Kaduna and the Burden of Continuity

By Sani Abdulrazak, PhD

It was Monday, 20 March 2023, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Senator Uba Sani the winner of the Kaduna State governorship election. The announcement came after a fiercely contested election that exposed the state’s political divisions. The margin was narrow, but the responsibility awaiting the governor-elect was enormous. Kaduna had spoken, although its expectations were as diverse as its people.

For the man about to assume the mantle of leadership, the electoral victory was only the beginning of a considerably more demanding undertaking. He was inheriting a state with an imposing political history, considerable economic possibilities and challenges accumulated over several administrations.

Kaduna was not simply another state awaiting a new governor. It was a place where questions of identity, belonging and security frequently intersected, sometimes with consequences that tested the resilience of its people.

Governor Uba Sani, a man who meant different things to different people, was therefore confronted with a responsibility extending beyond occupying Sir Kashim Ibrahim House. He had to govern a state whose people did not necessarily share the same political convictions, geographical interests or expectations.

His task was to give them sufficient reason to believe that, notwithstanding their differences, they remained participants in a common future. Three years into that journey, the SUSTAIN Agenda provides an important framework for examining the direction of his administration and the unfinished business of governing Kaduna.

The SUSTAIN Agenda encompasses safety and security, infrastructure, institutional strengthening, trade and investment, agriculture, human capital development and citizen engagement. Its intellectual significance lies in the relationship between these priorities. Security supports investment; infrastructure facilitates commerce; education supplies the skills required by industry; and agriculture creates opportunities for rural prosperity. Consider agriculture.

A state with Kaduna’s agricultural endowment did not approach farming only as an occasional exercise in distributing fertiliser. Its agricultural future depends on productivity, irrigation, storage, processing, transportation, finance and dependable markets. The development of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones in Chikun and Kubau represents an attempt to connect agricultural production with industrial activity. The ultimate measure, however, will be improved farmers’ incomes, rural employment and food security.

Infrastructure presents a similar proposition. Roads determine how quickly agricultural produce reaches markets, how easily patients access hospitals and how businesses transport their goods. According to the state government’s two-year performance account, 82 road projects had been awarded, with 32 completed by the time of reporting. Their durability, geographical distribution and economic usefulness remain important measures of their value.

Education offers an even more compelling illustration. The administration reported constructing more than 600 classrooms, completing 62 secondary schools and commencing another 50. It also reported that the proportion of students obtaining five credits in WAEC, NECO and NABTEB examinations had increased from 54 per cent to 67 per cent.

These figures deserve attention, particularly when considered alongside the reduction of tuition fees in state-owned tertiary institutions. The enduring test, however, is whether these interventions produce better learning outcomes and wider opportunities for children across the state.

Healthcare follows the same logic. The government’s report indicated that more than 174 primary healthcare centres had attained Level Two status, while the 300-bed specialist hospital, initiated in 2009, was completed and commissioned in June 2025. Yet a hospital’s importance is not determined by its physical structure alone. Staffing, essential medicines, diagnostic capacity and affordability determine whether it becomes a dependable refuge for ordinary families.

Furthermore, the Kaduna State Development Plan 2024–2028 identifies economic growth, improved livelihoods, stronger institutions, rural service delivery and human capital development as central objectives. Such a framework provides an opportunity to move development planning away from the personal fortunes of individual officeholders towards enduring public institutions.

As Kaduna approaches another electoral cycle, continuity will inevitably become part of the political conversation. It deserves more serious consideration than the familiar exchanges of partisan loyalty and opposition. Development has a temporal dimension. Agricultural transformation, educational reform, institutional restructuring and industrial development require sustained investment. Their benefits do not always mature within the boundaries of a single electoral tenure. Continuity must be assessed against measurable progress, public accountability and the administration’s capacity to address its shortcomings.

Equally, a change of government often condemns useful programmes to abandonment simply because they originated under a predecessor. For Uba Sani, the SUSTAIN Agenda offers a framework against which the argument for another term can be examined. Its implementation, measurable outcomes, unfinished projects if any, and effects on ordinary citizens should form part of the 2027 assessment.

The electorate must have sufficient evidence to determine whether the direction established since 2023 warrants further implementation. There is something particularly moving about the aspirations of ordinary people. A father wants his child to attend a better school. A farmer wants a dependable market for the harvest that sustains his family. A young graduate wants an opportunity to put years of education to productive use. A mother wants her children to return home safely. These are not extravagant demands. They are the elementary expectations upon which the legitimacy of public office rests.

When Uba Sani received his mandate in March 2023, he inherited both the possibilities of Kaduna and the accumulated disappointments of its people. His administration has introduced programmes, pursued infrastructure projects and articulated a development direction through the SUSTAIN Agenda.

Some interventions have produced identifiable results; others remain unfinished, while significant challenges continue to demand attention. The approaching election will give Kaduna’s residents another opportunity to examine this record. They must consider what has changed, what has endured, what remains incomplete and whether the present development direction deserves another term of implementation.

It is appropriate to mention that the consequences of Governor Uba Sani’s leadership in Kaduna remain in the lives of the people. The true measure is in the projects inaugurated, the opportunities created, institutions strengthened, and human difficulties meaningfully addressed. For Kaduna, the central question is ultimately about the future its people wish to inherit. If the foundations established under the SUSTAIN Agenda demonstrate sufficient progress, the case for continuity will deserve serious consideration.

If significant shortcomings persist, they too must enter the public reckoning. The responsibility of 2027 is not simply to choose who occupies Sir Kashim Ibrahim House; it is to decide what kind of Kaduna the next chapter of its history should produce, and Governor Uba Sani, the proverbial Lannister of our time, is well and truly the man whom the cap fits.

Sani Abdulrazak, PhD, is an analytical chemist, writer and public commentator based in Zaria. He writes on governance, public affairs, society and the environment