By Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed
“A man is not judged by the loudness of his entry, but by what he leaves behind when he walks out of the room,”— so I borrowed a leave from an ancient wisdom. Then, when Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, walked into the popular Muhammadu Buhari House, Katsina, on May 29, 2023, he came with a simple but weighty promise — to build the future of Katsina’s people. To build a Katsina where every son and daughter of the state can be proud of. Three years later, the room Dikko Radda has been working in tells its own story. Delivering where it matters means doing the difficult thing in the right place, for the right people, at the right time. By that measure, Dikko Radda has been delivering.
Security: First foundation
Motorcycles and vans for security
No building stands without a foundation, and no development agenda survives in the middle of gunfire. Governor Radda took this lesson from day one. Katsina, for years, had been a theatre of sorrow. Bandits terrorising communities, farmers abandoning their lands, families sleeping with one eye open or no sleep at all. It was a State that needed healing before it could be built.
The administration moved on two fronts simultaneously. On one side, kinetic security operations pushed back criminal elements with force. On the other, non-kinetic approaches — community engagement, rehabilitation of willing ex-criminals, and economic inclusion — addressed the conditions that made crime attractive in the first place. The results, while not yet perfect, are undeniable. Banditry and kidnapping have de-escalated considerably. Farmers had returned to their fields. Trade is taking place in some communities already deserted. That alone created the atmosphere in which every other achievement on this list became possible.
Education: A generation rescued
If security is the foundation, education is the structure built upon it. And on this front, Governor Radda has not just built — he has rebuilt, expanded, and reimagined what education in Katsina looks like.
Since 2023, the administration has committed not less than N120 billion to education. A figure staggering not just in size but in what it has produced on the ground. One hundred and seventy junior secondary schools have been constructed in underserved communities where children previously had nowhere to go after primary school. Three hundred schools have been rehabilitated. One hundred and fifty primary schools have been renovated. ICT and Computer-Based Test centres have been established in both rural and urban areas — because the administration believes that a child in a remote village deserves to know what a keyboard feels like.
But the crown jewel of this educational revolution is the Model and Smart Secondary Schools, commissioned across all three senatorial zones — in Radda, Jikamshi, and Dumurkul. These are not ordinary schools. They carry robotics laboratories, artificial intelligence facilities, 24-hour electricity, and internet connectivity. They were built exclusively for brilliant children from poor and rural homes — children whose only sin was being born without privilege. The schools have drawn admiration from European Union diplomats and international education observers. They represent what happens when a government dares to dream big for its most vulnerable.
Beyond bricks and mortar, the administration has sent students abroad on government scholarships, increased student allowances, ensured prompt payment of bursary allocations, and consistently paid teachers on time — because a teacher who is worried about school fees cannot focus on teaching your child. Development partnerships with AGILE, BESDA, and TESS have reinforced the emphasis on STEM education, digital literacy, and skills development, ensuring that Katsina’s children are not just educated — they are prepared.
Health: Where lives are literally saved
Katsina Dialysis Centre
There is nothing more personal than health. When a hospital has no equipment, it is not a statistic — it is a mother who lost a child, a man who died of a treatable condition, a family broken by something that should have been fixable. Governor Radda approached the health sector with the most humane understanding.
Primary health centres across the State have been massively rehabilitated and upgraded to General Hospital standards — closing the yawning gap between what rural communities were getting and what they deserve. At General Amadi Rimi Hospital, the Katsina State Dialysis Centre now runs around the clock, seven days a week, serving patients who previously had to make the long and expensive journey out of State for kidney dialysis. That centre is not a ribbon-cutting photo opportunity. It is a lifeline for hundreds of families.
The operating theatres of the State’s flagship specialist hospitals — General Amadi Rimi Specialist Hospital (GARSH), Turai Umar Yar’Adua Maternal, and Children Hospital (TUTMCH), and General Hospital Katsina— have all been upgraded with modern equipment and improved facilities. Advanced medical equipment has been procured to enhance service delivery at every level of care.
And nearing completion is the Imaging Centre— described by health experts as the most advanced diagnostic facility in Northern Nigeria. When it opens, Katsina’s people will have access to world-class medical diagnostics without leaving their State. That is what delivering where it matters looks like in the health sector.
Infrastructure: Roads, lights and urban renewal
Urban renewal, a reality in Katsina State
A government’s commitment to its people is written on its roads. Katsina’s roads, under this administration, are telling a fascinating story. The 24-kilometre Eastern Bypass has transformed movement in and around the State capital, easing traffic and opening new economic corridors. The Kofar-Soro to Kofar-Guga road and other township roads are actively serving residents, reducing the daily frustrations of commuting in a growing city.
Across the metropolis, solar street lights have been deployed massively — brightening communities, deterring crime, and restoring dignity to neighbourhoods that had learned to dread the night. Beyond the capital, Urban Renewal Plans have been activated across all three senatorial zones — channelling development to communities that governance had historically ignored. Under this administration, development is not a capital city affair. It is a statewide obligation.
Agriculture: Feeding a nation, training a generation
Katsina has always fed Nigeria. What this administration has done is give that calling the respect and investment it deserves. From the outset, Governor Radda treated agriculture not as a traditional pastime but as an economic engine — and committed N2.5 billion to back that conviction.
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