Outgoing governor of Nasarawa State, Engineer Abdullahi Audu Sule, has said that his administration used the last seven years to lay the groundwork for the socio-economic prosperity of the state, predicting that in the next five years, the state would stand on its own feet financially.

Speaking to The Guardian in an exclusive interview against the backdrop of the country’s first ever National Climate Investment Summit (NCIS) holding in London as part of this year’s London Climate Action Week (LCAW), in the United Kingdom, the governor disclosed that although his administration started with an Executive Order, it successfully enacted a legislation that ensure a tripartite arrangement among the state, host communities and investors for the exploration and exploitation of the state’s rich mineral deposits.

He noted that the Federal Government’s initiatives through the Ministry of Solid Minerals, helped the state to entrench enabling laws to avert the insecurity that usually trail artisanal mining in mineral-rich communities, pointing that Nasarawa State insists that whoever mines in the state must be prepared for value-addition through by establishing processing a plant in the state.

“So, your question is where do I see Nasarawa in the next five years? I see a state that is going to be booming with opportunities; a state that is going to have a huge population growth. And, with some of the things that we are doing, I see a state that actually may be buoyant with its own IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) and be able to stand on its own.

“These are dreams we had, but I think we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can say that it’s looking good,” he declared.

As to whether his administration has designed strategies to ensure that succeeding administration or the state does not drop the ball somewhere along the line, Governor Sule noted that since the state is not run just by one person, and the governor is just one person, “there is a team on ground that will continue. And I’m sure, by the grace of God, the teams that are there that may not go with the Governor will continue actually to ensure that the ball is not dropped.”

On the type of successor, he would recommend to the people of Nasarawa State, the Petrochemical Engineer-turned politician, said his always praying to Allah to ensure that “we have someone who will come and do better than I did.”

“That one should be someone who will come and do more than I did, who is committed to the state, who is also truthful to the state, and also who is visionary. Once we have this, I’m happy. I think that’s the kind of person I want to see for Nasarawa.”

Looking ahead to his Senatorial aspiration, the Nasarawa State chief executive said that when he gets into the Senate, his legislative agenda would revolve around making laws that would ensure that the people of Nigeria are secured, stressing that security is one of the major challenges confronting the country.

His words: “My focus would be on legislation that will help to ensure that we utilise all the resources available to us without necessarily exposing ourselves to the international community. The legislation that we think will make Nigerians proud of their own country, because Nigeria actually is a country with great potential.

“For some of us who have lived elsewhere, we do understand the potential that exists in this country, the freedom that exists in this country. They say other countries are countries of democracy, but I will say to a certain extent, Nigeria is one huge country of democracy, where anybody will just wake up on the wrong side of the bed and abuse the President, abuse their governor, abuse their traditional ruler, and then go unharmed, go on as if nothing happens.

“Sometimes, I receive text messages. The first message was to abuse me in order to prepare me for the next one that is coming. And the next one is to beg me for money, and to say that if I don’t give that money, more abuses will come. There is indeed, freedom in Nigeria.”

He disclosed that in the next couple of months, the state will be celebrating our 30 years as a state, remarking a committee comprising prominent stakeholders has already been set up to drive the project of not only to celebrate giant leaps, but also to sell Nasarawa State.

He assured that The Guardian with its motto, which is Conscience, Nurtured by Truth, “is one institution that we can, we must use. Not even we can use, but we must use.”