The Other Side Of Nasir El-Rufai, With An Exceptional Trait Of Taken Tough Decisions ~ SIXT-MEDIA LANE CONSULT

By Amb Prince Sixtus Opara

As myth gave way to more accurate chronicling, and a prose replaced verse as the medium for preserving facts, the fifth century Greek came closer to the scientific spirit of free inquiry in modern times. Memories are made of these.

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the Executive Governor Of Kaduna State is by no doubt a quintessential man of excellence and perfection, an academia per excellence and a first class, a faithful servant, a dedicated realist and reformer who always bridges all gulfs, levels all mountains and put a lamp in every tunnel as exemplifies in his service to Nigeria in every field of endeavour and leaderships positions he is being assigned to head. Let me take you down the lane a beat about Mallam Nasir El- Rufai, a first class Honour Graduate Brain from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.

Later In 1984, Mallam Nasir El- Rufai received a Master Of Business Administration from Ahmadu Bello University.

He has since attended several professional and post-graduate programs, including the Georgetown school of Foreign service University in Washington DC and programmes on privatization.

An avowd reader and lover of Education Education In August 2008 he received a law degree from the University of London and another masters degree in public administration from John F Kennedy school of governance of Harvard University in June 2009. He also received the Kennedy School Certificate in Public Policy and Management having spent 11 months as an Edward A. Mason Fellow in Public Policy and Management from July 2008 to June 2009.

“Wise sayings in life are nothing if not true”, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow gave us insight into the worthiness of life with his wise words. Lives of Great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, in departing leave footprints in the sands of time.

Not many people are lucky enough to be opportune to leave footprints in the sands of time. Many are opportune, but fritter away such golden opportunities. Some make their opportunities and in so doing their illustrious destinies. One of such Great men is Mallam Ahmad Nasir el- Rufai, the current Governor of Kaduna state.

A man who struck a first in extraordinary achievements and huge Philanthropy and an academia per excellent and a detrabalised lover of humanity irrespective of tribe, religion, race and ethnicity.

Governor Nasir el- Rufai stands head and shoulders above the greats in his domain.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai as a young man in hi early stage in life founded El-Rufai & Partners, a quantity surveying consulting firm with three partners which he managed until 1998.

During the military Juntas of 1983 to 1998, the firm received building and civil engineering contracts including during the construction of Abuja , which made him to become a millionaire at such a young age.

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s exception brilliance a mdhard work distinguished him and earned him a seat and position with two international telecommunications companies known as AT&T Network Systems International BV and Motorola Inc.

His appointment as the Director General Of Bureau Of Public Enterprise and subsequently the Minister of Federal Capital Territory contributed immensely to the reorganization, planning and building of a befitting Federal capital territory that bequeaths the status of the capital of the black Nation in the world.

Life gives man but a short time to make the world a better place than they met it.

And quoate from one writer, “The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, was a city of commotion then, at war with herself, but was turned around by el-Rufai as the FCT minister.
Also, the development of Kaduna State, which laid prostrate for decades, has suddenly woken up to capture her place as centric focal point of the North politically, as well as in physical development” the quote continues

“The voice of the occupant of Kaduna State Government House now counts, not only in Northern Nigeria and Nigeria but across the globe. After surmounting the distraction and initial hurdle of first lap of four years of his administration by those who placed higher premium on politics as a  thriller and game, rather than  a means to meeting the critical needs of those they are elected to  serve, he settled in the  current second lap to offer purposeful leadership he promised the electorate”

It is a fact that Governor Nasir El-Rufai has undoubtedly come to be seen as a modern day phenomenon whose corpus requires a large canvas.

He is indeed defiling all odds amidst localised security challenges as some quarters and other witnesses may put it despite some security challenges, though not too strange in Kaduna and few other state that is usually orchestrated by his detractors and enemies of his governments, he attracted foreign investments to such communities and built several modern and enviable infrastructures in Kaduna state The active achievements and years of man is all but exhausted at Seventy Years (70yrs).

We may see Seventy Years as a long time (70yrs), but it’s only Twenty-two thousand, five hundred (22,500) days.

Born on the 16th February 1960, Mallam Nasir El- Rufai has achieved what would take most men a few lifetimes.

With his sound academic training as a Quantity Surveyor with a first class honour, he blazed the trail of excellence from his first work day.

Little wonder he stood out in all endeavour even in his courageous abilities of taking some tough decisions in the interest of the common good of the people as can be exemplified in the Abuja Federal Capital Territory where he once served as the FCT Minister before he became the Governor of Kaduna where he is currently blazing all the trails and putting the state on the world map to compete amongst the bests states in Nigeria and Africa.

His selfless service to the people of Kaduna state Governor and by extension to the people of Nigeria as minister too is a tune of phenomenon affairs which stands him out in all ramifications to this day.

Even when he was out of office as an FCT Minister, Mallam Nasir El- Rufai is seldom out of Public Service to his people at his own personal expense, a gesture which endeared him to his people and was subsequently elected as the Governor of Kaduna state defeating an incumbent, former Governor Mukhtar Ramalan having scored over a million votes.

It takes a strong person to tackle the challenges of a state, but it takes a remarkable Great Person to tackle the challenges of a whole Race.

Mallam Nasir El- Rufai amongst other numerous remarkable tasks he does personally for society, has taken on the biggest challenge most people may dare not just to affect humanity possetively and reduce hardships.

For example, Mallam Nasir El- Rufai was the first Governor to cut his salary and allowances by half pending an improvement in the state fiscal situations, on the 6th of August 2015, Mallam El- Rufai in one of his first act as Governor announce that Kaduna state will adopt a treasury single account inorder to save money for the state and also to block several leakage and wastatages of people’s resources which also culminates into corruption, the blockage of such loopholes as a result of the adoption of the treasury single account (TSA) which saw to the closure of over 470 accounts belonging to different ministries , agencies and depatments helped the state government to recover over N24.7 Billion Naira.

By blocking leakages and cutting the cost of running the government, it is estimated that Governor El-Rufai’s government was able to save N1.2 Billion in just two months for the people of Kaduna.

Never a man to do things piecemeal like mere mortals,

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai also reformed the civil service in Kaduna State and reduced the number of ministries from 19 to 13 and the number of permanent secretaries from 35 to 18.

In a bid to reduce the cost of governance, El-Rufai appointed only 13 commissioners, 10 special advisers and 12 special assistants as against the 24 commissioners, 41 special advisers and about 400 special assistants appointed by the previous administration.

As Governor, El-Rufai has embarked on a comprehensive education reform with the goal of revamping the moribund state of education.

El-Rufai sacked over 22,000 unqualified primary teachers. El-Rufai’s administration launched the School Feeding Programme, aimed at providing one free meal per day to 1.5 million pupils in public primary schools within the state just to encourage parents and alleviate some of the suffering and challenges they encounter while sending their wards to School, he also abolished the collection of fees and levies in public primary and junior secondary schools in Kaduna, thereby removing a financial burden of N3 billion from the parents.

We all leave behind footprints, that can be seen by the lives we touched within our spheres of interaction, but only the Greats leave behind footprints in the sands of time by touching all lives. Mallam Nasir El- Rufai, while still very much around with greater achievements ahead of him, has already made indelible footprints impervious to Human Existential Agents of Denudation in the eternal Sands of Time. Touch a life today.

Written From Abuja By:

Amb Prince Sixtus Opara

Filmmaker, Publisher / Media Consultant And Public Affairs Analyst

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