Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State

From Paul Obi                in Abuja
Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State, at the weekend in Abuja, linked the worsening security situation in the country to dearth of infrastructure and deterioration of the nation’s value system. Yuguda said this in a lecture titled “Contemporary Development Challenges in Bauchi State,” which he delivered at the State Security Service’s Institute for Security Studies, Bwari, Abuja.
He informed the gathering that on assumption of office in 2007, he inherited a debt of N22 billion, poor infrastructure and a distorted value system.

“No records of government contract activities from 1999 to 2007 when we came into office. There was no need to have the records because contracts were being awarded illegally,” the governor stated.

He maintained that some of the security challenges in the state that the government had been grappling with were as a result of the decay in infrastructure. For this cause, he said, his government set up a committee to take a critical look into the security, education and health sectors of the state, adding that the committee’s findings are an “eyesore.”

Yuguda said to address some of the identified challenges, his administration established an agency to reorientate the youths in the state, who, according to him, said had gone through systematic moral destruction. In his view, the initiative has been able to get the irate youths off the streets.

The governor identified education, health care, employment opportunities and security as critical factors that should be addressed by government at all levels to ensure peace in the country.  He said so far, his administration had built four hospitals and renovated 80 classrooms as part of efforts to make life meaningful for the people of the state.

Yuguda decried the rate of corruption in the country and called on the anti-graft agencies, such as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to be thorough in their investigations in order to bring culprits to book. Citing the case of what he met on assumption of office, the governor stressed that the anti-graft agencies needed to go beyond prosecuting culprits on the pages of newspapers to ensure that governments became more accountable to the people.

The director of the institute, Mr Olalekan Odugbemi, in his contribution said there were many challenges confronting the nation. Odugbemi expressed hope that the country could overcome its challenges with good governance and commended Yuguda’s patriotism and vision for the people of the state.