Governance beyond noisemaking, the Kwara State example By Abdulrazaq Hamzat

By Abdulrazaq Hamzat

Kwarans are used to a government of propaganda. We are used to a government, in which praise singing is more like a state religion.

However, since the emergence of Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the otoge inspired governor, meaningless news has stopped making headlines, baseless stories no longer hit the front page, praise singing is given less attention and paid propaganda has taken the back seat.

Governance is now seen as a serious business, in which the Chief Executive Officer is not just sitting in the comfort of his office, dishing out orders and making decisions blindly, but actually leading the charge from the field. 

The Kwara State Governor is not asking his officers to get things done, he is doing it himself and all they have to do is follow his footsteps.

The trending slogan in Kwara State today is Iseya (it’s time to work) and true to the slogan, work has begun in earnest without the usual, but undue noise making.

Kwara State now have a governor, who doesn’t want to look good before the people, but just wants to do good. 

He is working tirelessly, but doesn’t want to be seen doing so. 

In the governor’s psychology, good governance is like garri, it would sell, even if nobody advertised it. 

This explains why Kwara State is arguably the only states in Nigeria without a special adviser to the governor on media and publicity, after about a year in charge, yet any list of performing governors in the country would be deemed incomplete without a mention of the Kwara State governor.

Keen observers of development in Kwara State can see that alot is happening in the state of harmony, but less is being said by the government. 

From what we have seen so far, it appeared this government is not going to be playing politics during the time of governance because it knows that governance is not about noise making.

In those period of propaganda government, the mission of those in government was not to do good. 

They just want to be seen working, without really doing the work and media propaganda became their favorite project since it would help them project their false narrative.

The current government, led by Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is not a government that priotize image making through false narrative or dishing out promotional material just to look good, this is a government that is investing its energy in service delivery to ensure sustainable development.

No paid promotion, no propaganda, no desperation to look good, no false narrative, just service delivery at its core. 

The government only releases information for public knowledge, hoping that it would shape public conduct and provide appropriate feedback. 

If the information released is news worthy, media use it and if they are not news worthy, they are not being pushed as promotional content. 

The government is not pushing a narrative of performance, it is just doing what it can, as much as it can, despite inheriting huge burden.

Finally,  as i ruminate over what is happening in Kwara State, I remember a popular song from Adekunle Gold, titled Ariwo Ko Ni Music and if you ask me, that’s the best description of what is happening in the State of harmony.

Agba to lo mi ni nu okin pariwo, so the work being done is so silent. But yet, it is speaking for itself because, Ariwo Ko Ni Governance.

Let's continue to demand for performance and more performance and not succumb to the antics of the noise makers.

Abdulrazaq Hamzat is the Convener of Kwara Must Change