It has been a norm for some visionless leaders when they assume the mantle of leadership to embark on globetrotting the world without bringing any good fortunes to their people but putting the huge bills and financial burden on the state treasury. Yet, there are few leaders that are focused and full of zeal who walk around the world in search of better and exploitable opportunities for their people; Governor Muhammed Abdullahi Abubakar of Bauchi State is one of such leaders.
Since he assumed the mantle of state power on May 29, 2015, Governor Abubakar has never wavered in his commitment in providing state of the art facilities and services to the Bauchi State people in contrast to the previous administration which failed woefully in delivering essential services to the electorate while leaving a depleted account and shamble governmental structures cum services.
As a prudent manager of resources and conscious with the prevailing economic challenges bedeviling the nation, Gov. Abubakar was recently at the Kingdom of Morocco with a few entourage to cut financial expenses while achieving some desired results as envisaged in the visit. Interestingly, unlike what was obtainable in the previous regimes where such visits have no better fortunes to the state, M. A’s visit has many benefits and various leg up to the good people of Bauchi State and the generation not yet born.
His Excellency Makama Babba’s first point of call was Casablanca where he attended a programme with OCP-Africa in fulfilment of the bilateral agreement between the Bauchi State government and the Kingdom of Morocco on boosting agricultural development and shoving fertilizer production in the state with a capacity of feeding the whole northern states. In a meeting with Moroccan company, Office Che’rifiens des Phosphate (OCP-Group) which is the largest exporter of phosphate in the world headed by the Chief Executive Officer of the group, Mr. Karim Lotfi Senhadji, OCP Group gas agreed to collaborate with the state in numerous areas of modern agricultural development; building a brand new world-class standard fertilizer company which will pamper and purvey fertilizer needs of the entire region, upgrading the existing state-owned fertilizer company, approved the OCP School Lab Project including establishment of mobile schools to train farmers in the remote communities, mobile laboratory to analyze soil samples called Precision Agriculture and targeted 10,000 farmers to commence in April, approval of the agricultural booster project where another 10,000 will benefit with direct funding where maize production was prioritized by His Excellency. Governor Abubakar and his team has also visited the 504.00HA Jorf Lasfar Chemical Complex which is the largest in the world and produces 13 million tonnes of phosphate daily and 6 million kilo-tonnes annually. Khouribga mining site was also visited.
Education also received booster pills when Governor Abubakar and his entourage visited the famous King Mohammed VI Polytechnic University at Ben Guerir where Bauchi State and the university management agreed to offer full scholarship to Bauchi State indigenes for undergraduate studies, full scholarship for the staff of the State Ministry of Agriculture, Bauchi State Agricultural Development Project (BSADP), and Bauchi State Agricultural Supply Company (BASAC) at Masters level. Equally, partnership agreement has been signed in collaboration between the university and Bauchi State College of Agriculture, Bauchi State University’s newly established faculty of agriculture.
Lastly, in view of the inherited deplorable healthcare facilities in the state, acquisition of foreign medical, financial and technical expertise and muscle is sorely needed to assist the Bauchi State government in assembling and establishing much needed health infrastructure towards meeting the goals and objectives of the state government. In furtherance of these laudable aims, Gov. Abubakar together with top officials in the health sector paid a visit to the prestigious King Mohammed VI University Teaching Hospital where they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the management of the hospital to establish an efficient and credible healthcare sector and to sustain the same through effective training of the required medical personnel throughout the state.
Most appealing and alluring moment is that, rather than wasting money flying citizens and government functionaries abroad for prognosis and treatment, the M.A. Abubakar administration has in one stroke of a historic MoU laid the grounds for the facilities to be available in Nigeria which when fully functional will also earn added revenue for the Bauchi State government as foreign and local customers troop for treatment. Equally, apart from the provision of top of the line medical equipment, the MOU also envisions the training of specialists like doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, biomedical engineering technicians for the indispensable to the holistic provision of healthcare delivery services.
In this regard, the health sector has been rejuvenated and revitalized by the inking of this landmark MoU and it must be pointed out that Bauchi State stands to benefit by the Makama Babba’s visit to Morocco.
Lukman is S.A Communication to the Governor
