Lessons from Governor Abubakar Sani Bello’s Exemplary Leadership By Abdullberqy U Ebbo

For a Governor who’s widely known for his modesty and who also avoids overexposure in the media, there are impressive traits about him that aren’t known by the public. Governor Sani Bello’s approach to governance and striking humility should make him a model for serving and elected officials.

Since assuming duty as Governor, what sets the Governor apart are his lifestyle and unconventional interactions and engagement with the people. Some of these are his unscheduled visits to MDAs on supervision tour of their activities and facilities available to them. This way, he got to notice public officials’ commitment to work first-hand. This is a lot more effective than receiving reports on the state of these MDAs through aides or the media.

Another remarkable aspect of his leadership are some of his strategies towards project supervisions. He’s already known for visiting ongoing projects to monitor progress without any fanfare or entourage. This gives him the privilege of ascertaining the true conditions and extents of works already done by the contractors.

Perhaps the Governor’s most unusual relationship with the people is his habits of stopping on the road while touring or on an unofficial drive, just to have brief discussions with the people. These are done simply to have their honest assessments of his administration and also determine the things they want from the administration. These have revealed to him some of the people’s plights, both personal and public.

Only those in government are aware of the fact that since he was sworn into office, Governor Sani Bello hasn’t been staying in his supposed official residence. This is so because there’s no any official residence in place for him, since Governor’s official residence wasn’t occupied by his predecessor, and so there was no habitable residence for the predecessor on taking office. The former Governor converted his private residence into Governor’s House, given to the state on a lease for millions of naira per month.

Instead of wasting the State’s resources on lavish residence, whether government-owned or even a lease, Governor Bello chose to stay in a 3-bedroom flat at the Presidential Lodge in Minna. This simplicity is a striking departure from the tradition of public figures occupying high offices, especially one who’s a State’s number-one citizen.

The Government House used to be expensive to maintain, it cost the previous administrations fortunes even though the Governor wasn’t occupying it. It used to be maintained with the sum of N150 million. Today, under Governor Bello, the activities and operations of the Government House are maintained with the sum of N20 million, saving a lot to fix more deserving parts of the state.

These only add to the administration’s running on a lean personnel cost, since the Governor has had the ministries in the state reduced from the 23 he found in place to 15 and Permanent Secretaries from 54 to 25. He saved a lot from this decision, and it’s not surprising to see his laudable achievements in fixing the State’s infrastructure. One can’t really wish for a better leader in this time of nationwide economic downturn.