Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, has made it clear that his administration in the second tenure will focus much on security.
The governor made it clear when speaking recently at the inaugural State Executive Council meeting held at the Government House.
He assured that community engagement will be the key to the fight against insecurity in the state, pointing out that, “We must be able to partner with our stakeholders. We must get feedback so that they can bring back useful information to us.
“Certainly, what is happening in other states is negatively affecting us. We are a gateway to about 7 states, to all the 3 sub-regions in the North. And so everything in the country is passing through Bauchi. Definitely, we will be at the receiving end.
“So, it is going to be security, security, and security. With that population and migration, demographics are not in our favour. Our services and infrastructure have been overstretched. Most of our towns and cities are not connected either with electricity or roads and so on.
“We have to really do something because we have a population relatively less educated but we have a responsibility to get them engaged. The minimum requirements for engagement are the agricultural sector and other sources of employment.
“Over the years, they have raised the GDP by bringing a lot of projects and programmes to Bauchi which made people to be working, to be employed. We have been paying salaries and wages and we have been paying pension at least to put food on the table.
“And that is why we have minimal restfulness among the states because at least, labour has integrity but it is coming with a cost. Whatever we are getting from the Federation Account, is going into paying people their dues which is less than 2 percent of the population. The rest are looking up to us to look inwards, use the little resources to develop our school, health facilities.
“Most of our people live in the rural areas. We have to make sure we encourage them, we have to make sure they are safe and secure. They must be able to eat, so it is not easy. Some of us think that the position of commissioner, advisers is for enjoyment. It is not so, it is a responsibility. It is for you to make sure you make a difference.”
“As I said during your inauguration, every Commissioner is very important. You can make a difference where you are assigned, There is no ministry that is second class, and there are a lot of responsibilities in all the MDAs. All of you should respect each other.” he emphasised.
