On December 22, 2016, Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, presented the 2017 Budget proposal of N145.45 billion to the State House of Assembly.
Christened: “Budget of Sustainable Development,” Abubakar said about 60 per cent of the expected revenue was to be expended on capital projects as government intended fast-tracking efforts in providing infrastructure to the people the following year.
Other areas to be given priority in the budget included Health, Agriculture, Education, Water Supply sectors as well as Youth and Women Empowerment.
While presenting the 2019 budget estimate of N196.7 billion on December, 21, 2018 before the State House of Assembly, the governor also hinted that his priority areas are health, education, agriculture, water supply, youth and women empowerment and infrastructural development.
A cursory glance at his yearly budget, policies and programmes shows that “youth and women empowerment’’ has remained a common denominator, signifying a high priority precept upon which his administration in the state is predicated.
Based on this emphasis, he has initiated and embarked on several youths and women empowerment schemes, development projects, held innumerable interactive sessions with youths, women, students and the vulnerable generally with avid determination to identifying their core values and needs.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had prior to his assumption office announced that out of 1.2 million children of school-age in the state, 777,000 were out of school.
Perhaps, this prompted the state government to launch a statewide school enrolment campaign in November, 2015.
On March 14, 2018, the governor declared a state of emergency on the state own tertiary institutions during the matriculation ceremony of a total of 3,442 new students of the College of Education, Kangere, Bauchi for the 2018/2019 academic session.
This was just as the governor, lamented that the administration inherited a sector that was in a state of comatose.
Against this declaration, contrary to UNESCO recommendation of 13% of budget to education sector, Bauchi state allocated N41, 472, 337, 266 representing 21.8% of the total budget to Education.
As part of educational development in the state, the state government disclosed on December 22, 2016 that N200 million was set aside by the Bauchi State Youths Education Empowerment Programme for not less than 50,000 youths across Bauchi State.
The fund which was captured in the state’s 2017 Appropriation Act was used to sponsor the beneficiaries to the state-owned university and polytechnic, thereby paying their school fees throughout their stay in the institutions.
The governor’s blue-roof revolution is registered in the nooks and crannies of the state, resulting in increase in child enrolment, increased quality of teachers whose motivation is now next to none.
Recall that the governor at a function in the state said that children are the future, noting that he has since put them at the centre of his administration.
“I have given them considerable level of attention through projects that have direct bearing on their lives,” he said.
This informed the recent UNICEF’s commendation to Governor Abubakar in recognition of his commitment to better the lives of children in the state.
However, the UNICEF, through its Bauchi-Field Officer, Abdulai Kaikai, premised their commendation on the governor’s commitment at improving the welfare of children at the Bauchi State Orphans and Vulnerable Children Agency (BASOVCA).
BASOVCA is a tuitions fee vocational college for Bauchi indigent children who could not fit into the conventional school system. The college is said to currently have 170 students undergoing different vocational trainings.
Besides, the governor is said to have constructed more than 600 Primary and Junior Secondary schools, renovated more than 800 schools scattered across the length and breadth of the state. This is just as 28,000 desks were provided for these schools in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and SUBEB.
This wise investment has seen the rise of the percentage of passes in WAEC and NECO from a dismal 3% in 2015 to 27% in 2017. Over 10,000 classrooms constructed and rehabilitated, a similar number of classrooms furniture.
In January 2018, Governor Abubakar travelled to Czech Republic to visit 15 post-graduate students he sponsored to study modern agricultural methods and techniques in that country.
The governor interacted freely with the students, listened to their complaints and challenges being faced by them. The governor assured them of swift and prompt intervention. This was just as he charged the students to be good ambassadors, not only for Bauchi State, but the nation by respecting the law and holding on to their studies assiduously. However, on completion of their studies, they will join the budding Department of Agriculture in Bauchi State University, Gadau to contribute their quota to state building.
In the area of scholarships, the Bauchi Medical Students’ Association (BAMSA), commended Governor Abubakar for making real their Medical Statutory Allowance/Bond agreement. The National President of the association, Fauwaz Farouq Yakub, have been quoted as saying such gesture is a great achievement as far as the Bauchi State medical students are concerned in the last five years.
It is also in record that the state government has paid the scholarship allowance of over 25,000 Bauchi state students studying in the state, country and abroad.
It would be recalled that in Governor Abubakar’s maiden broadcast to the people of the state on June 2, 2015, he was asked by the media what was his priority and he answered education, education, education.
And immediately he assumed office he constituted a high-poweredcommittee under the leadership of the deputy governor Nuhu Gidado with prolific and erudite scholars across all the diverse fields of various fields of knowledge with the view to overhauling the education system.
