Kaduna Rising: Gov Sani’s Resolute Dedication Meets President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope
By Mahiru Maiwada Wundi
For quite some time, Kaduna groaned under the weight of fear, bad policy, and divisive governance. It was a state trapped in the stranglehold of banditry and fractured by religious and ethnic fault lines, where intolerance thrived and demolitions replaced dialogue.
Civil servants, traders, ordinary citizens, and even revered traditional rulers, bore the brunt of policies that alienated rather than united.
Kaduna, once the political heartbeat of northern Nigeria, was reduced to a scarred shadow of itself.
But that gloomy chapter is fast closing. Today, Kaduna is rising again, thanks to Governor Uba Sani’s courage to chart a different path.
His administration is proving that leadership, when guided by humanity and vision, can reverse years of pain and restore hope to a battered people.
How can we forget how banditry once made Kaduna unlivable. Birnin Gwari was a name synonymous with terror, where families fled, farmers abandoned their land, and communities lived under siege. Southern Kaduna was torn apart by state-sponsored divisions and mutual suspicion.
The previous strategy which was built largely on force without engagement, left the people trapped in endless cycles of violence. On assumption of office, Governor Uba Sani tore up that failed playbook.
By adopting a non-kinetic approach rooted in dialogue, reconciliation, and peacebuilding, he has turned Birnin Gwari from a killing field into a community rediscovering its dignity. Peace, security and harmony have returned to the Southern Kaduna. People are getting their lives back and that’s what matters! Little wonder why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, during his recent visit, could boldly declare: “Kaduna is back again.”
Perhaps the most damning legacy of the past administration was its toxic culture of intolerance and divisive governance. Policies that punished citizens, demolitions that destroyed livelihoods, and rhetoric that deepened ethnic and religious suspicion tore Kaduna apart.
Governor Sani has replaced hostility with inclusivity. His administration treats Kaduna as one family, not a battlefield of competing tribes and faiths. By bringing people together, he has silenced the old politics of hate and planted the seeds of genuine harmony.
For me, this is what leadership is all about. Leadership is not just about bricks and mortar. Leadership heals old wounds and bring out the innermost peace and joy of the people. That is what is obtainable in Kaduna State today.
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Even at that, and unlike in the past, where grandstanding replaced real development, Uba Sani’s infrastructural projects speak directly to the needs of the people. He has constructed over 700 kilometers of roads across the three senatorial districts, linking farms to markets and giving rural communities access to opportunity. In an agrarian state like Kaduna, roads are indeed lifelines of survival and prosperity.
Education, once neglected, has been given a massive boost: 62 new secondary schools built, over 600 classrooms constructed and many more renovated. These are not empty promises; they are tangible structures lifting Kaduna’s children into a future of hope.
Healthcare has equally received unprecedented attention. 62 primary healthcare centers have been upgraded to Level 2 status, 13 General Hospitals remodeled, and equipped with personnel and consumables. The 300-bed Bola Ahmed Tinubu Specialist Hospital stands as a symbol of a state determined to give its people world-class health services.
The agricultural sector has also been revived. Over 500 trucks of fertilizer have been distributed to 120,000 smallholder farmers, 12 heavy-duty tractors procured, and inputs supplied to more than 41,000 farmers and cooperatives.
Job creation is no longer a mere slogan: 20,976 direct and indirect jobs have been generated through targeted initiatives, while $89.3 million in investments has flowed into Kaduna under Sani’s watch. These are solid achievements recorded just under three years.
Even the youth have not been forgotten. Three Vocational and Technological Skills Acquisition Cities have been established, giving young people the tools to either secure decent jobs or create businesses of their own.
Where corruption once thrived unchecked, Uba Sani has drawn a red line. His administration is marked by accountability and transparency that are rare in Nigerian politics. Public trust is being restored because Kaduna people can finally see a government that respects them enough to be responsible.
Gone are the days when Kaduna was inward-looking and isolated. Governor Sani has projected the state onto the global stage, wooing investors, making Kaduna a talking point at the United Nations General Assembly, and forging partnerships with global giants like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For the first time in years, Kaduna is not begging; it is attracting!
As one who resides in Kaduna, I can boldly state that the difference between now and our recent past is staggering: from division to unity, from insecurity to peace, from harshness to compassion. Indeed, Kaduna is experiencing a rebirth.
The introduction of 100 CNG buses and the promise of a federal-backed light rail project are yet more signals that Kaduna State is determined never to return to its dark days.
Governor Uba Sani is certainly exorcising Kaduna’s ghosts. He is proving that leadership rooted in inclusivity, humanity, and vision can bury the politics of bitterness and replace it with the politics of progress.
For us who are first hand witnesses of Gov Sani’s transcendental leadership, we have no doubt that he would have been a perfect candidate for the presidency but we are not prepared to donate him to the federal for now, until he perfects what he has started in Kaduna State.
Let me proclaim it one more time: Kaduna State is rising. And this time, it is rising with purpose, with unity, and with a leader who refuses to let it remain hostage to the past.
*_Mahiru Maiwada Wundi, PhD (Zannan Saminaka) writes from Kaduna_
