Three Years Miracle of Governor Bala Mohammed by Sulaiman Maijama’a
Editor's note: Public affairs commentator, Sulaiman Maijama'a, writes on the achievements of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state, saying the former Federal Capital Territory minister has been an outstanding administrator in the northeast state.
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One fateful night in 2018, we travelled to Bauchi from Kano in a commercial car. We arrived at the metropolis around 10 pm. Guess what. Like a remote village, the town was dark with a poor road network and potholed road system, provoking all the people in our car (most of whom were none indigenes of Bauchi) to burst into making ridicule of the state. Being an indigene, it was, to me, paining but truth be told, if justice were to prevail, one could not point an accusing finger at them, because what was obvious then was not commensurate with what is called a state capital.
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With the coming of Senator Bala Mohammed in 2019 as the executive governor of Bauchi state, the state was liberated from the shackles of inept ruling. The lofty dream and hope of the kind of leadership people deserve was revived. Three years down the line, Governor Bala Mohammed has broken the mold of political leadership in terms of socio-economic, infrastructural, and political development of the state. Anyone from anywhere who was last in Bauchi state three years ago and he now returns may not navigate his way, because the amazing metamorphosis the state is undergoing, is beyond recognition.
It could be remembered that Bala Muhammad was sworn in as the democratically elected executive governor of Bauchi state on 29 May 2019, under the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). Despite the challenges posed by the previous administration, the beginning of his tenure was perfect and quite auspicious. When he took over the mantle of leadership of the state, the governor without squandering time, swung into action with a view to justifying the confidence reposed in him by the electorate.
During his first 100 days in office, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed proved to be a game-changer and a beacon of hope when he flagged off-road construction of about 90 kilometers spread across the state, worth about N5 billion. Today, if one is to aggregate the number of infrastructural projects so far executed in the state and divide them by the number of days within three years (1095 days), they will discover that there is no single day that passed on without a project since Bala Mohammed assumed responsibility as the executive governor of Bauchi state.
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On education..
In order to resuscitate the lost glory of education in Bauchi, immediately he came in, Governor Bala through the commissioner of education, Dr. Aliyu Tilde introduced digital attendance whereby fingerprint devices replaced attendance registry booklets. This was meant to easily track workers’ attendance and discourage absenteeism among primary and secondary school teachers as well as weed out ghost workers. This development followed a discovery where about 53.5% of workers were found to exhibit truancy which had cost the education sector greatly.
In order to provide conducive environment for teaching and learning, Senator Bala hit the ground running by embarking on the renovation of Primary, Junior, and Senior Secondary Schools that were in dilapidated condition.
On health...
When Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed assumed responsibility as the executive governor of Bauchi state, he immediately sought a stronger and sustained collaboration with the World Health Organization and over 20 other International Development Partners and Donor Agencies working in the state. This collaboration had yielded a positive result, which included the actualization of a robust infrastructure for polio eradication and immunization, fight against Tuberculosis, Leprosy project, and other diseases.
Moreover, Senator Bala has renovated and completed the State’s College of Nursing and Midwifery. The College was built to stand the test of time, equipped with sophisticated facilities, and provided with the necessary infrastructure for smooth operations.
On agriculture...
In his determined strides to boost agriculture in Bauchi and actualise food security in the state, Governor Bala launched an agricultural policy document covering key sub-sectors of agriculture such as irrigation development, quality supply, crop pest, and disease control, commodity livestock, and fisheries development among others. To complement this, the governor is committing a huge sum of money to the procurement of farming needs including pesticides and enhanced seedlings which will yield more produce for the farmers.
On annual basis, the governor procures over 18,000 metric tonnes of assorted fertilizer for the farming season and he has always directed the state fertiliser blending company to sell the commodity at a subsidised price and directly to the farmers to save them from the trouble of shylock marketers. This unprecedented development attracted the attention of Farmers in Bauchi state to express explicitly their support for the newly introduced revolving scheme of distribution of fertilizer during the farming season.
On economy....
The former FCT Minister in his impeccable efforts to revitalise the economy of his state, created an enabling environment for private sector organizations to take advantage that exists on the global market for both unprocessed and semi-processed agricultural products abound in the state. And many people across the country and beyond have shown commitment and willingness, in view of the efforts of the governor’s readiness to provide them with all necessary assistance to make them more resilient to boost the economy of the state to eventually become competitive globally.
Additionally, Senator Bala, through Kaura Economic Empowerment Project (KEEP), procured hundreds of transportation vehicles and thousands of Keke Napep. This has greatly impacted positively on the economy and transportation industry in the state. Through KEEP, empowerment packages amounting to hundreds of millions of naira are distributed to business owners and many small-scale businesses have grown and blossomed.
On housing...
In order to address the terrible condition of civil servants and low-income earners, Governor Bala immediately he came on board, inaugurated the construction of 2500 housing units across the 6 emirate councils of the state, among which included the construction of 30 units of 2-bedroom Bungalow, 20 units of 3-bedroom at Azare; construction of 600 units of 2-bedroom Bungalow and 400 units of 3-bedroom at Dungal, Bauchi.
Others are 120 units of 2-bedroom and 80 units of 3-bedroom Bungalow in Misau; construction of 21 units of 2-bedroom Bungalow and 14 units of 3-bedroom in Dass. Ningi and Jama’are were also not left out; in Ningi, the governor constructed 120 units of 2-bedroom and 80 units of 3-bedroom, while Jama’are secured 40 units of 2-bedroom and 28 units of 3-bedroom.
On water project...
The Bauchi government under Bala Mohammed, in collaboration with the World Bank, executed a N20 billion water project to boost water supply in the Bauchi metropolis. Part of the projects was the distribution of a 150-kilometer pipeline within the Bauchi metropolitan, the laying of 1,000-millimetre diameter transmission mains from Gubi dam to Warinje reservoir, and the construction of seven million-liter reservoir at Buzaye Hill.
The project is completed 100 percent and was recently launched by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Managing Director of the State Water Corporation, Aminu Aliyu Gital put the number of beneficiaries at 707,000. This project meets the domestic, industrial, commercial and institutional requirements.
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