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The committee was mandated to come out with a road map of addressing the prolonged neglect of the sector by successive administrations.
‘’The government is however painstakingly implementing the recommendations as it affects the various levels of education in the state, according to an official of the state.
The governor the official explained that in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 budget, “the education sector took the Lion share of about 20 percent with corresponding releases, not only that, the world is moving towards technical education, so the governor allocated over N100 million for the procurement and provision and distribution of technical material in eight technical colleges in education.”
Besides, additional courses were accredited in Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP); just as the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) had accredited courses being offered by Adamu Abubakar Tafawa Balewa College of Education Kangere, Bauchi State Courses were also accredited in the College of Legal and Islamic Studies (CLIS). Misau. Altogether 35 courses were accredited in the three tertiary institutions mentioned above in order to enhance recognition of certificates awarded by the institutions nationwide.
Along the line, over 300 students were sponsored to study different NCE courses in order to have more trained teachers to man the schools in the state.
While some states were distributing wheelbarrows, kitted shoe-polishing baskets and tea-making equipment for youth empowerment, Governor Abubakar’s administration in April 2018 entered into an agreement with Hakar Engineering Limited for the supply of 500 tractors for distribution to farmers.
Governor Abubakar who said then that the supply of the tractors was meant to boost agricultural activities and widen opportunities for youth employment in the state added that it would be executed through public-private-partnership.
The tractor scheme tagged, “Subsidised Agricultural Tractorisation Ownership Programme, involves the supply of 500 units of 75 horse power fully equipped tractors with plough, ridges, harrow and trailers.
The tractors which were distributed to registered farmers and farmers’ cooperatives on loan to be repaid over a period of three years, were aimed at reducing rural-urban drift and diversifying the economy through agriculture.
Other youth empowerment schemes includes the employment of 400 youths as cosmopolitan cleaners, which was directed at reducing unemployment among unskilled labours and eradicating extreme poverty in the state.
In August 2015, the governor approved the release of N119, 593,450 to settle WAEC and NABTEB registration fees; while seven month salary arrears for 430 newly recruited teachers were approved and paid.
Funds were also provided to state-owned tertiary institutions for the commencement of degree programs that made it possible for the award of Bachelor of Technology (BTECH) in Technical and Vocational Education by ATAP in affiliation with ATBU Bauchi.
The bottom-line of the various youth and women empowerment scheme instituted by the current government perhaps have seen to the relative peace in the state.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai was even quoted as saying recently that Bauchi is peaceful amidst attacks by insurgents in other states in the Northeast. Although, he was economical to truth by attributing it to the cooperation of residents and the collaboration of security agencies working in the state without mentioning the state government. But the facts on ground speaks volume and it is seen by all and sundry in Bauchi state.
This is just as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bauchi state chapter which paid Christmas visit to Governor Abubakar in December 2018, endorsed him for re-election because of priority he gives to security issues in the state. CAN acknowledged that Bauchi state remains the safest among the North eastern states and one of the safest in the entire country. They said the situation is so calm to the extent that people have even forgotten that there had been massacres and killings during worships. And lastly they added that one glaring evident that Bauchi state is peaceful is that it is becoming one of the most populous states in the North East because it is the safest and one of the safest in the country.
Of course, the governor’s youth empowerment schemes gave rise to the peace in the state. Over 90% of the insurgents and suicide bombers are made up of young men and women. With their engagement under one scheme or the other, they won’t be available for insurgency activities.
When President Buhari asked Nigerians to vote out governors who failed to perform in their first terms, especially in payment of salaries during a chat in the Hausa service of the Voice of America on January 19th this year, he was not particular about parties.
He argued that he saw no justification in governors collecting bailout funds from the federal government and still failing to pay wages.
“I wonder how these governors are able to sleep knowing that they have refused to pay workers their wages.
“These workers have families to cater for, they pay rent, pay schoolfees, hospital bills and food for their families,” Buhari was quoted as saying.
However, a popular online newspaper while relying on a data from BudgIT, a civic organisation concerned with participatory governance makes a compilation of states where salaries are being owed.
‘’In October 2018, BudgIT published a list of states yet to fully offset the outstanding amount owed pensioners and civil servants despite series of N1.8trillion bailouts from the federal government’’, the paper stated.
It is a pointer to mention that out of the 15 states said to be defaulting in the payment of salaries and pensions, Bauchi state is not one of them.
Just as President Buhari has noted, parents being owed salaries can’t pay rent, pay school fees, hospital bills and food for their families. Invariably, prompt payment of salaries and pensions form the bedrock of youth and women empowerment in any state of the federation.
