Celebrating Gov Aliyu: Blueprint Newspapers’ 2025 Outstanding Personality

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been”. Henry A. Kissinger

Governor Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto has steadily established himself as a trustworthy leader whose performance has increasingly been defined by results.

Since assuming office on May 29, 2023, he has pursued a clear development agenda anchored on his transformative 9- Point Smart Agenda, which the government must translate its policies into tangible improvements in the lives of the people.

His emergence as Blueprint Newspapers’ 2025 Outstanding Personality is a recognition of an outstanding record that has continued to grow in scope and impact.

The award by the Blueprint Newspapers comes after the Sun Newspaper’s Governor of the Year 2024 recognition conferred on Governor Aliyu for his very impactful governance. But the intervening period since 2024 has provided even more evidence upon which his sterling performance can be assessed.

Roads, both rural and urban, have continued to be constructed and rehabilitated; classrooms and healthcare facilities have been provided; housing projects have been constructed; agriculture has received renewed attention because the state is agrarian; security interventions for the various security agencies have continued; and the administration has continued to invest heavily in human capital.

Perhaps more significantly, Governor Aliyu has demonstrated an uncommon consistency in translating his 9-Point Smart Agenda from a policy document into a programme of action.

His administration has pursued a governance model anchored on fiscal discipline, infrastructure development, education, healthcare, agriculture, housing, security and economic empowerment.

Blueprint Newspapers’ decision to honour him should therefore be viewed against the record of a governor whose overriding instinct has been to govern with purpose and leave a lasting imprint on the state.

It is this sense of urgency—and his determination to make a meaningful difference within the limited time available to him in office—that has driven the pace and breadth of his interventions since assuming office.

When The Sun Newspaper recognised Governor Aliyu in 2024, it was an acknowledgement of a governor who, within a remarkably short period, had restored public confidence in the capacity of government to deliver.

Since that recognition, Governor Ahmed Aliyu’s administration has not rested on its early gains; rather, it has built upon them, expanding its interventions across critical sectors and consolidating the foundation laid during the first phase of his administration.

One of the clearest demonstrations of Governor Aliyu’s impactful leadership is his fiscal responsibility. He inherited significant liabilities, including pension arrears estimated at about N14 billion, yet his administration has cleared these obligations and made provisions for new retirees.

Remarkably, his administration has financed its myriad capital projects and interventions without taking any domestic or foreign loans, demonstrating that prudent financial management, disciplined prioritisation and careful deployment of resources can deliver substantial development even in a challenging fiscal environment.

The 2026 budget further reinforces his commitment to development, with about 70% earmarked for capital expenditure and 30% for recurrent expenditure. The Governor Aliyu administration has demonstrated that development can be pursued through prudent financial management and disciplined prioritisation.

This is particularly significant because Governor Aliyu, an accountant by training, has brought his professional discipline to the management of public resources.

He has demonstrated a clear understanding that every naira entrusted to government belongs to the people and must therefore be deployed with prudence, accountability and a strong sense of responsibility.

His stewardship reflects a determination to protect public resources and ensure that they translate into tangible value for the people of Sokoto State.

In education, the Aliyu administration has maintained a strong and sustained commitment to expanding access, improving learning outcomes and strengthening the quality of education across Sokoto State.

The priority accorded the sector is reflected in the 2025 budget, in which education received about 25 per cent of the state’s N526.88 billion allocation—an investment that surpasses the UNESCO-recommended benchmark for education spending.

Thousands of classrooms have been constructed and rehabilitated, while the government’s scholarship interventions continue to support students pursuing higher education, reinforcing Governor Aliyu’s conviction that education remains the most enduring investment in the future of Sokoto State.

The administration has equally undertaken a significant effort to revive and strengthen a healthcare system that had suffered years of neglect under the previous administration.

The procurement of more than 240 hospital beds, nine ultrasound machines and three X-ray machines for health facilities across the three senatorial districts, coupled with the recruitment of 800 nurses, represents a major investment in improving access to quality medical services.

The introduction of a mandatory two-year rural service policy for health workers further demonstrates the administration’s determination to address the longstanding disparity in healthcare delivery between urban centres and rural communities, ensuring that residents in underserved areas are not left behind.

Infrastructure development remains perhaps the most visible expression of Governor Aliyu’s development agenda. More than 350 roads have been completed across both urban and rural areas, improving connectivity, easing movement and opening up the communities to greater economic opportunities.

Perhaps more significant is his decision to complete several critical projects inherited from the previous administrations—projects that, in many other states, might have been abandoned simply because they were initiated by political opponents.

Governor Aliyu has chosen to place public interest far and above political differences, recognising that once a project is conceived and public resources have been committed to it, its completion should be determined by its value to the people, not by who initiated it.

The completion of the Lydia Flyover and the South Eastern Bypass, for instance, has contributed to improving traffic movement and connectivity around Sokoto metropolis.

The housing sector has similarly received sustained attention, with more than 1,850 housing units completed and additional units currently under construction. The development of the New Sokoto City, with almost 2,000 serviced plots, represents another significant intervention in urban development and the planned expansion of the state capital.

