpassed the state.  The aim is to retain those we have and at the same time attract others outside the state. 

We are also training our indigenes to be medical doctors.  For this, all students of the state origin reading medicine and other related disciplines in the universities, schools of Nursing and Midwifery, schools of Health Technology are automatically in the employment of the state and on the payroll of the state government, irrespective of whether or not they are schooling in Gombe State or not.  We put them on level 05 while they are in 100 level.  Then as soon as they are going for NYSC, we place them on level 07.  Upon completion of NYSC, they are placed on their proper salary scales.  We had to do this not because we have surplus resources, but if we want to achieve effective health care delivery for the people of the state we just have to evolve ways of getting the required manpower in the area.  And that’s how we are going about it.

Newswatch:  The state is blessed with so much land, very fertile land conducive for agriculture.  What is your state doing in the area of agriculture with the aim of boosting food production?

Goje:  I hope you have gone round the state before coming here today.  The state is reputed for agriculture right from the colonial era. The state used to be the main centre for the production of cotton during the colonial era.  Even today, you can see that the entire state is very arable.  Our farmers are also very industrious.  My administration encourages the farmers, first in the distribution of fertiliser.  Fertiliser has come to be a very indispensable input.  If you ask farmers in the state, they will attest to the fact that, this year, they got fertiliser at a very subsidised rate from the state government.  We got fertiliser at about N5,800 a bag.  We sold this to farmers at a subsidised rate of about N1, 600 per bag.  We also made sure that the commodity got to the very rural farmers.  We used polling units as the basis for fertiliser distribution.  You know a polling unit is made up of about 500 people or more.  There are also some large scale farmers. We ensured that they got allocation of the commodity too.  We also procured pesticides and distributed to farmers free of charge.   To boost cotton production, we procured improved cotton seeds and distributed to farmers free of charge.  We have also bought tractors and distributed to local government councils which will in turn give out to farmers at a price 60 percent less than the cost.  We have set up the Tumu Farm Training Centre where secondary school leavers are brought in to acquire skills on modern farm methods.  Upon graduation, these students are given loans to start farms.  We are doing this in partnership with AG Leventis.  Our goal is to produce a new set of modern farmers, well equipped and versed in modern ways of farming.  By this, we are improving on agriculture and food production in the country, and at same time curbing unemployment.  You know if we give someone a tractor, he must employ a driver, if we give some one a cattle and plough, such a person will also employ someone to take care of this.  This way, employment is being generated, food production being boosted.  But I must point out a problem we are experiencing, particularly in the production of cotton.  It has to do with the pricing.  We encourage farmers to produce cotton only for the price to crash at the end of the day.  In that regard, until government, and not the Gombe State government alone, but the federal government with other state governments come up with a price mechanism that will ensure that farmers do not incur losses, we cannot continue to encourage our farmers to grow cotton. 

Newswatch:  What inspires you to do what you’re doing  in the state?

Goje:  Gombe is a new state which was created in 1996.  But you see, it was not created from the blues.  People agitated to have the state created.  The agitations were because people had reasons to agitate for their own state.  The reasons at that time had to do with lack of basic infrastructure, lack of development in the then Gombe division of the then Bauchi State.  Fortunately, I was involved in those agitations for the creation of Gombe State.  I was a member of the committee that articulated all these problems.  So our desire to have our state was predicated on our desire to have those things which we thought ought to have been brought to us by the then Bauchi State which we were part of.  So the idea of my contesting the governorship race in 2003 was basically to be given the opportunity to implement those things which caused us to yearn for our state.  This is because when I discovered that the other party, ANPP which controlled the state between 1999 and 2003 was not implementing those things we had yearned for as a state, I felt bad.  Even before I became the governor of the state, I knew clearly the yearning and aspirations of Gombe people and what will make the state great.  As soon as I got the opportunity after winning the 2003 gubernatorial election, I started implementing those programmes.  I articulated all these in what I called “My Action Plan.”  By the time I had finished the first term of office I had almost done 90 percent of the action plan and had gone outside it.  For instance, I didn’t promise the people of the state that I was going to construct an airport, yet we do have an airport today. 

Newswatch:  You have talked much on rural development in terms of opening up rural areas by constructing access roads.  What have you been able to do in the area of rural electricity?

