As Nigerians are set to elect new leaders again next week that will be governors and states houses of assembly members for another four years, it is very pertinent and paramount to remind voters to think wisely before giving candidates their votes.
People should make sure that the person they are going to elect is someone who has good track records, was tested and trusted not the one that makes empty promises.
They should also consider the person that can provide them good governance, security of lives and property as well as checkmate corruption which had for years militated against the development of the nation.
In Bauchi state, the contest is between the incumbent governor Mohammed Abubakar of the All Progressive Congress and his closest contenders Bala Mohammed of the People’s Democratic Party, Ali Pate of the People’s Redemption Party as well as Shuaibu Ahmed of the New Nigeria People’s Party.
While voting for the next governor of the state in March, we should not vote on any sentiments but should put all the contestants on the scale and pick the one who is more competent to do the job than the rest by looking at their past records in public offices.
Governor Mohammed Abubakar has been in office as governor of the state for four good years and has proven to be an astute, resilient, focused, determined and prudent administrator who effected some positive changes in governance in the state.
It is noteworthy that despite paucity of funds, his administration has recorded tremendous successes within the period under review.
Bauchi state electorate can vividly remember that when he took over the mantle of leadership of Bauchi State on 29th May 2015, he inherited an empty treasury and outstanding four months salaries owed to workers by his predecessor and outstanding gratuities worth over N15 billion which he had to settle.
He equally inherited 105, 000 staff with monthly salaries of N5.1 billion even though the State however receives not more than N5 billion monthly as federal grants.
The governor at several fora explained that Kano State with 44 local government areas has 92, 000 workers on its payroll as against Bauchi which has only 20 local governments but has 105, 000 staff. That indicates that Bauchi state government spends much on payment of salaries more than Kano which has more internal revenues and many other states.
Abubakar had to devise means of generating funds to pay the backlog of the four months salaries left by his predecessor and maintains regular and prompt payments knowing that Bauchi is a Civil servants State.
We give thanks to God that Bauchi unlike many states pay salaries regularly and does not owe any worker his salary. The governor in recent time set up a committee to pay outstanding gratuities to retirees worth billions of naira that were not paid since during the past administration.
Aside that, the governor embarked on projects such as roads construction across the state.
It is only a committed and astute administrator that could cope with the challenges of inadequate resources, inherited gratuities, salaries but still be able to carry out other capital projects. For instance, the governor dualized Gidan Mai to Awalah, Awalah to Giwo academy road, wuntin dada to miri roads in order to alleviate accidents and beautify Bauchi City.
Other ongoing roads are Federal low-cost roads, Azare metropolitan road as well as the 115 kilometers Misau to Udubo roads.
President Muhammadu Buhari had during his first visit to the State commissioned the Gombe road and State house of assembly road rehabilitated by the governor.
Indeed the governor was able to achieve that due to his prudence and stopping wastages in governance. Because immediately after assumption of office, he slashed his salary and that of his deputy governor by 50 percents. He deducted that of his aides by 30 percent bearing in mind that being in government is not for personal gain but public service.
He said on different occasions that he contested for governor to contribute to the development of the state pointing out that if it was to make money, he wouldn’t have joined politics because he was contented with what God gave him in his life.
Other achievements recorded by Abubakar include construction of 19 new primary health centres, resuscitating the moribund Bauchi Fertilizer blending plant, procurement of 500 tractors for farmers to boost agriculture in the State.
On the education sector the governor allocates 20 percent of state’s annual budget to the sector now in addition to renovation of classes, establishment of vocational colleges for male orphans in Bauchi, female orphans in Misau where they would be taught skills and trades for self sustenance under the Bauchi State Orphans and Vulnerable Children Agency (BASOVCA) within ‘just’ four years.
Remember these were achieved despite economic recession faced by the nation and the empty treasury he inherited from the past administration.
A lecturer at the Bauchi college of agriculture whose name I will not like to mention for the reason that he is a Civil servant that is not allowed to be partisan opined that lack of resources to fund some projects is the governor’s major challenge.
” I personally sent a comprehensive proposal on how to train 1, 000 youth and women on various agricultural fields and I learnt that it was approved by His Excellency but the funds to run the program was not released till today”. He complaint.
Having considered how the governor was able to manage the bankrupt state and executed projects that impacted positively on the citizens, it will be disastrous not to retain him for another term so that the state will not ‘go back to square one’.
Abubakar as a human being may have shortcomings but is more qualified than other governorship hopefuls if we examine them one after another.
Before I conclude this article, I want to ask voters some few questions. Can you mentioned one tangible thing Bala Mohammed did to Bauchi or Nigeria when he was minister of the FCT? Can you tell me what Ali Pate or Shuaibu Ahmed did to the state when they were minister of state for health and secretary to the state government respectively?
Vote wisely!
Najib writes from Bauchi
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflects WikkiTimes’
