Mukhtar Muhammad Mk
Your Excellency, I join the other people of Bauchi state in congratulating you for emerging the 9th executive governor of Bauchi state, courtesy of your success in the March 9 governorship election. Your Excellency, your success in that election was a miracle considering that you contested against a sitting government that had been in office for four years and wanted to continue. But the people wanted change and they were ready to ensure it took place.
As the product of the electorate’s resilience and commitment to upholding majority decision anchored on the yearnings for improved living standards, societal dignity and greater prosperity, your administration should come up with modalities to awaken all weakened institutions of governance, revive the languishing essential facilities and rejuvenate public service capabilities which are essential in order to provide the state with very strong fundamentals that can serve as progressive platforms to unlock the state’s numerous potentials in the varying endowments that are abundantly available.
Your Excellency, I write this memo to remind you the enormous task before you as you commenced a four years tenancy in Ramad House. Lest those you appointed in the transition committees not give you the clear account of what you’ll face. It is in this misty atmosphere that you must navigate a way for yourself and Bauchi state because there are many things that cannot wait. Here are seven of them.
The first thing that cannot wait is the formation of cabinet. I believe that many influential people who contributed to the success of PDP in the last election have started lobbying to see their efforts to unseat the APC rewarded with prominent cabinet posts for their allies.
However, Your Excellency, you must stand firm and avoid dancing to the tune of politicians whose bid is to control your government by hook or crook. You must must juggle and shop for skilled technocrats and politicians with the requirement to repay political allies, while navigating the shifting alliances of internal party politics. The new cabinet is expected to deliver our expectations of a better society than you inherited. They must be men and women who are ready to work towards a prosperous state respected for the right reasons, and whose citizens can hold up their heads anywhere in the world. To achieve this, you must therefore consult as widely as possible, given the need to build a stable and all-inclusive government by reaching across our various sectional, political and age divisions.
The second thing is the settlement of Civil Servants’ entitlements. You may know better than I do that Bauchi state is agrarian with a high dominance of civil servants in the elite class. Having the civil servants objecting to any government spells near defeat for such administration. As it stands today, Bauchi state government owes its civil Servants and retirees entitlements of various nature. Settling these debts early will give impression to Bauchians that the confidence they reposed on you will not be in vain.
Another thing that cannot wait is the election of local government councils. Your Excellency, for democratic values to be nurtured, flourished and consolidated in Nigeria, attention should be paid to the leadership at the grassroots levels. Local governments as a third level of government are closest to the people. If federalism from the perception of mutual agreement by levels of government to share power of the state in formal constitutional or legalistic arrangements, then governments would have understood why they need to make the local governments run properly. Without respect for the powers of the local governments, the separateness, and independence that their operations entail, democracy will not make much progress.
The fourth is about the condition of education in the state. This one is not about infrastructure, rather is about the welfare of teachers, recruitment of new ones, and providing them with modern instructional materials. Because a mental siege has been imposed on Nigerians by domestic newspapers making mockery of their individual intellegence by devoting much space to complaining about lack of furniture in public schools. A common newspaper story is “pupils learning under a tree,” which we think is a big scandal. When you think about it, pupils learning under a tree will still pick up something if the teacher is good and his welfare is properly maintained. It is better to have a good teacher without a good classroom than to have an air-conditioned classroom without a good teacher.
This one is about the unemployment bedevilling the youth of the state. When the last government come in, it embarked on series of verification in guise of scrutinizing the civil service of the state and block leakages, which is a very good idea. But since then, the embargo imposed which prevented the replacement of the ghost workers that where on the state’s voucher before. Your Excellency, thousands of youth have graduated in the last four years and have joined the list of job seekers. Although, the Federal government’s NPower program has ease the tension, there will be increase of jobless youth in the wake of NPower.
The seven thing that cannot wait is the empowerment of women and youth. Your Excellency, I am not unaware of the fact that even if the embargo is lifted, government don’t have enough resources to employ as little as 30 percent of youth seeking for job. The army of youth who are champions of your victory has unconditionally reposed confidence in you, with virtuous desire for a better future. They are expecting positive change to happen now and not later, no excuse will be good enough in their ears. Trust Bauchi youth with a lot of muckrakers on social media waiting to kick-start criticism either constructive or otherwise.
Mukhtar Muhammad Mk
Bauchi, Nigeria
June 2, 2019
