Kano State Government

Retreat Organised for Members of the Executive Council and Special Advisers.

Say: "Oh Allah!, Lord of Power (and Rule), You give Power to whom You please, and You strip of f Power from whom You please; You endow with honour whom You please and You bring low whom You please; In Your hand is all Good. Verily, You have power over all things. (HQ 3:26)

These verses truly exemplify the way in which we came into power. Allah, the Most High, in His everlasting wisdom has chosen you and me and entrusted the leadership of the entire populace of Kano State to us.

It is undoubtedly a very heavy responsibility upon which we will all need to account on the Day of Judgment. Let us remember that it is the realization of having to account before Allah, the Most High, on this Day that led earlier leaders like Umar (RA) to fear that he would be asked not only about his subjects that went to bed hungry but also about animals within his territory that went without food or were pricked by thorns on the street. We must not be in any doubt that the universal standards by which we will be judged are no less than those for other leaders in space and time.

My choice of all of you in the various ministerial and advisory positions is because I have absolute confidence in you. I am convinced that you fully understand the weight of your responsibilities. I am confident that you are fully aware that Allah is ever watchful of every single action that you take and I know that your hope and desire is that through this service Allah will reward you with the highest places in Paradise.

These positions of leadership are heavy burdens rather than favours. The surest way to self-destruction is to abuse this trust for our noble Prophet (SAW) is reported to have said;

"Allah will not entrust the affairs of people with one of his servants and he (the servant) dies deceiving them except that Allah forbids paradise for him' (Muslim).

It is for this reason that I have been calling on communities whose sons and daughters get leadership positions to counsel and advise them rather than to celebrate and rejoice with them.

Today, the people of Kano State are watching our every move, confident that we will ease their hardships and hopeful that all their problems will soon be solved. We must not fail them. And I daresay we must not fail in our responsibility to Allah. We must again be aware that when Allah, the Most High, places His servants in positions of leadership, He is particularly watchful of their actions. Let us remember the words of Allah, the Most High, in which he describes the people of Prophet Musa (AS):

They said: We have had (nothing but) trouble, both before and after you came to us." He said: "It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you inheritors in the earth; that so He may see how you act."
(HQ 7:129)

The lesson in this verse is abundantly clear. It is easy to condemn and deride other leaders. It is more difficult to establish justice and ensure good governance. While we remain grateful to Allah, the Most High, for enjoying unprecedented popularity, we must never be deceived into thinking that this popularity is unconditional. Rather, we should realize that it is inevitably tied to what we are able to deliver to our people.

Let us be under no illusion about the daunting challenges ahead of us. We are living in a country where greed, corruption, indiscipline, injustice and selfishness have become the order of the day. Honesty, hard work, selflessness and dedication to the improvement of the society are becoming completely alien to us.

However, we shall never despair. Our vision is to turn things around and to make Kano State a model state leading other states of the Federation in exemplary leadership, good governance, peaceful co-existence amongst all citizens, rapidly expanding commercial and industrial activities, equitable distribution of resources, and sustainable socio-economic development.

We are determined to bring out the best from our people by offering honest and transparent leadership at all levels, endeavouring to provide our citizens with the basic necessities of life, developing their moral and intellectual capabilities, and creating a conducive environment where prosperity, happiness and justice can reign. In order to achieve this, our areas of focus are highlighted as follows;

Offer exemplary leadership in line with the dictates of the Shari'ah that will move the entire populace in the right direction.
Create an enabling environment in which our citizens can secure the basic necessities of life such as food, water, security and health without which they will be indisposed to develop themselves and contribute meaningfully to their societies.
Re-orient our citizens to make them disciplined, hard working and committed to the progress of their
communities, and impart in them qualitative education and training that will help them to become responsible and productive members of their societies.
Nurture a conducive environment with the necessary infrastructural facilities that promote commerce, industry and other economic activities thereby allowing all citizens to enhance their prosperity and bringing about sustainable socio-economic development for the entire society while promoting goodness, equity and justice.

