Uba Sani: Governing Within the Law

By Mustapha Musa, PhD.

Societies are governed by laws. Laws create institutions, set boundaries for them, define relationships between the various arms and tiers of government, and regulate their conduct. In addition, they delegate responsibilities to both governments and the governed. Above all, laws provide the legal backbone for delivering the dividends of democracy to the citizenry.

Senator Uba Sani, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, is conversant with the law and all its ramifications. First, he was a civil rights and pro-democracy activist, where he kept constant vigil over how laws were either used or abused during the military era. Thereafter, he threw his hat into the ring as a Presidential Adviser and Political Adviser at different times, where he occupied a ringside seat at the centre of power. Afterwards, he went to the Senate, the upper legislative chamber where laws are made.

In 2023, the people of Kaduna State voted for him to practise what he had been preaching about due process and the rule of law. In the last three and a half years, the Comrade-Governor, as some analysts like to call him, has assented to 32 laws spanning security, education, healthcare and agriculture. In addition, some of the laws cover infrastructure, social protection, technology, public finance, electricity regulation and climate change.

Since assuming office in May 2023, His Excellency, Senator Uba Sani, CON., has used executive assent not merely as a constitutional formality, but as an important instrument for translating policy priorities into durable legal and institutional frameworks.

Securing Kaduna State

Significantly, security has remained a central priority of the administration, reflecting the Governor’s position that sustainable development cannot be achieved without peace and public safety. In this regard, the administration has strengthened the Kaduna Vigilance Service (KADVS) by recruiting and training 7,000 personnel. Besides, it has provided security agencies with 150 Hilux vehicles and 500 patrol motorcycles. The Governor has also constructed Kaduna State’s first forensic laboratory and training centre.

Beyond security logistics, the administration has pursued dialogue and community-based peacebuilding to address the security challenges bedevilling some parts of Kaduna State through the Kaduna Peace Model. At the heart of this model is a shift from reaction to prevention, strengthening institutions, empowering local actors, and creating channels through which grievances can be addressed before they escalate. The model also promotes engagement between communities and security agencies, encourages interfaith and intercultural dialogue, and provides opportunities, especially for young people, to contribute meaningfully to their society.

As a result of these engagements, the security situation in Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Giwa, Igabi, Kachia, Kajuru and Kagarko has improved. By April 2026, the Governor stated that public confidence was gradually returning and economic activities were expanding in areas previously considered inaccessible. The statutory framework supporting this broader security architecture complements the administration’s investments in security institutions, community engagement and emergency response.

Transforming Rural Areas, Strengthening Urban Renewal

Apart from the Kaduna Peace Model, Governor Uba Sani’s Rural Transformation agenda has been winning hearts and minds both within and outside Kaduna State. As of 2026, Governor Uba Sani has initiated and executed approximately 150 road projects, covering more than 1,300 kilometres across the 23 local government areas. The projects include urban roads, rural access roads and strategic links intended to connect communities, agricultural production centres and markets.

In fact, his administration has constructed the single longest road in the history of Kaduna State, the Gadan-Gayam–Gwaraji–Kujama road network, which connects approximately 76 farming communities across three local government areas: Igabi, Kajuru and Chikun.

Indeed, there were 12 local government areas that had not benefited from a single kilometre of road before the coming of this administration.

Education for All, Enhancing Human Capital

In Kaduna State, Governor Uba Sani often says that education is a right and not a privilege. In this regard, he has been walking his talk, with emphasis on human capital development. As of last April, his administration had constructed 736 new classrooms and renovated more than 1,200 existing classrooms, while recruiting 10,000 new teachers and training more than 33,000 education personnel in modern teaching methods and digital skills.

The administration has also recorded substantial progress in tackling the out-of-school children crisis. The number has fallen from approximately 550,000 to 187,720. Simultaneously, Governor Uba Sani has strengthened secondary and tertiary education. New secondary schools and science schools have been established, while existing ones have been renovated and upgraded.

