Forums of Executive Directors of Civil Society Organizations in Bauchi state have charged the state Governor Bala Mohammed to give priority attention to education, youths employment lamenting that 80 per cent of youth in the state are either uneducated or unemployed.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday on their recommendations to the governor for his first 100 days chairman of the forum Sodangi Chindo said according to a survey carried out by National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS) and UNICEF, Bauchi has the highest out of school children in Nigeria with million 1.3 of them that are still not enrolled in schools hence the need to declare state of emergency in the sector.
Other recommendations profered by the CSOs to the new administration include developing a robust long term development plan that will guide it in tackling the myriads of challenges she inherited.
“There is the need to adopt unity, diversity and professionalism in the governor’s cabinet in order to reflect the defiance exhibited by the good people of Bauchi state who elected him from across ethnic, gender, religious and party lines.
“The forum calls on the governor to appoint a professional who knows our communities and the development challenges faced across the different communities as his adviser on NGO matters. This is to ease our channel of communication and feedback and it will also fast track quality data collection for a bottom up approach in solving our communities challenges.
“There is the need for mutual respect and harmonious relationship between our elected representatives across party lines at both the state and federal levels if we must succeed as a people. All hands must be on deck. It is obvious that the people of Bauchi state are becoming politically conscious by the day and very soon they will start demanding for accountability from duty bearers at all levels,” he said.
