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There’s an old saying that reputation gets there before you. In March 2026, Katsina State did not need to show up. His reputation had already spoken.
For cultural activities planned for the 2026 Eid-el-Fitri celebration in Katsina, seventeen foreign diplomats landed at Umaru Musa Yar’adua International Airport. It was probably not the first time they had heard of Katsina. For some, it wasn’t even the first time they had come to see it in person. They arrived from Belgium, Egypt, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Belgium, Argentina, Congo and Italy.
Other prominent leaders include the United Nations International Commission on Peace and Good Governance in Ghana, and the American investor who also served as the CEO/Founder of NewGlobe Inc., Mr. Kay Kimmelman. The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohammed Malick Fall, was also in the mix. These are not men and women who travel on sentiment. They operate on intelligence, reputation and trust.
And what difference does Katsina make this year? Last year, ten diplomats went to Katsina’s Eid-el-Fitri cultural festivities. This year, seventeen showed up. It’s not a coincidence. This is a verdict.
Katsina is so lucky with Dikko Radda, governor that he does not send to others what he can do himself. He did not delegate the reception to receive the August visitors who marched in March. He showed up at the airport himself, together with his deputy, the Hon. Faruk Lawal Jobe, and personally led the delegation to the palace of the Emir of Katsina, His Royal Highness Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman. In the world of diplomacy, that kind of gesture speaks a language. This implies that “a leader who walks with his guests is a leader who values what they represent.” Radda didn’t just open the door, he made them walk through and what he chose to show them was no coincidence.
The Katsina Durbar is not entertainment. It is identity in movement. Knights from 28 districts paraded with great pomp, carrying centuries of history on their shoulders. The rhythms of the kalangu and algaita drums echoed throughout Kofar Soro as the royal contingents moved with a grace no amount of rehearsal could create. This is a tradition that has survived empires, colonial rule and the noise of modernity – and still endures.
When Governor Radda stood before those seventeen envoys at the Hawan Sarki and told them that their presence reflected the growing global confidence in Katsina State, he was not flattering his hosts. He was stating a fact. And the Emir of Katsina, His Royal Highness Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, underlined this point when he said that peace and development depend on cooperation, mutual respect and collective responsibility. It wasn’t a ceremony. This was the project of a company that chose to move forward.
Beyond the cultural and diplomatic spectacle, the delegation was taken to places where governance speaks in practical terms. At the Agricultural Mechanization Center in Katsina, envoys saw first-hand the scale of investment in modern agriculture, from the deployment of tractors to mechanized support systems designed to increase productivity across the State.
They also visited the state-of-the-art dialysis center, where the government’s commitment to saving lives and strengthening healthcare was fully demonstrated.
The reaction was immediate and significant. Diplomats were visibly impressed by what they saw, not as flagships, but as operational systems with real impact on ordinary people.
They praised Governor Radda for his innovative drive, noting that such far-sighted investments in agriculture and healthcare are those that translate vision into measurable progress.
The diplomats then moved to Daura for the Hawan Magajiya, where the royal knights paid homage to the Emir of Daura in a procession that left the visitors visibly moved. A cultural evening featuring dambe wrestling, kokowa, algaita and kakaki performances added another layer to the rich experience. By the end of the week, Katsina hadn’t just hosted a festival, it had hosted a masterclass in cultural diplomacy.
A quick stop at Katsina Smart Schools
One of the quietest yet most powerful moments of the entire visit occurred at Dumurkul Smart Secondary School in Dora. The school had not yet been commissioned. The paint was still drying in some corners. But what the diplomats saw was enough to make the Dutch ambassador, Amb. Bengt van Loosdrecht, stop and speak. He openly praised the Katsina State Government for its investments in quality education and modern learning infrastructure.
Diplomats from nations where education is treated as seriously as national security do not hand out praise as if they were shaking hands at a wedding. When you focus on your unfinished school and call it impressive, something genuine is happening. You might remember that Governor Radda’s vision for these schools is clear. It exists for children from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds, completely free, equipped with 24-hour electricity, ICT classrooms, hostels and internet access. Three of these schools are now located in the three political zones of Katsina.