It is this vision that has led us. in our speeches before and after elections, to commit ourselves to good leadership, agriculture, water supply, security, societal re-orientation, education, women and youth development, commerce and industry, and infrastructural development. We believe that these priorities ore very much in line with the cardinal responsibility of an Islamic government to take care of the affairs of its citizens by protecting their lives, religion, wealth, honour, integrity, and sense of reasoning and intellect.

In our thoughts on how to ensure that our vision is realized, we have clearly identified the need to place a heavy premium on human development. Over the years, it is a pity that the human aspect of development has been grossly neglected and infrastructural development has been given undue prominence. The result is a society that is gradually drifting in illiteracy, aimlessness, immorality, and corruption amidst white elephant projects, which do little to improve the life of the people. Even when the projects are relevant, such as roads, hospitals and schools, the very people who are expected to administer them and those to benefit from them are the very ones that destroy them. We are therefore determined to rejuvenate and re-orient all segments of our society and to instill in our people a
sense of mission and purpose.

Our vision is great and the challenges are monumental. However, I have no doubt that the cream of individuals that are gathered here who make up the Executive Council and those appointed as special advisors have all the necessary qualities that will bring us success. The qualities of leadership are virtually endless and they will of course be the subjects of a lot of our discussions during this retreat and in particular today when we will be concentrating on the philosophical dimension. However, I find it necessary to mention a few:

Vision and Initiative: We must all have a very clear and sharp vision of what we would want to achieve during our tenure and we must constantly come up with the necessary initiatives and strategies that will get us there.

Commitment and Energy: Our dedication and commitment towards the actualization of our vision must be unparalleled. No matter the odds against us, we must be determined to succeed insha-Allah. We must also be willing to give all our energy towards the accomplishment of our set objectives.

Honesty and Trustworthiness: A lot of resources would be placed under our trust. We must be honest in all our dealings. We must not betray this trust. We must judiciously use these resources for the betterment of our people. We must not squander these resources or divert them for personal enrichment.

Diplomacy, Justice and Exemplary Leadership: We are going to be in charge of large numbers of people. We must lead by example so as to motivate them and bring out the best in them. We must deal with justice. We must be humble, not haughty and arrogant.

Teamwork: We must all work together as a team. The failure of anyone of us may mean our overall failure. The success of each one of us is necessary for our overall victory.

Fear of Allah and Accountability: We must be constantly
conscious of Allah, the Most High, and we must be fearful of the grave consequences of betraying the trust shouldered on us.

Just as the individuals at the helm of affairs must possess the requisite leadership qualities, our administration must also have all that is required to succeed. We are going to be discussing these requirements extensively during this retreat but I find it necessary to single out a few of the salient characteristics that the administration is expected to have;

It must keep closely in touch with the people.
It must run an open, accessible and responsive
government.
It must listen and accommodate a wide range of views.
It must be at the forefront of upholding the sacred
beliefs and values of our society.
It must be transparent and accountable.
It must be efficient.
It must be consultative and consensus oriented.
It must be seen to be just in all that it does.

In short, the administration must adopt a style of leadership through which our ideals can best be pursued. The Government, right from the beginning, must be seen to imbibe these attributes and must have the necessary systems in place to enforce them.

The purpose of this retreat is to avail ourselves with the opportunity to discuss the weighty responsibility that Allah, the Most High, has shouldered us with, analyze the daunting challenges confronting us, brainstorm on the strategies and programmes that we need to pursue in order to realize our vision, and agree on a collective resolve and determination to lead the people of Kano State in a righteous and exemplary way. I also hope that the retreat will provide us with an opportunity to interact closely with each other as we prepare to work as a team.

We are lucky to have as facilitators for this retreat a group of experts with wide ranging experiences on all the various aspects we would be discussing. They include our resource persons from the National Islamic Centre, Zaria, a few members of the defunct Transition Committee and other experts from both within and outside Government that we have invited to assist us. I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of them. I also want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Secretary to the State Government and his team for making all the arrangements for this retreat.