New trouble brews in the metropolitan city of Bauchi State following the State Governor of Bauchi State’s announcement that the Abukakar Tartari Ali Polytechnic located along Rand Road will be shut down to make way for a teaching hospital. Information available to 247ureports.com through sources within the Bauchi State governor’s office indicate that the Governor’s move to house the teaching hospital at the school may have unravelled the peace long enjoyed by the residents of Bauchi State.
The Government of Bauchi State under the leadership of the Yuguda administration had received federal grants to erect a teaching hospital within the metropolitan city of Bauchi to serve the area and to complement the other medical facilities that may tap into the facilities that comes along with a properly equipped teaching hospital nearby. The agreement between the State government of Bauchi and the Federal government of Nigeria states that he federal government will repay the state government of its expenses once the state government completes the erection of the teaching hospital. The State government is to erect the teaching hospital.
The Yuguda led administration, in its attempt to search for a site to erect the teaching hospital, decided on one of the three campuses of the State owned Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic – as the location to house the teaching hospital. The decision, as expected, did not settle easy with the students and staffs of the said institution. And as a result, the effort by the Yuguda administration meet protests by the students. In April 2012, the students’ spokesman led a students; protest charging the government to get its acts together.
The students of the Abukakar Tartari Ali campus were reported to have been asked to relocate to the main campus located along Jos Road in Wuntin Dada – and make room for the contractors to begin work at the school. But the main campus have not been expanded to accommodate the new students. In the meantime, the occupants of the male hostel has been forcefully evacuated and asked to move to a temporally site – while the occupants of the female hostel have been asked to move over to the male hostel – the female hostel could be demolished – to give way to a new building. Eyewitness reports indicate that the students response to the forced evacuation was to physically attack the contractor and some of the official of the Bauchi State government. Bte the leader of the students, Saliu Sulaiman, denies that the students acted violently but insists that the State government must “provide amenities at the site where we are being transferred to“. Specifically, he demanded “exam halls to fit 800 students, 20 classrooms and library with capacity for 1500 students“.
The lectures and non academic staff of the said institution have been ordered to evacuate their residences to another venue. As gathered through the governor’s chief press secretary, a temporary residence have been secured by the State government for the workers – and the rent for the new temporal site have been paid for by the State government for two years. But the workers were said to turn the offer down – requesting instead a more permanent arrangement. Usman Mohammed Isuh, the leader of the Joint Action Committee comprising the workers of the three campuses of Abubakar Tartar Ali Polytechnic was quick to joint issues with the unfolding quagmire. He adds that “the government should have considered sites in the capital” while also adding that “the manner the relocation exercise is being handled is not good“.
Recent comments by the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sani Malami may have unravelled some within the opposition and keen observers of the Bauchi state polity. The Commissioner had made it clear that the contract for the teaching hospital is behind schedule – and must be pushed forward. He stated that 70% of the contract value had been paid to the contractor by the state government. The contract is valued at N2.6biilion – and N1.81billion of it has been paid out as mobilization fee. “90% of the present structure at Abubakar Tatari Ali are not habitable for human beings. They will be demolished“, added the Health Commissioner who continued to explain that the selected site was the most appropriate site for the teaching hospital.
But keen observers and some within the opposition view the rush by the government and the contract sum with skepticism. They point to the large sum paid out as mobilization fee as highly suspect. One source attached to the governor’s office who aligns himself with the opposition told 247ureports.com that the in-house technical evaluation of the project pegged the project value at a lower value. The project sum was valued at N1.1billion. The source continues that the high mobilization fee paid to the contractor reflected the underlined criminality involved in the proposed scheme. He reveals that the project contractor, Babangida Zango, to be a front for the Secretary to the State Government [SSG]. He states that N800million out of the N1.81billion released as mobilization were shared among top officials of the government who facilitated contract. In particular, some of the money was shared among the following persons:
- Secretary to the State Government – N180million
- Bashir Bugaji – N100million
- Alhaji Adamu Alkali – N50million
- Dr. Sani Malami – N50million
- Ali Jibril – N50million
- Commissioner for Special Duties -N30million
- Director SSS, Mr Ajayi – N20million
- Commissioner of Police – N20million [the Commissioner, Uchechukwu Aduba was recently transfered but N20million was reserved for the CP]
- Director, Due Process – N8million
- Director, Engineering – N8million
- Director, Finance – N6million
But the chief press secretary denies the allegations of sharing money as fictitious and callous on the part of the opposition who have joined the students to cause unnecessary havoc in the state. He charged the opposition to provide proof of the money sharing or of the in-house evaluation that pegged the value of the project at N1.1billion. He revealed that the Islamic foundation which is located nearby the school campus has pledged to donate a cardiac center to the teaching hospital – upon completion. He added also that a school of midwifery located nearby campus makes the selected site a wonderful site.
In a related development, the state governor has announced the shutting down of the two other campuses of the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polythenic – the College of Education at Azare and the A. D. Rufai College for legal and Islamic at Misau. The decision as gathered was taken by the governor to avert solidarity demonstration by the other two campuses. Last year in June 2011, the Rand road campus degenerated into a bloody riot following the death of a second year accounting student [Sabo Mohammed].
