From Paul Orude, Bauchi
Former Speaker Yakubu Dogara has predicted that the people of Bauchi State will pay a huge price for what he describes as misgovernance.
This statement comes amidst a renewed war of words between Dogara and Governor Bala Mohammed, two of the state’s most prominent politicians.
Dogara believes that prioritising physical infrastructure over human development in education and health demonstrates a lack of vision that will stifle the state’s growth.
“If Bala Mohammed’s government prioritises construction of private mansions, flyovers, and government houses over education in a state that bears a 64.67% burden of out-of-school children (OOSC), which is the highest in the country, and they call that transformation or development, then good for them,” he stated.
“But it is as unfortunate as it is tragic because the state will continue to pay the price for decades.
“I have reproduced the statistics of OOSC to prick his conscience in case it is still not seared.”
Dogara then shared statistics from UNICEF (2023) showing Bauchi State having the highest percentage of OOSC in Nigeria at 64.67%.
Percentage of OOSC:
Top 12 States
1 ⚫Bauchi: 64.67%
2 Kebbi: 64%
3 Zamfara: 60%
4 ⚫Yobe: 58%
5 Jigawa: 56.33%
6 ⚫Borno: 53.33%
7 ⚫Gombe: 53%
8 Sokoto: 52.33%
9 Niger: 40.33%
10 Katsina: 39.33%
11 ⚫Adamawa: 32%
12 Kano: 31.67%
NC ⚫NE NW
#Statisense
(UNICEF, 2023)
The former Speaker also challenged the Governor’s claim of building primary healthcare centres in his constituency:
“Nothing can be more ludicrous because these are places where he won’t take even his sick puppy for treatment.
“Bauchi state’s healthcare system has totally collapsed under his watch to the point that presently we don’t have up to 25 doctors in the entire state’s public hospitals. If we have them, let him produce their names and the hospitals they are manning. He can keep on taking the sophisticated Bauchi people as fools.”