Mohammed Abdulqadir,
It is customary for many Nigerians living and working outside their states of origin to travel to their home states at the end of the year for Christmas and New Year holidays to reconnect with friends and family members.
The journeys are full of joy and trepidation: joy at meeting loved ones and trepidation at the uncertainty of security and demands of friends and family members which are always nearly impossible to meet.
Those experiencing these feelings surely know that the situation is getting worse and more precarious by the day. State and local governments in Nigeria used to be shields to so many socio-economic and security challenges confronting the people. Nowadays, the performances of these governments leave a lot to be desired. For those who know, it is squarely on the executive governors who rule by fiat in the states, including the local governments.
I arrived Bauchi to a welcome with billboards celebrating the recent survival of Governor Bala Mohammed (Kauran Bauchi) at the election tribunals. The pre-Christmas days were full of anxiety for many politicians as the courts passed judgments on election petitions brought before them. Bauchi ta Kaura (Bauchi is for Kaura) billboards adorned the state capital, Bauchi, subliminally imposing, just like those before him, the physical and psychological authority of the governor on the people, as the one in charge. Akin to those days in the defunct Soviet Union or the current affairs in North Korea, ordinary Nigerians live under the imposing shadows of portraits of their governors at vantage positions within the states.
Bauchi was not as cold as it usually is during Christmas. The weather was half-heartedly cold in the early mornings and late evenings. During the day, it was hot. Although the state capital was calm, there wasn’t any enthusiasm among the people. The only evidence of hustle and bustle was around the Government House where the governor occasionally receives groups and gives them handouts. I witnessed the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) rally around the Government House and some palliative distribution around the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium two days after Christmas, with police officers barricading the roads around the stadium, ostensibly to wade off any potential invasion of the hungry masses into the venue. One could see young men joyfully carrying 50kg bags of rice on their heads or shoulders in a state that can produce millions of tonnes of rice to feed the world.
Christmas was dull in Bauchi last. It could have been so in other places. So also was New Year’s Day. This was not what we knew growing up in the 80s and 90s. Christmas was a big event. Muslims and Christians celebrated with fanfare. Nowadays, the situation is changing, deteriorating by every political mandate. Democracy needs to do better. It has widened the fault lines in our society and disrupted our way of life. Bad governance has bred poverty and violent conflicts which have destroyed the peaceful and prosperous structures of society.
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Governor Mohammed has been doing better than his predecessors. Until his election, Bauchi was sliding back in terms of development since 2007. From 1999 to 2007, ex-Governor Ahmed Mu’azu set a very solid foundation for development. However, the successive administrations failed to measure up. The people of Bauchi rose to the challenge to replace the immediate former governor after only one term in office. Besides maintaining good personal touch with the people, Gov Mohammed has been able to complete and build new road networks within the capital and some major towns such as Azare and Alkaleri. He has also been able to fairly maintain a regular commercial flight service into the state since his assumption of office in 2015. Similarly, security has been maintained, largely thanks to the governor’s collaboration and support to the vigilante networks across the state.
Kidnappers and Boko Haram insurgents have not found havens in the state due to the effort of the security agencies and the vigilantes, among who are many repentant criminals. For all these years of insurgency in the North East, Bauchi has remained an island of security and peace. This has attracted many displaced persons into the state, settling and making Bauchi their home. Communities and people that suffered conflicts in Benue, Plateau, Borno and Yobe states massively and progressively relocated to Bauchi State in the last two decades. This has made the once quiet state become boisterous.
Besides these strengths, I have noted with grave concern some issues with the administration of Gov Mohammed. It may serve him and those around him to consider them objectively and for the good of the state and the people. These issues border on terrible misplacement of priorities. The first issue is the welfare or rights of the civil servants. Salaries are not paid on time or at all for some government officials.
Many have been recruited into the state civil service without proper planning or adequate provision, making them go for months without salary. Retirees too suffer epileptic payment. The consequence of this issue alone is that many are sick – physically, psychologically and emotionally. Businesses which rely so much on the flow of cash from salaries are suffering. Coupled with the subsidy removal and exchange rate crisis, millions have sunken further into poverty. Life is dire. And it is visible for anyone to see.
Now, it is within this context that I learnt of the proposal of the governor to build flyovers in the state capital. In fact, one can see some companies already doing soil tests in the identified locations. What is certain is that Bauchi does not need any flyover. The entire state has low traffic volume and adequate landmass to expand the city’s road networks and avoid this expensive project. Some sources said the governor is just mimicking others.
He might have felt slighted by the people of Borno State who claimed to have built the first flyover in the North East. But with what we know, the people of Bauchi claim to be better enlightened than the Kanuri (Borno and Yobe) who lost their precious drums and swords in a battle with Emir Yakubun Bauchi during the pre-colonial era. To date, the banter between the people survives. So, why should Kaura be bothered by that?
On a serious note, however, many observers view such projects as conduits for massive siphoning of public funds. The people that will be directly affected by the proposed flyovers have complained that they would lose their ancestral homes to the projects. Others, whose houses will become close to the flyovers, observed that they would expose their privacy to road users as their toilets traditionally have no roofs. These are issues that the social and environmental impact assessment would have shown to terminate the projects’ idea.
As the burden carrier of the mandate of the people of Bauchi State before man and God, Gov Mohammed should reconsider his phantom projects and judiciously invest the public funds into improving the socio-economic situation of the state. He should first improve the payment of salaries, entitlements of government officials, as well as those of retirees. Thereafter, he should focus attention on economic projects such as the development of agriculture, trade and tourism. As an island of security, Bauchi is now a food basket, producing food and other items for the country. May wisdom prevail and may we have a Happy New Year. Ameen.
Abdulqadir wrote from Life Camp, Abuja.
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