From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing has commended the Kebbi state government over successful implementation of some programmes and the inclusive governance which made the state stable in the northern part of Nigeria.
Laing stated this during a courtesy visit on Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State at Government House, Birnin Kebbi, the state capital.
According to her, “Our earlier impression is how successful Kebbi is, you are a secured state in a very unsecured region, it is a fundamental achievement. We just come from a meeting with the Commissioners trying to find problem to talk about, but it seems that you have been very successful, especially the commitment you have to inclusion to reaching out to communities, it’s a real success, we want other states to learn from you.
“Secondly, I think the economy seems to be doing relatively well, lots of opportunities to talk about, agricultural value-chain which we would like to hear more about.”
While lamenting the devastating effect of flood that ravaged the state in the previous years, Laing also sought to know “how prepared the state is to mitigate the recurrence of the menace.”
Laing also recalled that there was a strong bond of relationship between the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, assuring that the new King would no doubt further strengthen the already established harmonous relationship for the good of the two nations.
“There is a strong bond between UK and Nigeria, of course, but I think across that bond is shared admiration, respect for the royal family, the Queen and now King Charles. so, I am very confident that this will help us build our foundation,” the High Commissioner stressed.
In his respond, Kebbi State Governor, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu appreciated the High Commissioner for finding Kebbi worthy of visit just few days after the Queen’s funeral, saying, “that shows how committed you are to it.
He said: “I pray this visit will foster more understanding, cooperation, mutual respect and reward for efforts between our state and the high commission.”
The governor said Kebbi State covered about 36,000 square kilometers with a little bit over 5 million people sharing not only borders with both Benin and Niger Republics but also history.
“This is because, we have four emirates which are tradition-based areas headed by Emirs and one of the emirates, Argungu Emirate was to the extent of present day Niger Republic and the same thing with Gwandu Emirate it extended up to Bokinafaso.
“Therefore, we have historical ties with people in Niger Republic, Benin Republic to date and that had been very successful, the emirate system helped us to build mutual tolerance for each other.
“Because the four emirates are distinct and the four emirs through history incorporated and built mutual respect for each other and in so doing, it encouraged competition, which inculcated the culture of competition and reward for efforts,” he noted.
Bagudu added that it was not surpprising that the four emirates endeavoured to organise and reward efforts of various competitions in education, sports and economic activities that covered agriculture, fishing, livestock and pastoral activities.
“Also, there are conflict resolution mechanism at the local levels which helped in maintaining peace.
“Even those conflict resolution mechanisms are being increasingly stressed by urbanisation, by population growth, by the need for more land for various activities, by water bodies that no longer support the fishing and agricultural activities as the way they are supposed to,” he said.