By; MOHAMMED KAWU, Bauchi
Substantial sums of one trillion and five hundred billion Naira earmarked for the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (SIP) were siphoned by public and political office holders under the Buhari-led administration, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi has revealed.
Governor Bala Mohammed also noted that SIP which concept was initiated to uplift and promote the living standard of Nigerians below the poverty line, has clandestinely been corrupted to satisfy the whims and caprices of the APC political class.
Bala was speaking Wednesday at Misau township stadium, venue of the Kaura Economic Empowerment (KEEP) flag-off where he told a mammoth crowd that corruption has already crashed the Federal Government’s SIP programme to its knees.
He said, “Yes, the Federal Government were saying empowerment, and we are challenging them they are not doing visible and credible empowerment like this. We are doing empowerment with the credible ways and means of bringing up people who really benefits from the programme”.
The Governor explained that the Bauchi KEEP cut across all the state’s social strata that included the youths, women, young and old, masons, welders, petty traders, and everybody with the spending of N75 million in Misau Local Government Area alone.
Bala, who noted that this was the first time a state government in Bauchi is doing such a programme said, ‘It does not matter how much we are spending, we are not spending the one trillion and five hundred billion the federal government is spending which was going into the pockets of MDAs and other deceitful politicians.
The Governor, while further noticing that today the social investment programme has collapsed added, “Nobody is getting anything from our people, not in me the governor of Bauchi state or the Local Government Chairmen. I use this opportunity not out of disrespect to Mr. President, but to say the truth so as to make corrections”.
He told the PDP Chairman Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin who earlier flagged-off similar programme in Bambam LGA, accompanied by BoT Secretary and former senate president, Senator Adolpus Wabara that “We are proud that you came here and see how we are doing politics. If organizers of this programme are not doing very well, we will not be staying like this, highly organized, everybody happy, and justice and equity are being done”.
Bala stressed, “In Bauchi we don’t have division, no rancor, no in vice, people are loyal to constituted authorities, people are loyal to the party, because the party is just and equitable to everybody, the party is being led by somebody who is highly educated, and as a governor I’m at the service of the party and the people”.
The governor recalled that his mother originated from Misau following the migration of Justice Haruna Alkali to Alkaleri, his mother’s abode, saying “So, I too motherly was from Misau, stressing I have so much respect for Misau because my antecessors are from this town. If I don’t do anything to Misau, I have not done it to myself”.
“I have to therefore, as a matter of my established practice, reciprocate the good gesture to the people of Misau. For many years we produce a governor in Borno state, but we couldn’t produce the road from Misau to Akuyam, a major town in Misau Local Government Area, so I will be doing it to show gratitude to the PDP whose state chairman came from Akuyam”.
“There is no justice here, all the roads that are passing through the Bauchi state central zone are federal roads. Even the road that was to be done from Soro to Miya chopped the money, he refused to do it, they collected over a billion naira for the project, we are in court with them, we are not leaving them, and now these people have the audacity to come and offer themselves for elections”.
Governor Bala assured the Misau Local Council of constructing a brand new road from Soro – Miya, Akuyam – Hardawa – Zadawa, saying that what his government was doing is a reform, a movement, revolution as, according to him, no site of Bauchi state would be left out in the provision of infrastructures.
He therefore advised all those aspiring to elective offices under the PDP ambit ahead of 2023 polls should not allow their aspirations to break the party or loose the bigger seats of governors and presidency by coming up together to reposition it as Nigerians are looking up to PDP to salvage the country from quagmire.
Nigeria is respecting us, Nigeria is looking up to us, we have to work very hard and working hard is to unite, we as governors are united, we are working very hard, conscious of the fact that we must give respect to states that have no PDP governors, we must do stake holding to make successes and provide Nigeria the opportunity to bring the required change.
Bala also assured that Bauchi state government would fully implement the KEEP programme with the creation of micro economic scheme in the MDAs with a view to reach out to about 650 groups that would benefit from the villages, while accessing single money digit to give credit to people in teaching them how to fish, not giving them the fish.
He concluded, “Kaura Economic Empowerment Programme (KEEP) is freely being given to people, while the credit scheme would be established in a manner that people would have access to finance, capital, and would be taught how to trade and manage scarce resources”.
