Bauchi: Yesterday, today and tomorrow
The scramble for various elective positions in virtually every corner of Nigeria is heating up the polity. For Bauchi, what should have been the biggest battle is that of the gubernatorial race, if the 2015 governorship election was anything to go by. The outing of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from 1999 to 2015 at both the national and Bauchi State was so dismal that the people became distraught and agitated hence they joined the train of the change bandwagon. The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the incumbent governor Muhammed Abdullahi Abubakar provided the much needed opportunity for the desired change.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not blown the whistle for full blown electioneering, but it would be fool hardy for anyone to go to town with the argument that no campaign is going in Nigeria and Bauchi State in particular. Again it would be naive to say that the incumbent governor would have an easy ride given the strength of opposition from within the APC and outside it.
It will be very difficult to capture the efforts of Governor Abubakar at repositioning Bauchi State in this brief epistle, but nevertheless, it is worth the while to remind the people of affairs in Bauchi state before the incumbent governor took over the reins of power.
It won’t come as news to the people of Bauchi that Governor Abubakar inherited a near comatose government with all critical infrastructure grounded, an empty treasury and a choking debt of N100 billion. But because he was aware of the rot and in fact, that was what motivated him to run, the incumbent didn’t lament his situation and instead, set straight to work. First he consulted extensively and widely in seeking solutions to funding for development projects.
The administration started with the basic needs for the people that had been lacking for decades. And for a start, healthcare development with an injection of over 600 million Naira as counterpart fund into the SDG has resulted in the construction and equipping of 19 primary healthcare centres across the state, with the drilling of 33 solar powered boreholes, construction of 57 handpump boreholes, supply of ambulances.
In 2015, agriculture got a massive boost with the launch and the disbursement of over 10 thousand metric tons of fertilizers to farmers at a highly subsidized rate and a tractor hiring scheme to up the scale of farming targeted at huge harvest. All this is still on going.
Perhaps the move that has positioned the current administration in Bauchi as people centred is the viable partnership entered into with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) to ensure food security in a Nigeria grappling with acute shortages. FG’s Anchor Borrowers initiative is live in Bauchi and farmers now access funds.
Water supply to homes around Bauchi has increased tremendously too according to residents following a massive USD 65 million counterpart funding agreement that the state has explored and exploited.
Investment in human capital remains the fulcrum of any right thinking administration. This saw the administration following through with action reflecting in basic aspects of education in the state. This is in tandem with the global trend instructional resources and ICT facilities being the hub of it all.
All these projects are capital investment without being told, and with the deployment of the state scarce resources to fund all these projects and none to still, Governor Abubakar incurred the wrath of the old order of financial recklessness, unsavoury stealing that had almost aborted the dream of the founding fathers of the state.
Thankfully, the people of Bauchi State are known to be politically enlightened to differentiate between those who are for them and those clearly against them. This is why all well-meaning sons and daughters of the state will do well to stand by the governor and ensure he re-contest come 2019 so he can continue on this path to the modernization of the state and the all-round development of both human capital and a viable local economy that will be self-sustaining for years to come. Mubarak Mustapha, Bauchi