Mohammed decries high level of poverty in Bauchi

Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state, on Thursday, expressed concern over the high level of poverty among residents of the state.

Mohammed, who made his concerns known in Bauchi at the swearing-in of eight appointees into various positions, said a lot had to be done by the state’s poverty alleviation programmes in 2021 to address the challenge.

He noted that there were lots of residents of villages and towns who looked up to government for assistance, and they must be provided with ‘palliatives’.

“For poverty alleviation, we have to do so much next year because there are so many people in the villages, in the towns, in the nooks and crannies of Bauchi state that require some palliatives and assistance from the government.

“We have told the Nigerian people, especially our electorate in Bauchi that we will not just be building roads, renovating hospitals, schools and doing agriculture. We must combine that with recognition that poverty is a recurring decimal in Bauchi.

“We have to do that in a manner that will give some assistance and succour to majority of the people who look up to government,” Mohammed said.

The governor also said that the state’s Civil Service Commission needed to be repositioned, and this explained the appointment of some competent retirees to help sanitise the commission against inefficiency, truancy and ghost worker syndrome.

“We need to do so much to reposition our human capital because there are lots of problems in that area.

“I will work with you in 2021 to see how we can deal with this monster of inefficiency, ineffectiveness and of course mediocrity in the system, truancy and so on and so forth,” he said.

The governor promised that before the end of his administration, the government would free resources from ghost workers and other sharp practices to employ people into various civil service cadres.

It was reported that among those sworn in by the governor were: Alh. Danladi Danbaba as Special Adviser, Poverty Alleviation, Alh. Yakub Barau as Special Adviser Rural Development, Nasiru Mohammed, member Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Others were; Yusuf Ibrahim, member CSC, Alh. Garba Babale, member, Assembly Service Commission, CP Hamisu Makama (rtd), member, Panel of Inquiry, Alhassan Musa, member, Panel of Inquiry, as well as Alh. Abdullahi Maigari, member, Panel of Inquiry.

Speaking on behalf of the appointees, Alhaji Danladi Danbaba, appreciated the state governor for putting so much trust in them, saying that they would do their best to help the state government reinvent the state and ensure that the present administration’s missions were effectively accomplished.