BAUCHI STATE

MOHAMMED ABUBAKAR: ALL MOTION, NO MOVEMENT

Despite disagreements with federal legislators from his state, Mohammed Abubakar, the Bauchi governor, has been struggling to deal with some infrastructure challenges left behind by his predecessor, especially in the education sector.

Confronted by the rot in the educational sector, Abubakar increased the sector’s share of the state budget to 20 per cent, and appointed his deputy, Mr. Nuhu Gidado, to oversee the affairs of the Ministry of Education.

The governor’s stay in office has also been marked by improvement in water supply to which he also dedicated a huge chunk of the state budget. Today, an estimated 700,000 people have improved access to safe drinking water through the construction of 1,652 hand pump boreholes and 34 motorised powered schemes, while about 30,000 school children have access to safe drinking water and effective sanitation in 42 schools.

Similarly, about 1.7 million people from over 2,000 Open Defecation Free certified communities have increased access to sanitation and improved hygiene practices.

But Abubakar’s administration is challenged by paucity of funds, forcing him to tackle its bloated wage bill. This has come at a cost, as workers groan under the yoke of persistent verification exercises that seem unending. His is also one of several states contending with a backlog of unpaid wages and bloated pension liabilities. Even more alarming is the debt overhang Abubakar has had to contend with, making Bauchi an unviable sub-national unit of the federation.