Beyond the physical structures, these investments are helping to address Sokoto State’s longstanding housing deficit by increasing the supply of affordable and planned residential accommodation, while creating opportunities for more families and public servants to access decent housing and for the state to achieve more orderly urban growth.

Governor Aliyu’s commitment to security has equally been substantial, reflecting his recognition that no meaningful development can take place in an atmosphere of insecurity.

Given Sokoto’s vulnerability, particularly along its eastern axis bordering Zamfara State, the administration has invested more than N30 billion in strengthening security, including investments in security infrastructure, the establishment of the Sokoto State Community Corps, the provision of operational vehicles and enhanced welfare support for security personnel.

This substantial investment underscores Governor Aliyu’s determination to protect lives and property and to create the secure environment necessary for economic development to thrive.

The underlying philosophy is straightforward: development cannot thrive where people are afraid to farm, trade, travel or send their children to school.

Agriculture occupies an important place in the administration’s economic strategy, reflecting the governor’s determination to make Sokoto State’s vast agricultural potential the major driver of food security, employment and economic growth.

Through partnerships involving the Federal Government and the World Bank, including the Sokoto State Partnership for Irrigation and Nutrition (SPIN), the administration has pursued the expansion of irrigable farmland, improved access to farm inputs and the rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure.

Beyond production, the government is also investing in post-harvest preservation, including facilities for the storage and preservation of onions, one of Sokoto’s major agricultural products, thereby reducing losses, protecting farmers from distress sales and enabling them to secure better returns from their produce.

The broader objective is to transform agriculture from a subsistence activity into a more productive and commercially viable sector capable of generating jobs, raising household incomes, supplying raw materials to agro-allied industries and strengthening the state’s contribution to Nigeria’s food security.

The Sokoto State Investment Promotion Agency and other economic initiatives are also part of the administration’s broader effort to position the state for private investment and economic diversification.

As the state approaches the 2027 governorship election, the governor has effortlessly emerged as the unanimous choice of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Sokoto State for his second term. That development is significant because political parties rarely arrive at such a decision without considering the performance, acceptability and electoral prospects of an incumbent.

The unanimous endorsement is, in many respects, a political reflection of the same confidence that has accompanied the administration’s development record. It suggests that within the ruling party, Governor Aliyu’s first term has been assessed as sufficiently strong to warrant continuity.

For a governor who came into office with the promise of changing the narrative of governance in Sokoto, that political endorsement is itself a major milestone and a vote of confidence that he has kept faith.

One of the most striking qualities of Governor Aliyu is that he does not regard awards, accolades or political endorsements as an end in themselves. Rather, he sees them as a greater responsibility and a call to do more. When he received The Sun Newspaper’s Governor of the Year award, he reminded his audience that “to whom much is given, much is expected.”

That philosophy remains as relevant today as it was then, and perhaps even more so in the wake of his emergence as Blueprint Newspapers’ 2025 Outstanding Personality and his unanimous choice by his party to seek a second term in office.

Since The Sun Newspaper’s recognition, and the many others that have followed, Governor Aliyu’s record has been one of sustained consolidation and expanded impact.

The administration has continued to deliver more infrastructure, deepen interventions in the social sectors, increase investment in education and healthcare, expand housing delivery, strengthen agriculture and food security initiatives, intensify security interventions and maintain a firm commitment to fiscal prudence.

In other words, the period since his last major recognition has not been one of him resting on past achievements, but of building steadily on them and pushing the development agenda further.

It is also a story of a governor who appears increasingly comfortable with the burden of expectations that comes with public office.

Governor Aliyu has never pretended that the deep-seated challenges confronting Sokoto State can be resolved overnight.

The state no doubt faces significant development deficits, particularly in poverty reduction, human capital development, employment creation and security. What distinguishes his approach, however, is his determination to confront these challenges with the urgency and persistence needed and the recognition that government cannot do it alone.

His administration has therefore continued to work closely with development partners and other stakeholders, leveraging partnerships, expertise and resources to accelerate development and create opportunities that can deliver lasting improvements in the lives of the people.

The Blueprint Newspapers’ recognition is very timely. It celebrates a governor whose administration has made government more impactful in the lives of the roads they travel, the well-equipped schools their children attend, the hospitals where they seek treatment, the houses they live in, the farms from which they earn a living and the improved security environment in which they conduct their affairs.

For Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, therefore, the Blueprint Newspapers’ 2025 Outstanding Personality award would, as with the previous recognitions, be a renewed call to service to humanity.

And a reminder that trust will always be continually earned through performance, and to deepen his commitment to do even more for the people of Sokoto State.

The more enduring recognition will come from the judgment of history and, more immediately, the verdict of the people of Sokoto State in the 2027 governorship election, which increasingly appears favourable to the All Progressives Congress (APC). For the governor, however, the real challenge is not simply securing a fresh mandate, but in ensuring that the confidence already demonstrated by his party, the people and reflected in the accolades he has received is translated into an even stronger record of service.

For Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, the task remains clear: keep working, keep delivering and keep building a better Sokoto State.

That is the real meaning of the Blueprint Newspapers recognition.