Goje:  In the area of electricity, we were lucky, I was at a point minister of state for power.  And when I came as governor we gave priority to rural electrification.  So I can say categorically, without fear of any contradiction that Gombe State is the most connected to the national grid at least among the Northern states.  The state alongside the local government area councils have given light to over 150 villages in the past five years.  As I speak to you, there is no town in Gombe or any serious village that is not connected to the national grid.  Here I am not talking of local government headquarters or towns.  I am talking of very small, small settlements.  That calls for celebration.  Of course you know there are some states whose local government headquarters have no electricity.  This is not the case in Gombe, where every local government headquarters, every town and village is linked to the national grid. So in terms of national grid connection, we have achieved over 95 percent success. 

We have done so much in several areas in the past five years.  We have employed people who clean up the state capital.  As you can see in terms of cleanliness, we cannot be rated behind any state in the North. How I wish you reporter had come to Gombe six years ago.  Only then you would appreciate the difference between then and now.

Newswatch:  What is the next phase of your action plan?

Goje:  We still have some areas to cover, in the area of infrastructure, in the area of commercialisation etc.  We have built an airport.  Next is to build a hotel.  It is hoped that it will be completed by next year.  We are also building a standard sports stadium that will make the state a centre of sports in Nigeria.  We want to be hosting some national and international sporting events.  That will also boost the tourism potentials of the state as well as commerce in the area.  The contract for this will be awarded anytime from now.  We are also building a banquet hall in government house.  So by the time you have a hotel, a banquet hall and an airport you will be attracting a lot of conferences and luckily for us Gombe State is well located.  We share borders with five states in the North-East.  The whole idea is to create a conducive environment for commerce and investment.

Newswatch:  Some governors who left office in 2007 have gone to the senate.  Are you thinking of doing same at the expiration of your tenure come 2011?

Goje:  Most of them are not like me.  Because, I went through the mills.  I was a member, House of Assembly. I contested for the senate and won during the Abacha transition under UNCP.  But I cannot be called a senator because I was not sworn in as a senator, though I won the senatorial seat ten years ago.  And you think I should go back to contest the seat I won ten years back?  No.  I will not do that.  I’ll better leave that to the younger ones.  How can I, having won the senate 10 years ago, go back to the senatorial district after ruling the state for eight years to ask them to vote for me to go to the senate?  Is that demotion or promotion?  I won’t do that.  I had won the senate seat.  I was a minister, and now a governor doing my second term.  I don’t think there is any of these my colleagues so opportuned as I am.  I think they want to enrich their experience.  To me, I think I’ve gotten enough.  And I thank God for bringing me this far.  So I have no ambition of contesting for the senate or any seat whatsoever after this.  But I will ever remain a politician. 

Newswatch:  We have in the recent past seen paid newspaper adverts and comments in national dailies alleging some misdeeds by your administration.  You may have come across such comments and criticisms.  What is your reaction to such comments or criticism?

Goje:  I see them as very unfair to me.  They are very unfair to me and they are not informed on their judgments.  I want to invite them.  I call on them if they can afford to come to Gombe on their own, let them come and do an unguided tour of the state. Look at what is on ground. Talk to the people of the state and let’s see if they will not go back with a different opinion.  If any Nigerian is interested to come and cannot come on his own, such a person should contact my senior special assistant, SSA, media who will facilitate such a person to come and see Gombe before going back to Abuja or Lagos to write whatever he wants to write or drawing up conclusions about the administration.  For people to depend on the opinions of others who are enemies of progress in the state and then draw conclusion based on those conjectures is very unfair to us.  It is very unfair and is not encouraging to those of us who are committed to the development of our state.  We have really gone far in the development of the state.  And I am proud to say that we are ready to be inspected at any time by any body and by any critic.  We are ready to facilitate such an inspection by anybody any time at all.  My records are there for everyone to come and see.  If you come and say you don’t like Goje, fine.  What has Goje done wrong?  If you meet the ordinary man on the street, he will begin to point at roads here and there in the state constructed by Goje administration, he will point at the running pipe, or the hospitals where we give free medical treatment to children and pregnant women.  We have done our best.