By Nasir Dambatta
In Nigerian politics, noise is cheap. Anyone with a microphone can claim wonders. But in Kaduna, the last three years under Governor Uba Sani haven’t been about speeches. They’ve been about receipts. Twenty-three of them, issued not by the Governor’s press team, but by independent bodies, international donors, trade unions, and national media.
Action, as our elders say, speaks louder than words. And the numbers are loud. Governor Uba Sani’s administration has secured 23 distinct awards, honours, and institutional merits since 2023. More than vanity, that clean track record has unlocked over $900,000 — more than ₦1.3 billion — in competitive global grants to develop the state. When critics reach for politics, the government can point to 23 undeniable proofs of delivery.
It started at the top. Within months of taking office, Uba Sani began digitizing the civil service and procurement pipelines, blocking leakages. The Nigeria Computer Society noticed, naming him Digital Governor of the Year in 2023.
The Good Governance League went further, giving him Pro-Poor Leader of the Year after he signed an Executive Order protecting over two million underserved citizens.
As insecurity eased through his non-kinetic approach of bringing communities to talk instead of fight, Blueprint Newspapers named him Governor of the Year in Peace and Security in 2025. LEADERSHIP Newspapers did the same that year, citing fiscal prudence that kept Kaduna afloat after fuel subsidy removal. ThisDay Newspaper also honoured him as Governor of the Year, recognizing his push for inclusive growth and infrastructure delivery.
NTA Kaduna honoured him for aggressively building roads, clinics, and schools in rural areas long forgotten.
‘Democracy Heroes Award Africa’ called him Nigeria’s Best Performing Governor in 2025 for expanding democratic accountability.
Even his colleagues at the Progressive Governors Forum gave him a Special Recognition Award for re-engineering Kaduna’s heavy inherited debt.
Also in 2026, the “National Leadership Awards’ added another Governor of the Year title for over a ₦1billion investment in scholarships and rural safety nets. Nine personal awards, all pointing to hands-on leadership.
Critics would often say media awards are just PR. Not always. And you can’t fake healthcare workers. At the commissioning of the new Primary Health Care Board Headquarters, five separate professional unions stood to honour the Governor. Together with international bodies, Kaduna collected seven major laurels for health alone. The National Primary Health Care Development Agency, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation named Kaduna North-West Regional Champion in the PHC Leadership Challenge, bringing $500,000 in direct grants.
Then, Kaduna beat every other state to become Overall National Winner, unlocking another $400,000 for human resources and facility upgrades. The Medical and Health Workers’ Union gave a Distinguished Healthcare Revitalization Award. The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives cited Excellence in Nursing & Midwifery Support after the Governor cleared years of promotion backlogs and implemented full CONMESS/CONHESS salaries.
The Environmental Health Officers Association added a Public Health and Sanitation Merit Honour.
The National Association of Community Health Practitioners gave a Grassroots Impact Award. And the Association of Medical Laboratory Technicians and Assistants presented a Medical Diagnostics Support Citation. Seven awards, all from the people on the frontlines.
Governance is about people, and Sani put women, youth, and peace advocates at the centre. At the BusinessDay Women in Leadership Summit in Lagos, he received the Leadership and Inclusion Award for creating a ₦5 billion Women Economic Empowerment Fund and the Arewa Ladies-4-Tech AI training initiative.
The Peace Ambassador Agency named him among the 100 Most Notable Peace Icons in Africa in 2024 for calming ethno-religious tensions and launching the African Peace Scholarship Project.
The Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria gave him a Peacebuilding Award for transparent media policy and open dialogue during tense periods. Three awards focused squarely on inclusion.
The most bulletproof part of the record isn’t plaques at all. It’s hard, independent data. The Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity ranked Kaduna number 1 in Nigeria on the Transparency and Integrity Index in 2025, with the highest score on the Control of Corruption Indicator.
Phillips Consulting placed Kaduna in the Top 3 nationally and gave it a 4-Star Excellence Rating in 2025, combining socioeconomic data with direct citizen feedback.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office issued a Sovereign Diplomatic Citation, formally acknowledging the drop in rural banditry under Sani’s watch.
Recall that the Federal Executive Council, through the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, approved Kaduna as only the second state in Nigerian history for a light rail network — an over ₦1 trillion vote of confidence. Four institutional validations that can’t be bought.
Add it up: 9 for executive leadership, 7 for healthcare, 3 for inclusion, 4 for independent scorecards. Twenty-three trophies of good governance in 3 years.
To any political opponent who wants to criticize, the answer is simple. An award from a trade union isn’t a favour bought in a hotel room. It’s the voice of thousands of nurses, midwives, and lab technicians whose promotions were cleared and salaries paid on time. An index score from Phillips Consulting or the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation isn’t PR. It’s earned through audits, work, and transparency.
Governor Uba Sani proved you don’t need to make noise to make impact. These 23 milestones aren’t just for the Governor’s office. They’re victories for every citizen of Kaduna. The script of governance has been rewritten. The numbers are the ink.
*Dambatta is Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Print Media