In fact, one of the first Executive Orders he signed as Governor, in August 2023, was the reduction of tuition fees in state-owned tertiary institutions. This has increased student enrolment in tertiary institutions.

At Kaduna State University (KASU) alone, Governor Uba Sani has released over ₦800 million for staff welfare, in addition to ₦146 million to clear withheld salaries and outstanding SIWES allowances inherited from previous administrations. In 2026 alone, the Government further disbursed over ₦200 million in overhead funding to support day-to-day operations, including laboratory chemicals and reagents, students’ field trips, examinations and other essential academic activities.

The present administration has equally invested over ₦300 million in the accreditation of more than 57 academic programmes and resource-verification exercises for 60 postgraduate programmes by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

Training Artisans, Developing Skills

Apart from formal education, Governor Uba Sani has invested in skills-based education to boost human capital development in Kaduna State. He has established the Institute of Vocational Training and Skills Development, with campuses at Soba, Rigachikun and Saminaka, covering the Northern, Central and Southern Senatorial Districts, respectively.

The Institute focuses on practical skills in areas including ICT, mechatronics and renewable energy, thereby linking education more directly with employment, entrepreneurship and emerging industries.

Recently, the Institute graduated more than 4,000 artisans and tradespeople, a bold step towards reducing unemployment and enhancing human capital development. In addition, the Governor gave the graduates ₦200,000 each, amounting to ₦810 million, to ease their transition from training to productive work.

Giving Healthcare a Lease of Life

The administration has also made substantial investments in healthcare infrastructure and access. All 255 Primary Healthcare Centres in the state have been upgraded to Level 2 status, representing a health facility in every ward. The upgraded facilities provide maternal and child health services, as well as immunisation.

In addition, the administration has rehabilitated and equipped General Hospitals across the three Senatorial Districts. Indeed, one of its major health achievements is the completion of the 300-bed Bola Ahmed Tinubu Specialist Hospital, a project that commenced many years ago.

Likewise, the state’s pharmaceutical supply system has been strengthened. With the rehabilitation of the Kaduna State Health Supplies Management Agency warehouse, the seamless procurement and distribution of essential medicines, including the deployment of modern diagnostic equipment to health facilities, is being strengthened.

A Farmer-Friendly Administration

Agriculture contributes about 45 per cent of Kaduna State’s GDP and employs about 60 to 80 per cent of the population. For this reason, the Governor Uba Sani administration is repositioning the sector from a predominantly subsistence activity to a more integrated value-chain and agro-industrial model.

For instance, the state’s agricultural allocation increased from approximately ₦1.48 billion in 2023 to ₦23.4 billion in 2024 and ₦74.02 billion in 2025. In the 2026 budget, more than ₦100 billion was allocated to agriculture and food security, representing approximately 11.65 per cent of total state expenditure.

Besides, smallholder farmers have been provided with free fertiliser, improved seeds, agrochemicals, mechanisation, irrigation and agricultural insurance. In 2026, for example, the administration distributed 500 trucks of fertiliser to 150,000 farmers, while more than 100,000 farmers had been enrolled in agricultural insurance schemes.

The state is also pursuing value addition through the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ), supported by the African Development Bank and the Federal Government, to move agriculture beyond primary production into processing, manufacturing and market-oriented agro-industrial activity.

The Governor’s assent to the Kaduna State Agricultural Development Fund (KADFund) Law, 2025, gives this agricultural transformation a statutory financing mechanism, including provision for grants, soft loans, technical assistance and infrastructure support for farmers, cooperatives and other actors across the agricultural value chain.

Attracting Investors, Mining Wealth

Through the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA), Governor Uba Sani is positioning the state as an investment destination. In this regard, he is strengthening institutions responsible for investment facilitation and expanding opportunities in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, ICT, energy and other sectors.

