Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, on Friday indicted two of his predecessors for squandering over N2tn which accrued to the state between May 2007 and May 2019.
According to the governor, though the state received such an amount from the federal government within the period in focus, there was nothing on ground in the state to show such money entered its coffers.
Isa Yuguda was the governor of the state from May 2007 to May 2015 while Mohammed Abubakar held sway from May 2015 to May 2019.
Speaking at the inauguration of a panel to recover money and assets allegedly diverted by the Yuguda and Abubakar’s administrations at Government House, Bauchi, on Friday, Mohammed, said the immediate past governor received over N400bn during his tenure.
“I am not unaware of the debate and passionate conversation, some perhaps, negative on why we set up this committee. This fact may suffice to allay the fears of anybody that between May 2007 and May 2019, Bauchi State received more than N2tn from the federation account in form of allocation and intervention.
“Between 2015 and 2019 alone, the state’s total revenue collection stood at over N400bn. The most rudimentary audit will show how these funds were scandalously mismanaged with little or nothing to show for it.
“Bauchi State has more than 1.3 million children out of school and another 1.3 million unemployed. Our resources were clearly diverted or squandered while our citizens grappled with poverty and squalor.
“For example, the first four years of the Buhari administration, the state government got N47bn as bailouts from the Federal Government, mainly to offset salaries, gratuities and pensions. We also got N17bn as Paris Club refunds amounting to N62bn as intervention, apart from the statutory monthly federal allocations.
“It is embarrassing today, that we have N27bn unpaid gratuities and pensions, it’s sad, very sad indeed. If this state of financial profligacy is allowed to go unchecked, we may wake up one day to have our state reduced to a status of glorified or amplified local government. These glaring facts, clearly showed how serious the business of government in Bauchi State was conducted with reckless abandon, corruption and impunity.”
The governor insisted that the probe was not a witch-hunt or meant to settle some old scores, but rather, was “meant to recover the misappropriated commonwealth and reset the baton, so that integrity, probity and accountability will henceforth remain the guiding principles as well as an article of faith in the conduct of government business.”
He charged the committee headed by Isa Misau to be focused in the discharge of its responsibilities.
