By Sanusi Muhammad
Bauchi state Governor, Sen. Bala Muhammed has hinted at the nature of his administration, saying it would remain consultative, prudent and all inclusive community based.
He also pledged to engage more women into governance and with focus on the welfare of the people than the execution of white elephant projects lacking direct bearing on the lives of the ordinary people spiced with cheap political gain.
The governor dropped the hints in an interactive session with journalists in Bauchi penultimate Saturday.
Gov. Bala, defeated his top most contender of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in a keenly contested election in 2019, saying that rather than foisting projects on communities that have no direct bearing on their lives, he prefers to consult with the communities first and allow them to come up with those projects that are best for them and will impact positively on their lives.
The governor, who was the most preferred candidate of the electorates at the gubernatorial election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), promised to bring together all the stakeholders in the state irrespective of party affiliation but share his vision and ready to support his effort to take the state to the highest pedestal of development within his first tenure.
“I’m not the governor of PDP members alone but the governor of the entire people of Bauchi state” he said while responding to a question on how he would address the various complaints of the people as well as how to be magnanimous in governance.
On how he plans to rejuvenate the state’s economy, Sen. Bala promised to introduce creative ideas in generating more revenue without necessarily burdening the masses with tax.
He said, for instance, that his administration would bring more people to invest in the economy and pay the required tax into the tax net and also explore abundant mineral resources and tourism potentials through the possibility of Public Private Partnership (PPP) with serious and globally recognized investors that are abound.
He said that while doing that, he would also sustain the infrastructural renewal started by past administrations but abandoned because, according to him, infrastructural decay in the state is massive and public funds had already been channeled to those abandoned projects that should not be allowed to waste for any reason, noting that no meaningful economic development can be achieved without infrastructural renewal and adequate provisions of the basics.
He said: “We will look more closely into agriculture and its value chain to create jobs and empower the people particularly the peasant farmers domiciled in the hinterland. We may engage consultants to partner with our agricultural specialists in the concerned ministry and agencies of government to come up with modalities on how best to improve our agricultural potentials and make agriculture more attractive to the people particularly the youths and divert their attention from the syndrome of wild goose chase of non-existing white collar jobs
“We shall also develop our abundant tourist sites scattered all over the state. We can make a lot of money by developing the tourist sites if carefully managed, and we may go into PPP with interested investors in the tourism industry.
“We also have abundant mineral resources beneath the ground yet to be tapped. Those mineral resources shall be converted for their economic values and channeled to human development for the benefit of our people.
“We shall not hesitate, embracing a PPP arrangement where possible to tap all the hidden resources underneath the ground for conversion to the comfort of the people thereby creating an industrial park for national and global patronage.
“We are considering the possibility of the likelihood of holding an economic summit in the near future to prepare the ground for an industrial revolution towards increased revenue”.
On steady payment of salaries and pensions, Sen. Bala said so far despite the economic stress, monthly salaries are regularly paid and every month the promised N100million is released for payment of pension to those deserving pensioners and his administration is looking inward to increase internally generated revenue as a back-up to his blue-print tailored to the good of the state.
“We will bring people from other climes for investments that should pay tax into the tax net. That will help us in paying salaries and pensions easily and will less stress on the economy”, he said
On the outcry of concentration of infrastructure in Bauchi south, Sen. Bala said it is the wishful thinking of the detractors of his government that Bauchi south is favored in the distribution of infrastructure against the other zones even though, it is understandable that the state capital is located within the southern zone but that has not denied the other components their share of development.
He added that his administration would focus more attention on rural and semi-urban development for socio-economic reasons.
“I will pay absolute attention to rural development to additionally stem rural-urban unnecessary migration and position the rural dweller to accessing the dividends of democracy without migrating to urban areas”, he said
Gov. Bala also promised to empower the masses particularly the downtrodden ones in various ways, saying that any programme that is not aimed at empowering the people would not be embraced by his administration no matter what, adding that, already, 1000 tricycles have been distributed to those former motorcycle commercial operators (Achaba) while other mouth watering incentives are on the way for better living conditions.
He said: “Our programmes will be tailored towards those that need genuine assistance as well as the masses generally. My administration will be people-focused as a bond”.
In his comment on the leadership style of Gov. Bala Muhammed, his deputy, Sen. Baba Tela said: “Our victory is a divine intervention from God, the good people of Bauchi state would have been left to mourn the victory of “the forces of fake change”. Our state has narrowly escaped from another tragedy of development which God made miraculously possible for our victory. Without divine intervention when the forces of fake change almost and fraudulently snatched our victory, the good people of our state would have been in mourning by now
“The election of Bala Muhammed is the outcome of a positive thinking and the desire for a better evenly developed Bauchi state. The people will definitely be the end beneficiaries of our stewardship which is anchored on transparency and the rule of law. We are mortgaging our comfort for the benefit of the people as we are mandated to do”.
Meanwhile, some projects embarked upon by the government have been commissioned and put to use for the good of the people while others nearing completion are receiving what the governor’s Senior Special Assistant (SSA) Media/ Publicity, Comrade Muktar Gidado described as “double effort for completion: ground breaking ceremony for other projects dare to the people are on final stage for execution. Before 2023, the governor must have transformed the state to an El dorado at minimum cost”.
Speaking on the recent defection of former Speaker Yakubu Dogara to opposition APC in Bauchi state, Gidado said: “There is no cause for alarm as his defection will neither affect the smooth running of government nor disrupt the governor’s attention to trivial issues. He has defected for good and we remain where we are”.
