Since the inception of Hussaini Adamu Karaduwa as Special Adviser, Employment Promotion, Katsina State, he has not stopped making impact in every sphere.
Karaduwa says he is taken to task by the State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, to do his best for people of the state. “Whatever he wants to do, he will do it to the best of his ability. So, he takes us to task to ensure that he gets the best of us,” said Karaduwa.
In this interview with some reporters, he speaks on the operations of the employment promotion department and on-going effort to arrest the loss of job opportunities to impostors.
Excerpts:
How has your department been managing the employment promotion process of the state indigenes?
I was appointed by this government as special adviser in charge of the Department of Employment and Vocational training, as it was then known. It comprised two major arms: employment promotion and
vocational training. The mandates of the department, initially, were two: First, to ensure that youths were trained to acquire skills in so many enterprises including plumbing, mechanic, tailoring, computer repairs and operation, fashion design, catering services and hospitality management. Under that mandate was agriculture. Under that department, there were two departments: technical and agric vocational. Under
technical, we had 10 schools across the state and under agric vocational, we have six schools spread across the state. So, we were managing these schools to produce skill labour.
The second mandate – employment promotion – essentially, has to do with recruitment in two folds: military and para – military on one side, then civilian: federal parastatals. Whenever vacancies are
declared and indigenes of the state applied, when it is time for the candidates to be interviewed we get there with a letter from the government to screen the candidates to ensure that the vacancies meant
for Katsina State indigenes are only claimed by the state indigenes. We have come across so many hurdles in doing that; we have detected so many impostors, so many intruders who many a times we are able to fish out and cut from further participation so that at the end of the recruitment, anybody you see on the list as indigenes of Katsina State has been scrutinized, identified and confirmed as such.
So, essentially, we are out to secure vacancies meant for Katsina State indigenes; that we have been doing successfully but not without challenges but with dedication even when our lives at a time were at stake.
Can you speak on some unforgettable challenges you have encountered?
I could remember that in Kaduna we flushed out about 150 people – some of them from Sokoto, Kaduna and Kano States – that we identified as impostors: they were not from Katsina. They ganged up somewhere against us but we received security report that they wanted to lynched us. We reported the plot and God so kind it was in a military formation. They were forcibly flushed out from the environment and our safety was secured.
On the other hand, there are cases where we encountered candidates that by appearance you will think they are not from Katsina but, by birth, they are from Katsina. We came across a girl in this category who
doesn’t speak Hausa; she speaks only Yoruba. Right from the gate of NDA, we were told by one military personnel: “there is a girl, she claimed to be from Katsina but she is not, please flush her out.” When we got there, we were still trying to master the art of screening then, tactically; I interviewed all the candidates until I got to her. I asked her, what is her tribe? She said Hausa. Can you speak Hausa, she
said no. what language do you speak? She said Yoruba. I asked her in Yoruba, where do you hail from? She said Funtua. What of your father? She said from Funtua. What of your mother? She said from Lagos. I said no problem, we have such cases. Do you know anybody from Funtua? She said the senior sister of her father is from Funtua. We cleared that girl on the strength of our extensive findings. If we were not meticulous, we would have done a great injustice to her, her parents and the state. Now, she is the first female flying officer from Katsina State. She is now a graduate from NDA; she is in Egypt now for further training as a pilot. If we were not careful, we wouldn’t have achieved that.
Commitment of Gov Masari to employment promotion
His Excellency, the governor, has done a wonderful job as far as recruitment is concerned. Anytime our letter goes to him, he scrutinizes it and give approval of what he feels should be needed. We thank him very much for that. We are being accorded priority because his concern is the future of the youths. He has maintained this up till the last minute. Today, I sent a memo to Government House and I have been informed that the memo in respect of the ongoing army recruitment has been approved; even at this last minute I am still sending a memo. He has done wonderfully; he is wonderful. He takes people to task. If you are worth your salt, you will enjoy working with him. I will miss him for long; I will miss him forever as far as working together is concerned.
Employment and Vocational Training Development
The first thing the governor did at the inception of his administration was to set up a committee to go round the state’s vocational colleges that were in shambles and come up with their true pictures and recommendations on how to reposition them to execute their mandates. The investigations were carried out and the report was submitted to him. He asked us to scrutinize and summarize the report and make our recommendations even though we were part of the committee. When he got the recommendations, he started implementing them, which was what brought Mafita project. So, that restoration agenda was fully enforced and it yielded fruits. So many graduates of the vocational schools are now working in different enterprises. So, this particular policy has helped Katsina State greatly. I believe more can be done but a lot has been achieved in terms of skills acquisition, agriculture and technology development, recruitment into military and para-military and the civil service.
Safeguarding Katsina’s quota in federal civil service
I could remember an advertisement was published by federal civil service commission and about 16 people were shorted as Katsina indigenes. When we went there to monitor the exercise and interview
the candidates, only six were really Katsina indigenes. We got the 10 that were not from Katsina out of the exercise. Later, replacement was sought and Katsina people were given that chance to go and participate. That is courtesy of the policy of Gov. Aminu Bello Masari. Whatever he wants to do, he will do to the best of his ability. He takes us to task to ensure that he gets the best.
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