The Centre for Responsible Governance (CRG) has commended Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, for what it described as a positively “quiet but far-reaching reform agenda”.
The centre said that the agenda is steadily redefining governance and restoring public trust in a state long associated with insecurity and institutional failure.
Spokesperson of the CRG, George Obande, on Monday in Abuja said Governor Lawal inherited not merely a struggling state but one in “urgent need of rescue” after years of systemic decay, abandoned public institutions and weakened confidence in government.
According to him, less than three years into his administration, Lawal has pursued a deliberate governance reset anchored on structural reform rather than populist gestures, with measurable impact across security, education, healthcare, infrastructure and economic management.
“Zamfara was for decades a textbook example of how governance failure can trap citizens in cycles of insecurity, poverty and lost opportunity. What the current administration has undertaken is not cosmetic change, but institutional repair,” the statement said.
CRG identified as a defining moment of the administration Governor Lawal’s intervention in the long-abandoned case of 50 Zamfara students whose university results had been withheld for nine years due to unpaid tuition fees accumulated under previous governments.
The centre noted that by settling the outstanding liabilities, securing the release of the students’ results and restoring their academic futures — including those of First Class and Second Class Upper graduates — the governor sent a powerful signal about his administration’s priorities.
“That intervention went beyond compassion. It was a moral and governance statement that the future of Zamfara’s youth would no longer be sacrificed to administrative failure,” CRG said, describing the action as a landmark achievement in human capital development.
On security, the centre observed that Governor Lawal approached Zamfara’s long-running banditry crisis as a governance challenge requiring institutional correction, rather than short-term emergency responses.
The administration strengthened collaboration with federal security agencies while establishing Community Protection Guards (CPGs) to complement conventional forces. According to CRG, these community-rooted units have improved intelligence gathering, response time and trust between residents and security operatives.
The creation of the Zamfara State Security Trust Fund, the centre said, further institutionalised security financing by replacing ad-hoc interventions with a structured and accountable funding mechanism.
“While challenges persist, the direction has clearly shifted. Rural communities are reopening, attacks are being disrupted, and citizens are gradually re-engaging with the state as a protector,” the statement added.
On education declared a strategic priority,
CRG said the governor’s declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector marked a turning point after years of neglect that left schools dilapidated and students stranded.
Beyond resolving the Crescent University case, the centre cited the clearing of WAEC and NECO fee backlogs, renovation and construction of schools, expansion of scholarships and bursaries, and initiatives to reduce the number of out-of-school children.
“Education in Zamfara is no longer an afterthought. It is being treated as the foundation of long-term security, productivity and prosperity,” Obande stated.
The centre noted that Governor Lawal’s defining strength lies in a restrained, consultative and results-driven leadership style focused on rebuilding institutions and strengthening processes.
“In a political culture often driven by spectacle, this administration has demonstrated that reform is quieter, but far more enduring,” the statement said.
While acknowledging that Zamfara still faces challenges, CRG maintained that the state’s trajectory has clearly shifted.
“Zamfara is no longer where it was. The freeing of abandoned students, the restructuring of security, the revival of education and healthcare, and renewed economic discipline together tell the story of a state undergoing a deliberate reset,” Obande said.
The Centre noted that Governor Dauda Lawal’s reform-oriented leadership is gradually rewriting Zamfara’s future and offering a model of how disciplined, empathetic governance can transform even the most challenged subnational states.
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