Over the past few weeks, I have watched Governor Uba Sani’s activities with keen interest, and one question keeps coming to mind: does this man ever sleep?
From one official engagement to another, from project inspections to policy meetings and community interactions, his schedule appears remarkably demanding. The consistency and intensity of his public engagements have prompted many to wonder how he manages such a relentless pace.
In just a matter of days, he commissioned roads in Jaba and Jama’a, flagged off another major road project in Zaria, and stood before thousands of farmers to distribute fertilisers and agricultural support that will help many families return to their farms with renewed hope.
To some people, these are just government activities, but to me, they tell a deeper story.
Years ago, when I had the privilege of serving as a Local Government Chairperson, I discovered something that many people outside government never get to see. Leadership is exhausting. The public only sees the ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
They rarely see the sleepless nights, the difficult decisions, the criticism, the impossible expectations, or the constant pressure to satisfy millions of people whose needs are genuine.
That experience taught me how to recognise hard work when I see it.
That is why I do not merely see Governor Uba Sani’s projects; I see the effort behind them.
Kaduna is not an easy state to govern. It carries the weight of years of insecurity, mistrust, political tension, economic hardship and communities that have, at different times, struggled to see themselves as one people. No governor inherits those realities and fixes them overnight.
But leadership is not always about performing miracles,
sometimes leadership is about refusing to stop trying.
That, to me, is what Governor Uba Sani represents today.
One thing that particularly touched me was the distribution of fertilisers and farming support. To on Saturday 25th July some, it may simply be another government programme; I saw something much bigger.
I saw a government saying to farmers, “Go back to the land. We have not forgotten you.”
In a state where insecurity has kept many people away from their farms, supporting agriculture is not only about increasing harvests.
It is about restoring confidence, reducing hunger, creating jobs, strengthening rural communities and reminding people that better days are still possible.
Food security begins long before the harvest. It begins when a farmer believes it is worth planting again. That is the real significance of Saturday’s intervention.
Beyond the projects is something that cannot be measured with statistics. Governor Uba Sani has consistently projected the spirit of bringing people together. The journey is not over, and no honest person would claim every challenge has disappeared.
But there is a visible effort to replace division with dialogue, exclusion with inclusion, and suspicion with partnership and that matters, because development grows faster where people begin to trust one another again.
As a former Local Government Administrator, I know how easy it is for people to criticise from a distance. I also know how difficult it is to wake up every morning carrying the expectations of thousands of citizens.
That is why I believe that we should never become so consumed by what remains undone that we fail to acknowledge what is being done.
Governor Uba Sani is showing Kaduna people that leadership can be present and can keep moving even when the road is steep.
Perhaps that is why he always seems to be on the move, from one community to another, from one project to another, from meetings in Abuja to engagements across Kaduna State, pushing, listening, negotiating, building.
Whether one agrees with every policy or not, one thing is difficult to deny: the man is putting in the work.
And as someone who understands the weight of public leadership, I simply want to say this:
Thank you, Gov. Uba Sani (CON) for choosing effort over excuses.
Kaduna still has work to be done; there are still roads to build, schools to strengthen, hospitals to improve, communities to heal, and young people to empower, and Governor Uba Sani has shown the determination to complete the task he began.
My prayer is that history will remember not only the projects he commissioned, but the hope he kept alive, the bridges he built between people, and the example he set that leadership is not about occupying an office; it is about showing up, every single day, for the people.
Hon Dr Nita Byack George (The Administrator) writes from Kaduna
