The untold story of how he developed Misau
The late former Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Dr Maikanti Kachalla Baru had through the Corporate Social Responsibility of some NNPC subsidiaries and oil companies, initiated projects that transformed his hometown - Misau, in Bauchi State.
The principal of Government Comprehensive Secondary School Misau, Rabiu Shehu Lawal, said Dr Baru’s timely intervention saved his school from total dilapidation. “His projects yielded significant results because at a point student were highly discouraged due to the decrepit state of our school. I remember the day the Emir of Misau visited the school, he shed tears, the same with Maikanti Baru. Students used to come to school with mats. The only thing you see around the classes are broken blocks which served as furniture for the students. After seeing the nature of the place, Dr Baru ordered for the complete reconstruction of the school which has since been completed.
“He also provided contemporary text books which has eased the stress of learning for the students and motivated them. The attitude of the students towards learning has greatly improved.”
Sixty-year-old widow and classmate of Maikanti Baru, who graduated from Class 7 set of 1973 in Misau Central Primary School, Asabe Danburan, said Dr Baru’s legacies in Misau and environs would remain a lesson for the present and future generations because they encompass physical infrastructures, human development, moral and spiritual wellbeing of his community. “Dr Baru is dead but his footprints will remain alive in Misau and in the minds of its people.”
Asabe, amidst tears, said, “We lost a rare gem who treated everyone with utmost humility and respect despite his status. He listens to people and responded to their plights to the best of his ability. Our set of 1973 classmates have become an entity, more like a family, and we held meetings every last Saturday of the month at Dr Baru’s house to discuss issues that affect members and the community.
“Every Ramadan, all the members of the 1973 set received N50,000 stipend, a bag each of rice, maize and sugar for many years before he became GMD of NNPC. I have seven orphans that Dr Baru has been taking care of, including one battling health complications for six years. He has spent large sums of money for his treatment and would usually call me to ask after his condition. We really lost a brother, companion and caregiver. It’s only God that knows the number of lives he touched,” Asabe said.
“Whenever he hears that the weather in Misau is hot, he’d order some people to buy cartons of cold water and distribute to every households. Even on the sad Friday of his death, his aides distributed water to the people of Misau. I am still in grief and shock over his death but l leave everything to Allah, and pray for my parents and for Dr Baru,” she added.
A student of the College of Legal & Islamic Studies Misau, Bashir Abubakar, said “Dr Baru’s intervention brought succour to students, especially the protracted scarcity of water at the college because we no longer have problem of water. He constructed motorized solar borehole which provides water 24 hours in the college.
Abubakar said Dr Baru also constructed ultra-modern hostels for the female students. “When the students relocated to the new structures, not a single facility or material was taken from the old hostel because almost everything was provided in the new building.”
The Chief Imam of Misau, Sheikh Usman Baba, said Dr Baru lived an exceptional life of supporting his community in various spheres. “Dr Baru reconstructed and furnished all the four Jummaat Mosques in Misau, including the Central Mosque, the two JIBWIS mosques and others. He also gives monthly stipend of N50,000 to some select Imams.
The cleric explained that Dr Baru was very religious and had been investing in the course of Islam for more than 15 years in the areas of preaching the gospel of salvation and peace, not only in Misau or Bauchi, but across the country.
“When the Boko Haram insurgency began, because of the proximity of Misau to Potiskum and other LGAs in the Northeast, Dr Baru employed the services of some Islamic scholars who embarked on mass awareness against Boko Haram doctrines in Misau and surrounding villages to prevent the youths of the area from joining the terrorist group. He did so much with his personal resources to advocate and advance peace and peaceful coexistence in Misau and beyond even before becoming GMD of NNPC.”
“It was after his death that many people came out to attest to his generosity. We will continue to pray to Allah to reward him with Aljannatul Firdaus,” the Imam said.
A Misau youth, Ibrahim Isa Muhammad, said that Maikanti Baru has become a household name in Misau, “There’s no man, woman or child in Misau who doesn’t know Maikanti Baru because there is no family that has not benefited directly or indirectly from his intervention either in education, water supply, health or other projects that have direct bearing brought by Dr Baru.
“Most of the projects generated job opportunities and spurred many of the young men to learn various skills in the construction industry like tiling, landscaping, PoP among others. Some of the unemployed youths are now carpenters, masons, welders and other forms of unskilled labourers. They don’t need to migrate to bigger towns in search of jobs or to earn a living.
“Many, among the affected youths, have built their individual houses, bought Keke Napep, motorcycles and others have used the opportunity to further their education,” Muhammad added.
Another Imam of the newly constructed Jummaat Mosque at Low-cost area of Misau, Malam Muhammad Manga, said Dr Baru left a vacuum in Misau that can hardly be filled because of his simplicity, humility and deep concern for his people.
“Dr Baru was my friend for over 25 years and I can tell you that he was someone whose way of life never changed because of his position. He doesn’t wear expensive clothes or live extravagantly. He ate ordinary food with his friends, not minding their economic status.
I remember when he was about to go to Egypt for an Arabic course, he entered my room, sat on the mat and we eat my food together while watching a Kano-based Islamic Scholar Dr Bashir Umar. As we listened to the scholar, he told me that he wanted to further his Islamic knowledge in order to continue to spread Islam and contribute his quote to preaching the gospel of salvation.”
Another resident, who was seen at the site of one of the motorized solar boreholes, Matam Audu Garba, said apart from human beings, animals and other creatures are also benefiting from Dr. Baru’s kind gestures. “These boreholes rescued us from the untold hardship of water scarcity in Misau.”
Alhaji Babangida A. Zango, the engineer in charge of construction and supervision of all the projects, said Dr Baru contributed immensely to the development of Misau, and urged other prominent sons and daughters of Misau to continue from where he stopped.
Zango listed some of Dr Baru’s projects to include 47 kilometres water reticulation and construction of 70 fetching points across Misau town; construction of five motorized solar boreholes and provision of solar power to nine existing boreholes including the booster station in Misau; construction of three science laboratories at the Community Secondary School Zadawa; construction of 500-seater ICT Centre; reconstruction and renovation of primary, secondary schools and construction of hostels at the College of Legal and Islamic Studies Misau and at the faculty of Law, Bauchi State University, among many others.
Speaking with Daily Trust Saturday, late Baru’s elder brother, Alhaji Abba Baru, described his brother as a God fearing and very obedient person, with a unique and exceptional character. “We are six in our family; three are dead. He treated me like his father, as well as my friends. Throughout his lifetime, he never disagreed with me on any decision in the family. Dr Baru’s attitude and character are not of his generation because you can hardly find a person with such attitude these days.”
He added that Dr Baru maintained the attributes of their late father because every time he visits Misau, “he’d go round the neighbourhood to greet the people. He built a good reputation and legacy for the Baru’s family, himself, his own family and the good people of Misau, Bauchi and the country in general to emulate. We will continue to pray for the repose of his soul.”
The paramount ruler and Emir of Misau, Alhaji Ahmed Suleiman, described late Dr Maikanti Baru as a selfless and illustrious son of Misau who believed in helping the society especially his community. “He lived a very simple life mostly within the purview and restrictions of his religious. In everything he did, he was conscious of the fact that one day he will leave this world, he was conscious of the fact that whatever he does in this world, he will account for it in the hereafter. He was conscious of one Prophetic Hadith that the best of mankind is the one who helps the society; therefore, he tuned his life towards that direction.”
The monarch said “We really thank the Almighty for giving us such a son. We definitely lost a worthy son but our prayer is that the Almighty forgive his mistakes and grant him Jannatul Firdaus.”