Revealed: How Funds For The Bauchi State 2015 Hajj Operation Was Over Inflated and Approved By Governor Abubakar

1. The Governor Never Saved Any N1 billion from Hajj For The State-Stakeholders

In his farewell address delivered to the Muslim Pilgrims, Bauchi State Governor Muhammad Abubakar, disclosed that the action he took for this year’s pilgrims exercise saved the State Government about one billion naira. But information available to this medium indicates that the Governor’s assertion may not be true after all.

In a memo dated 3rd July, 2015 signed by the Executive Secretary of Bauchi State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Aliyu Sulieman enumerated to the Governor what it will take for this year’s pilgrim for the State.

In the said letter, total amount it will cost the state for this year’s Pilgrim is N538,667,347.00, however, this medium learnt from the documents that the said approval may have been used to siphon money, as each of the funds mapped out were not itemized, also the majority of the monies mapped out for the Hajj process, was majorly for officials and operational cost, what was intended for the pilgrims who are not officials and State delegation is very little, this then brings about the question as to how did the Government the N1 billion he claimed he saved.

Taking a review of the letter of the Executive Secretary to the Governor shows that, the pilgrims accommodation subsidy is to gulped 2,900, 000.00 Saudi Riyal, which its naira equivalent is N154,072,292.31, however, the number of pilgrims for that amount was not specified, however a cursory look at the in statement given by the Executive Secretary to newsmen, he said the government slashed the accommodation subsidy of the intending pilgrims from 3,750 to 900 Saudi Riyals per pilgrim which also saved the Bauchi State Government the sum of N534, 580, 200, comparing and contrasting between his letter to the Governor and also his statement to newsmen shows that with the 900 Saudi Riyal per pilgrim, also shows that with the 2, 842 intending pilgrims multiply by 900 Saudi Riyal per pilgrim will give 2,557,800.00 Saudi Riyal which its equivalent in naira is N135,891,761.81, it thereby shows that with what the Governor approved in his letter and what the Executive Secretary he told newsmen, there is a difference of 342,200 Saudi Riyal which its naira equivalent is N18,180,530.49.

The letter also showed that, the fund mapped out for rent for office accommodation in both Makkah and Madinah is 200,000 Saudi Riyal each, making a total of N400,000 Saudi Riyal, however the letter never explicitly made known the number of Staff that will be use for the office.

Moreover, the amount for the purchase of Hajj seats for operations, which the letter shows it is 250 persons also shows clearly that it gulped N175,000, 000.00, however it also stated that it only paid N700,000 initial deposit, looking at that it shows some there are some misappropriation.

The next item in the letter shows that under operational cost, it stated that allowances for operational staff is to gulp 535,000 Saudi Riyal and didn’t specify the number of staff for this allowances, the same is applicable for what it termed operational cost for the Projected 40 days in Saudi Arabia will gulp 1, 217, 500 Saudi Riyal without mention the number of Staff the intended operational cost is meant for.

Meanwhile for the Estacode Allowance also showed it is going to gulp, 82, 500 Saudi Riyal, again here it never mentioned the number of persons for this Estacode allowance, also the letter said that the Amirul Hajj team and the State 2015 Hajj Delegation it stated it will gulp 189,000 Saudi Riyal without mentioning the number of person in the Amirul Hajj team and the State Delegation and what each person will get.

In another exposure, it stated that the Governor’s gift to the pilgrims will gulp 230,000 Saudi Riyal which its naira equivalent is N12, 219,526.63 even as the letter failed to mention the number of pilgrims and the amount for each of them, meanwhile in the column for the Governor’s Gift for the Pilgrims it also stated that it will gulp N1, 560,000 without explaining what that amount is meant for after it has already stated that the gift fund will gulp N12, 219,525.63.

For the subsidy for the pilgrims uniform the letter stated that it will gulp N14,043,000 without enumerating the number of pilgrims in the letter, also the letter stated that N12, 300,000 for Hajj Camping, no information was given if it is Hajj camping in Nigeria or in Saudi Arabia.

Aside this, this medium learnt that Governor and the Executive Secretary of the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board are being economical with the truth, for instance the former Director of Press, Bauchi State Government House, Alhaji Ibrahim Sani has stated in a statement that the previous Government under Yuguda, the number of pilgrims that for the 2014 were 3,000, however universalreporters247.com learnt that in 2014 the number of pilgrims according to the a former Commissioner for Religious Affairs in the state, Alhaji Ahmed Barau, under Yuguda told newsmen in 2014 that  the number of pilgrims were 2, 296, as against the 2,842 pilgrims for this year’s Hajj and not 3000 as stated by the Government of the day.

Moreover, the Executive Secretary of the MPWB had said that the State saved N800,000,000 from this year’s Hajj while the Governor also in his address stated that he saved N1 billion for the state, in this the two are not in the same page.

Meanwhile, some stakeholders in the state who spoke with this medium, told this medium that the governor can never be trusted; “He said he saved N 1 billion naira, and he never explained how he saved the so called one billion naira for that State, he is just trying to say that because Kano and Kaduna said they saved money for their State, but they explained how the money was saved. Aside that, the Executive Secretary in his own summation said they saved N800, 000,000 you can see that this two are not in the same page.”

“We know that the governor has not no truth in his mouth, for instance, he told us that the debt profile left by the last government was N125 billion, however his own transition committee said it was N96.9 billion, you see the difference between him and his transition committee.”

“Just recently he went to Daily Trust and said that the Federal Government bailout is a mirage, when every person in the country knows that the bailout is real and even some states have already collected theirs. In the way he came out and said that the Bauchi Aircraft which was stolen has been found in far away Morocco, but we all know that the former SSG under Yuguda in his handover note told him about the aircraft and that it is undergoing maintenance in Morocco and that insurance for one year has been paid for it.”

According to the Stakeholders, they said that there are nothing that he will say that it will not be find out that it is lies.

For instance government house source told this medium that, it was alleged that the Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammad Abdullahi Abubakr, and his deputy Engr Nuhu Gidado lied to the people of Bauchi State.

The  source from the Government house Bauchi, revealed to the Chairman and the Investigating Secretary of the National Congress of Democrats, Abubakr Dogon Yaro Bibi and Yakubu Alhaji Jibrin respectively, that the pledged made by the Governor and his deputy about sacrificing 50% of their salaries to the state coffers was not true.

Our source further said, when their salaries was paid, without the 50%, they cried out that, they cannot sacrifice up to 50% as earlier pledged. They can sacrifice only 20%, and it’s directed the 30% should be returned to them.  Bauchi State should know, the kind of leaders they have. Can we trust this leadership?

“We believe that he never saved any money from the Hajj for the State, he only want to score political cheap points, because we know that even the Federal Government stopped the federal government delegation at the 2015 hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.”

According the stakeholders the decision saved Federal government an estimated one million U.S Dollars and N30million in local expenses.

But in his own case, there are officials of the Muslim of the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, also the Amirul Hajj State Team as well as the State 2015 Hajj Delegations and majority of the N538, 667,347.00 being the total amount that will be used by the State for this year’s Hajj is on the officials, Amirul Hajj Team and the State delegations. So how did he save the so called one billion naira?”

“If he actually wanted to save money for the state, as we know he never saved any money for the state, he should borrow a leaf from some States and the Federal Government, and extend consular, medical and welfare support to all pilgrims as expected, this is the same man that says that the state has no money, and he is spending such amount on only officials, Amirul Hajj Team and the State Delegation even when presently, the state just paid its workers the two months salaries it owe its them today, anyway stakeholders in the state congratulate him for the feat, but also believe the  Governor can change for better from there.