PAUL OMOKUVIE, Bauchi
Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, has sworn in the newly-appointed Head of Service and five special advisers.
They are Nasiru Yelwa as Head of Civil Service; Musa Shittu, SA Political; Abdon Gin, SA Civil Service Affairs; Prof. Sani Malami, SA Multilateral and Non-Governmental Organisations; Mohammed Burra, SA State and National Assembly Matters and Madaki Gololo, SA Social Investment and Focal Person.
The oath of office was administered on the new officers by the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Rabi Umar at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Bauchi.
Before his appointment, Yelwa was the Permanent Secretary, Special Services, Governor’s Office.
Shittu, a former lawmaker in the state was once the Chairman, Zaki Local Government Area of the state as well as Chairman All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP), Bauchi State. Until his appointment, he was the Chairman, People’s Democratic Party, Northern Zone.
Gin, is a former permanent secretary in the state civil service and former head of service, Bauchi State.
Malami is a professor of Histopathology and Clinical Cytology, College of Medical Services of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and a former state Commissioner for Health. He is currently, President of the Nigerian Cancer Society.
Burra is a former member of the state Assembly, a former commissioner and a former State Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party.
Until his current appointment, he was the state chairman of the Green Party of Nigeria.
Gololo is a former member of the House of Representatives in the 7th Assembly.
In his speech, Governor Bala Mohammed, lamented that the state had suffered years of neglect by his predecessors and charged the new principal officers to join hands with him to move the state forward.
He said that the new appointments were purely based on merit devoid of political sentiments.
The governor said: “Bauchi has suffered a lot of neglect in the past by my predecessors and this is not to underplay their contributions to the development of the state.
“Being here is a burden – a burden that can only be accountable to God and to the people who voted us into office.”
He lamented that the state has prevalence of ghost workers in the civil service which has overstretched the finances of the government pointing out that “our wage bill rose from N4 billion to over N7 billion because of the prevalence of ghost workers even at the local government areas.”
Mohammed who stated that most of the moneys that came into the state in the past were “put in private pockets,” pledged the loyalty of his administration to the people of the state.
According to him, “Bauchi State in the past received N1 billion monthly from the federal government for the school feeding programme but most of our children did not really benefit because much of the money were put in private pockets.
“Bauchi got over N20 billion for the Social Investment programme from the Federal government. So, the office of the Special Adviser Social Investment is more than ten commissioners.”
He said that he would not victimise anyone but would try to deal with the problems the state is faced with squarely.
