By Habibu Gimba Kafin Hausa
The resent gubernatorial primary election of the All Progressive Congress in Jigawa State, which produces Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Namadi (Danmodi) to fly its flag, ahead of 2023 election really commendable.
Since assumption of office, Badaru’s attention has been focused on the aspects of the economy that have direct bearing on his people in terms of welfare and social uplift, not forgetting their viability and economic worth.
The state has initiated investment-friendly policies, reasons for its position as third in Nigeria in the World Bank’s latest Ease of Doing Business Report, in addition to many fruitful policies for businesses to drive and that had contributed to the state’s internally Generated Revenue and raised the state’s Gross Domestic Product from 900 billion to about 2 trillion naira, the highest ever in the history of the state.
Before his appointment as Finance Commissioner and later promoted to the Deputy Governor, in 2015 and 2019 respectively, Umar Namadi, was a member of the state committee constituted by Governor Badaru on verification and validation of contracts as well as that of staff audits.
Also, after he assumed office as Finance Commissioner, various rankings by national and international bodies have consecutively ranked Jigawa as the most transparent State in budget transparency in Nigeria.
Umar Namadi’s achievements in office, when he was a state commissioner of finance, have made him one of the most transformative commissioners of finance sector in the history of Jigawa State. As a Chartered Accountant and Head of Economic Team, Under Umar Namadi, we have seen how Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre declared Jigawa State top among the 36 states on Budget Transparency Index 2020 ranking.
While Jigawa State continued to be at the top of the sub-index, Ondo and Kano States ranked second and third with scores of 86 and 80 respectively.
The commitments and excellent jobs of Namadi, as the chairman of the Jigawa State Investment Promotion Council, upgrade the business ecosystem of the state. This is why from 2019 to 2022 Jigawa State has been ranked as the third state with the fastest growing small and medium scale industries in the country.
He has been doing everything possible to bring in key players to make Jigawa State a top destination for investment in Nigeria. This singular effort brought about 70 local and foreign investors who show their interest to invest in Jigawa, with a potential of providing 60,000 jobs opportunities, where about 17 of such opportunities have been actualized and are worth 1.2 million dollars.
In a bid to take his responsibilities, as the Chairman Governing Board of Invest Jigawa, the Deputy Governor led the members of the agency to hold a roundtable discussion numerous times. This has been to discuss opportunities to network with top government leaders and captains of industry.
Danmodi is loved by Jigawa people and compatriots outside the State. He has the education, charisma and experience to pilot Jigawa State to the Promised Land.
As the Chairman of Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASI), Jigawa State Chapter, a successful businessman and a private sector inclined, Namadi will provide enabling environment for international and domestic investors to improve our economy, through the pursuit of policies that guarantee economic growth, and ensure sustained progress in the improvement of basic human development indicators.
A well-recognized business tycoon, Namadi will continue to provide all the necessary support to boost small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Jigawa as part of his effort for ease of doing business reforms. He has been saying that the responsibility of any government is to provide facilities that would improve economic activities of its people. If he is elected as the governor of Jigawa State, Danmodi will demonstrate his readiness to reposition the state’s economy to a growth trajectory where the economy will work for all of us.
His running mate, Engineer Aminu Usman Gumel, is a competent, dedicated and a focused commissioner. Under him, we have seen how the State Government embarked on massive road constructions and rehabilitations. Almost all the road projects, totaling around 716.5kms inherited by Badaru’s administration, have been completed while an additional 878.15km of regional, township and feeder roads awarded by Governor Badaru’s led administration are at different stages of completion. All these happened while he was the works and transport Commissioner for 8 blessed years.
Alhaji Umar Namadi is person who understands Badaru’s policies and programmes and their impacts on the people. If Jigawa people vote Umar Namadi to be their elected governor in 2023 general election, the welfare and future of Jigawa people will always remain his focal point.