KADIPA, a one-stop investment centre, coordinates business approvals, permits and investment facilitation on behalf of investors. Its mandate includes promoting public-private partnerships, attracting new investments and supporting job creation.

Specifically, the administration has also intensified efforts to develop the state’s solid-minerals sector, including the preparation of a mining development roadmap and efforts to attract investment, in a bid to curb illegal mining.

There are substantial deposits of lithium, gold, tin, coltan, wolframite and other minerals in Kaduna State. As part of its economic diversification strategy, the Government is developing the mining sector as an additional revenue stream and a source of job creation.

Indeed, the development of the Kangimi lithium processing project represents an attempt to move the state beyond the extraction of minerals towards local processing and value addition.

A New Framework for Electricity and Energy

Significantly, one of the most important legislative developments of 2026 is the Kaduna State Electricity Law, 2026. The law establishes the Kaduna State Electricity Regulatory Commission and creates a state-level framework for regulating electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply.

The reform provides the institutional basis for Kaduna to develop a more responsive electricity market, attract private investment and expand electricity access. Essentially, the reform represents a major shift towards treating energy as an important component of the state’s economic development and industrialisation strategy.

Mitigating Climate Change and Environmental Challenges

The Kaduna State Climate Change Advisory Board Law, 2026, represents another important institutional development. The law establishes a framework for coordinating climate action, integrating climate considerations into development planning, promoting environmental sustainability and facilitating access to climate finance.

This is increasingly relevant to Kaduna’s agricultural and rural-development agenda, particularly in relation to drought, flooding, food security, water management and climate-related risks to farmers.

Water Supply and Essential Services

In September 2024, Governor Uba Sani declared a state of emergency on water supply following a reported under-capacity utilisation of less than five per cent. With this intervention, capacity utilisation improved to more than 30 per cent within three months.

In fact, the Governor cleared salary arrears of approximately ₦800 million owed to Kaduna Water Corporation workers and settled an outstanding electricity bill of about ₦1.3 billion.

Public Finance and Fiscal Management

Budgets are not just figures and statistics; they detail government revenue projections and expenditure and provide the financial framework for executing development programmes.

For example, Governor Uba Sani signed the 2026 Appropriation Law in December 2025. The budget amounts to approximately ₦985.9 billion, with ₦698.9 billion, or 70.9 per cent, allocated to capital expenditure. Education received the largest sectoral allocation, at approximately 25 per cent.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the 2026 budget allocated ₦100 million to each of the state’s 255 wards, intended to support development priorities at the community level. The communities are responsible for identifying the projects to be executed.

Catering for Senior Citizens and the Less Privileged

Cumulatively, the administration had paid approximately ₦17.796 billion to 8,344 retirees and families of deceased workers as of April 2026.

The administration’s broader social-protection architecture is supported by reforms in social welfare, humanitarian affairs and citizen-focused service delivery, with the objective of extending government assistance to vulnerable households and communities.

Viewed collectively, Governor Uba Sani has undertaken a broad process of legislative, institutional and developmental consolidation in Kaduna State. The number of bills to which he has assented is not as important as the relationship between those laws and the institutions, programmes and investments that his administration is implementing. In education, healthcare and agriculture, as well as roads, security, investment, electricity and climate governance, the administration has increasingly sought to convert policy priorities into enduring legal and institutional arrangements.

The result is an expanding statutory framework supporting peace and security, infrastructure renewal, human-capital development, healthcare expansion, agricultural transformation, investment promotion, energy-sector reform, environmental sustainability and responsible public finance. By so doing, the Governor’s assent transforms legislative policy into enforceable law, while implementation gives that law practical meaning for citizens.

Most importantly, the record 32 laws connect with his administration’s broader development agenda. The laws provide the institutional foundation; the projects, programmes and reforms provide measurable outcomes.

Mustapha Musa, PhD, is the Deputy Chief of Staff, Legal and Legislative Matters to the Governor of Kaduna State.