Alhaji Al-Amin Aliyu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who played vital behind-the-scene roles last year in ensuring the election of Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar of Bauchi State. In this interview with omonu yax-nelson, the CEO of Rahama City Suite speaks on the governor’s development roadmap for the state and his recent trip to the Czech Republic.
How do you classify Bauchi State today in terms of the vision of the present administration in the state vis-a-vis the state’s potential for growth?
Our state, as you may know, is basically agrarian. But side by side with that is that it has many mineral deposits. It is also a tourist destination. Above all, we are a peace-loving state. We take pride in our love for scholarship. We are a highly politically-conscious people. Political discourse in pre-independence North started in Bauchi. Don’t forget that Nigeria’s first and last Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the golden voice of Africa, hailed from Bauchi. We have successfully produced three Secretaries to the Government of the Federation, Heads of Service of the Federation, Cabinet Ministers, etc. I have gone this great length to show you how Bauchi is. We are about 9 million people or so. But let us go to the aspect of your question about what is the vision of the present administration under Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, the fifth democratically elected governor of the state. He is a man of vision, a dogged and astute administrator who is always planning, strategizing and networking for the good of our people. Recently, he visited the Czech Republic where, as usual during his foreign trips, he signed a memorandum of understanding with that government to provide the state with cheaper agricultural equipment to make agriculture attractive as an alternative revenue source as well as an employer of labour. I told you that we are an agrarian people so it follows that the people’s governor should do everything to explore the vast potentials of agriculture.
Was the trip part of federal government-assisted agricultural development programme or was it just the outcome of personal active efforts of the state government?
I believe it was part of the governor’s solution-driven efforts to reach out to foreign governments for strategic partnership and support. But you may also know that it is possible that the programme has Federal Government’s input because this was why we campaigned vigorously for APC’s change which President Muhammadu Buhari, our governor and all other National Assembly positions. We really do not know what would have happened to this state if this change revolution did not come at this material time. The challenges that were on ground before the coming of the APC government in Bauchi State were humongous. We don’t know what would have happened if this rescue mission did not come now.
And what were these challenges you are talking about?
I will tell you but please permit me to give you the rest of the good tidings which our governor brought from the Czech Republic which I believe will go a long way in boosting the growth of our agricultural sector. Don’t forget that every responsive, responsible and reasonable state government in the country has embraced the agricultural revolution as a means of diversifying revenue source. Under the package from the Czech Republic, our traditional agricultural method will be revolutionized to pave the way for the introduction of farming methods that are driven by mechanisation and other modern science and technology technique.. It is indeed a good Xmas package for our people. We thank the governor. It is pertinent to add that the trip on the invitation of the Czech Republic’s minister of agriculture and the deputy minister of foreign affairs.
The reason why this is a good deal for our toiling farmers is because it will finally rescue them from the old antiquated farming practices that take so much human energy, time and resources but give far less yields. It is interesting to note here that because we now have to test our soil to determine its suitability for the cultivation of the crops to increase our yield per hectare. We must fully embrace science and technology. We need to embrace these new developments and innovations that are now available to our agriculture under the Czech agric development package. We have a lot to gain from this deal which the farming population in the Czech Republic are already enjoying. For example, the yield per hectare of maize in that country is about 40 tons while the highest in Nigeria is just about 5 tons. It is regrettable but because we have a visionary and energetic governor who will stop at nothing to better the lots of his people, the situation is being immensely reversed. You can see that this particular challenge he met after his inauguration is being vigorously reversed
So what is happening to the other challenges he met?
Thank you. Some practical moves are being made by his administration to harness the benefits of the over 30 mineral deposits that include kaolin, clay, gypsum, tantalite, iron ore, columbite, barite, zinc, lead, tin, salt, coal, tantalum, copper, talc, graphite, silica sand and glass sand, to mention a few. I am aware that the administration has opened talks with interested investors within and outside the country. Of course, there is the tourism sector about which Bauchi State has wide reputation. Don’t forget that the state is called the Home of Peace and Hospitality. It is also known to some as the Pearl of Tourism. The state’s has vast tourism potentials which are being harnessed by the government to bring high revenue yields to the state. I am aware that the Ministry of Tourism has a package for members of the public who want to visit the Yankari National Park and the Wikki Warm Spring where the facilities have been upgraded tremendously to meet customer satisfaction. This is expected to boost the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, meaningfully where most state governments in the country face the greatest challenges today.
We are satisfied with the strides of our governor in addressing the living standards of our people. Recall that in 1999, Bauchi was rated by a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Economic Survey as one of the poorest states of the Federation. Today, it is one of the most investment-friendly states in Nigeria, according to the World Bank.
What is the administration doing about youth unemployment?
To the best of my knowledge, the government is successfully tackling the horrible system he met on ground that requires people to queue to receive dole-outs. There is a new radical thinking and orientation that discourages that ugly practice. There is now a more practical people-oriented mechanism that offers the people a more enduring package. The government has also re-tooled the state’s skill acquisition programme for the unemployed youth in line with modern requirements. There is a system that sets out tasks and targets with timelines and deliverables in the critical sectors of the state such as agriculture, security, education, health, commerce and industry, power and energy, tourism and recreation, housing and rural/urban infrastructure. The governor is moving at a dizzying speed to enable the state catch up with its other fast-developing counterparts in the Federation. We could not have had it better. There is another interesting aspect of governance which the governor has introduced in his government that has raised the bar. It is called peer review which I think the Nigerian Governors Forum can accelerate in its programmes. The governor has a process that subjects all his commissioners and aides to learn from one another. I am aware that he is expanding the frontiers of that strategy to include a system that allows functionaries of his government to bring best practices being adopted in other states of the Federation to the table at state executive sessions. This is the kind of governance excellence that we are seeing here.
Does this also explain his vision for the civil service? We gathered that he has cleared arrears of workers’ entitlements which he met on ground, is it true?
Yes, it is true. You will agree with me that any state government that does not owe its workers deserves an award because this is the most challenging time for governments now. Even those that are paying half salaries deserve kudos in a situation where some states owe their workers for upwards of six months or more. I have just been told now that civil servants in the state are owed any entitlement as salaries and the backlog of arrears left by the immediate past administration have been cleared by the governor. The Labour leadership has already confirmed this fact. So the governor deserves a resounding applause. Mind you, there are critical sectors in the state that still require equal attention. But by and large, the administration has done very well in the present circumstance.
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