This is the type of investment that doesn’t show results in the next budget cycle. Show results in the next generation. And that’s exactly the point.
We now come to a well that has survived empires
From the hall, the delegation made history at the ancient Kusugu well in Daura, about 2,005 years old, remaining silent like an elder who has seen everything and forgotten nothing. Governor Radda understands that history is not a relic to be locked in a museum. It is a living resource and a State that knows where it comes from walks with much more confidence towards the direction it is taking.
The Ambassador of Egypt, Amb. Mohamed Fouad – a representative of one of the oldest civilizations on earth, a nation that has guarded the Pyramids for thousands of years – stopped in front of that well and nodded in respect. When Egypt reviews your heritage and approves, you have passed a test that no committee can set.
Now we come to what made everything else possible: security. No Durbar visit, no diplomacy, no school or heritage happened fortunately. Seventeen diplomats moved freely from the airport to the palace, from the school to the ancient well, from Katsina to Daura, without a single incident. In a region to which national headlines have not always been kind, this is no footnote. This is the title.
Let no one misinterpret the situation: the fight against non-state actors in Katsina is ongoing. Bandits and criminal elements still exist and the government does not pretend otherwise. But the establishment of the Katsina Community Watch Corps, strengthening community-based intelligence networks, and employing both military and non-military approaches to the conflict have begun to reverse the trend. Security is not treated as a purely military issue, but as a social contract, where every community is a stakeholder and every citizen is on the front line.
The fact that the world came, saw, moved freely and left with a smile is the clearest proof that Katsina is not the state some distant commentators have painted it to be. The road is not entirely clear, but the direction is unmistakable.
Distinguished readers, beyond color and culture, Governor Radda placed a register of deliveries in front of his international guests. A budget for 2026 built entirely on an assessment of community needs. Each of the 361 communities received over ₦10 million to address locally identified priorities. Forty thousand tons of fertilizers distributed every year at subsidized rates. Over 400 tractors distributed across all 34 local government areas. More than 85 secondary schools completed, over 7,000 teachers hired. A world-class dialysis center has been commissioned, an imaging facility is being completed and over 250 primary healthcare centers have been upgraded. And perhaps most surprisingly, over £45 billion of inherited pension liabilities have been liquidated.
Serious investors and diplomatic partners do not respond to the rhetoric. They respond to receipts. Katsina presented her receipts and the world responded by sending more people to watch.
What’s left for diplomats?
They came for the Durbar. They left with commitments regarding bilateral education, agricultural transformation, food security, small and medium enterprise development, women’s empowerment and technology. Katsina State Development Management Board Executive Secretary Mallam Mustapha Shehu coordinated the strategic engagement sessions and the conversations were non-ceremonial. They were the kind of deliberate, structured discussions that produce workable partnerships.
As the popular saying goes, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Katsina didn’t need it. The impression he left in those few days in March 2026 was a first, lasting and impossible to ignore.
From ten diplomats last year to seventeen this year – this single statistic captures the arc of Katsina’s rising profile under Governor Radda better than any speech could. The world does not increase its investment of attention in a place that is going backwards. Double in places that are moving forward.
Katsina is moving forward. The struggle for total security continues, the development work is unfinished and the governor himself would be the first to say so. But what the 2026 Eid-el-Fitri celebrations demonstrated, in full color and before the eyes of the world, is that Katsina State is open: open to culture, open to investment, open to partnership and open to the future.
Governor Radda seems to understand something that eludes many leaders: that culture is currency, infrastructure is credibility and security is the only true invitation that a state can extend to the world. Katsina extended that invitation. The world didn’t just accept, it sent more people than the previous year.
And that says it all. This explains how Dikko Radda is rebuilding the world’s trust in Katsina State. Let the good work continue, ruler of the people
