By Oluwafemi Adekoya

Stepping out of one’s comfort zone and looking at the world through another lens can sometimes be challenging, especially when the popular narrative remains dominant in public discourse. It takes grit and the ability to disabuse oneself of preconceived notions and to allow instinct and data to guide one through the journey.

Journalists have mostly become numb to news of insecurity, hopelessness, and politicians’ antics aimed at swaying public perception. Gathering raw data remains the gold standard for independent journalism and will trump subsidised information, such as press releases or statements.

Visiting Zamfara was not without anxiety, given the kind of reports emanating from the State and many parts of the northern region. My closest encounter with Zamfara was when a family member was posted to the state for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in 2011. That shouldn’t be a problem, naturally, considering how he had been forewarned about the Sharia practice.

For the first time, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) heavily integrated corps members to serve as polling clerks and ad hoc staff to ensure a credible voting process. This changed whatever briefing he had received to prepare him for his stay in Zamfara. Indeed, the April 2011 presidential election sparked severe ethno-religious violence across 12 northern states, including Zamfara. Following the perception that the 2011 election between President Goodluck Jonathan and late President Muhammadu Buhari had been rigged, opposition supporters launched mass protests. Because they managed the polling units where the ruling party won, rioters falsely viewed the corps members not as neutral participants, but as agents of the federal government who helped “rig” the election against Buhari.

Many corps members deployed to Zamfara were from southern Christian backgrounds. In the heat of the riots, local grievances blended with religious biases, making local NYSC lodges and fellowships (such as the Nigeria Christian Corps Fellowship, or NCCF) immediate targets for angry mobs. My brother was lucky to live to tell the story, thanks to the intervention of the Lagos State government under Governor Babatunde Fashola, which returned corps members from the troubled region to Lagos to continue their service. Since then, Zamfara has been a no-travel zone for me or any family member.

When the invitation to attend the media chat with Governor Dauda Lawal arrived, it was met with some scepticism and hesitation. It took some convincing and assurances to get a yes after being told we wouldn’t be travelling via the Zaria-Zamfara highway, which some senior colleagues had travelled in 2025. This meant that the newly commissioned airport in Gusau would be our first point of contact with Zamfara. I felt the trip into the capital city should be tolerable.

Land of Farming and Solid Minerals (plus solar farms)
From ‘Farming is our Pride’ to its updated official insignia and expanded motto, ‘Land of Farming and Solid Minerals’, to highlight both its agricultural hub and its rich gold mining resources, one thing that was not difficult to miss was the array of solar farms at the airport and across many government structures. Rather than struggle with whatever is shared by Kaduna DisCo with its neighbours, the Dauda-led administration chose to toe a different path with solar energy by harnessing the vast landscape and sunlight available to the region. After all, if the Villa in Aso Rock can shift to solar energy, why can’t subnational governments do the same?

Governor Lawal has framed energy not as a standalone project but as the backbone of service delivery, security and economic activity. According to him, Zamfara is “one of Nigeria’s most promising locations for solar power investment,” citing year-round high-intensity sunlight and untapped renewable potential. Zamfara’s airport, specialist hospitals, schools and government buildings are totally off-grid.

The administration’s narrative is explicit: many local government areas went for over a decade without reliable power due to decaying infrastructure, vandalism, and disconnection from the national grid. After paying N1 billion to reconnect to the grid, it was time to think about renewable and sustainable power governance structures. Lawal has also highlighted hybrid possibilities: combining solar with the largely untapped hydropower potential of the Bakolori Dam to create resilient micro-systems for rural clusters.

The governance logic is compelling. Reliable power enables functional primary healthcare centres with vaccine cold chains and night-time emergency care; extended learning hours and digital tools in schools; agro-processing, cold storage and value addition for a state that ranks among Nigeria’s top producers of millet, sorghum, soybeans and groundnuts; and street lighting and CCTV-ready infrastructure that support community policing and deterrence.

Security, Sharia and the limits of symbolism
On Monday, Lawal reiterated his stance on security, insisting he would “never pay a dime to a criminal.” He recounted how bandits abducted two of his brothers in 2025, and how he refused ransom even when demands fell to a N150,000 recharge card, arguing that payments only empower kidnappers and perpetuate abductions.

This hard line is morally defensible and strategically necessary, especially at a time when ‘repentant bandits’ are being reintegrated and rehabilitated into society at the expense of the victims. Although accounts of events still highlight attacks in LGAs such as Tsafe, Anka, Bungudu, Bukkuyum, Maradun and Kaura Namoda, with soldiers, police and civilians killed and villagers still being abducted, the governor’s argument—that security cannot be the only lens through which Zamfara is viewed—is valid. He argued that it’s a work in progress and hopes the State Police plan will further address security issues.

Similarly, while Sharia remains part of the state’s legal architecture, the administration’s public messaging on Monday has focused less on moral policing and more on fiscal discipline, revenue mobilisation and energy as development levers. That shift does not deny Zamfara’s identity; it insists that identity is not exhaustive.

From rescue mission to roadmap for consolidation
Under Governor Dauda Lawal, Zamfara has posted one of the most notable fiscal turnarounds in northern Nigeria and is betting heavily on solar energy to underpin governance and development.

In BudgIT’s 2025 State of States ranking, Zamfara moved from 36th in 2023 to 26th in 2024 and then to 17th in 2025—a 19-place climb in two years. Recurrent revenue jumped 182.34 per cent from N87.44 billion in 2023 to N246.88 billion in 2024, while total revenue grew 117.68 per cent from N144.95 billion to N315.53 billion. FAAC allocations alone surged 239.18 per cent, from N65.28 billion to N221.42 billion, reflecting both improved federal transfers and more effective capture of entitlements. Internally generated revenue (IGR) also rose, though more modestly: up 14.86% from N22.16 billion in 2023 to N25.46 billion in 2024, placing Zamfara 25th among the 36 states, with IGR per capita at N4,364.

While the state has climbed from last place, it remains in the middle of the pack, with significant room to move higher if revenue systems are deepened and leakages plugged.

Zamfara’s improved fiscal ranking and its solar push do not erase the state’s security and governance challenges. But they do provide a new vocabulary: one in which budgets, kilowatts and service metrics sit alongside, and sometimes ahead of the familiar tropes of Sharia and banditry.

Zamfara’s second act is underway. The fiscal numbers show a state moving from last place toward the middle. The solar agenda shows a government thinking strategically about governance infrastructure. What comes next in 2027 will determine whether this is remembered as a genuine turnaround for continuity or otherwise decided by the people’s choice. The tools, the data and the mandate are all within reach. Hopefully, the willpower will remain firm and unshaken.