100 Days Giant Strides of  Yobe Governor, Buni | By Abba Dukawa

Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Abraham Lincoln was even more graphic in underscoring the value of planning when he said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”  

 

As an observer, since Governor Mai Mala Buni
took over the affairs of Yobe State,  he had unveiled his administration’s readiness to partner with North East Development Commission, local and international humanitarian organizations toward implementation of his ambitious Resettlement, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (R3), for the people affected by insurgency to live a life of honour and dignity.  To accomplish his plan named – R3,  Governor Buni signed an agreement  with Family Homes Funds Ltd,  to construct 2, 600 housing units across the state.

The houses, comprising two-bedroom and three-bedroom bungalows, will be built at the total cost of N10, 830, 339, 654.00 with an envisaged completion period of 18 months.

 

Within one hundred days in office he had made   a giant stride in many infrastructural developments in the state, starting from  Agricultural development in the state, Buni’s administration plans to hold another “Yobe Agricultural Retreat”,  the retreat aimed at assembling relevant stakeholders  to re-position agriculture and move it away from its current subsistence level to a commercial enterprise.

 

For example, Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni directing that a bag of the NPK varieties, which sells for N10, 000.00 in the open market, be sold to farmers at the subsidized rate of N3, 000.00 and also unveiled 103 Mercy Ferguson tractors which will be deployed to the 17 local government areas to be used by farmers’ associations to boost food production in the state.

 

On his aspersion towards  improving  educational development in the state, precisely on Wednesday, June 19 this year in Damaturu, the state capital, the stakeholders in primary and secondary education gathered to proffer solutions to the emergency declared on the sector in the state.  The summit birthed a working committee called the ‘Technical Committee to Revitalise Basic and Secondary Education’, which was charged with the responsibility of materialising the lofty recommendations of the education summit.

 

In his efforts toward sustaining the success of the education summit,  the governor has already studied and approved the report, and instructed for specific course of action to be taken, including the recruitment of qualified teachers, establishment of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education schools, and an audit of teachers across the state to ascertain their competencies and determine those who need training, re-training or even deployment to other sectors as appropriate. There is justified hope that education in Yobe State will witness an  outstanding uplift in the coming months and years.

 

On healthcare delivery as the saying goes, health is wealth; Mai Mala’s  administration considers it necessary to upgrade the capacities of health institutions in the State by providing state-of-the-art medical facilities and equipments to provide the best services to the people.

 

Governor Buni  continues to look into the welfare of healthcare providers to enhance healthcare delivery. Mala’s administration set to establish at least one functional primary Health Care Centre in each of the 178 wards of the State. Similarly, General hospitals on the course in the Local Government Headquarters where none exist to ease the burden of travelling long distances to access secondary healthcare services.  His administration   fast – tracked the establishment of the Contributory Health Management Agency and a Drugs and Consumables Management Agency to make the state eligible to access the basic healthcare provision fund.

 

The state’s economy is largely dependent on the federal allocation with very low Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). However , Governor Buni had set to change this trend of the state dependency on the monthly federal allocation.  To achieve his administration’s target towards improving  the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Governor Mala Mai Buni has already provided 50 hectares of land in Potiskum for the construction of trailer park under the  Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

 

The foundation-stone-laying ceremony of the park, which will also house a mechanic village, hotels, fuel stations, among others, and projected to create over 5,000 direct jobs was performed receynty.  In conjunction with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Governor Buni is building a Modern Trailer Park in Potiskum, which has the distinction of being home to the highest number of trailer trucks in the whole of the North.

 

The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will that will help others. Described by most people as gentle, generous, humble, trustworthy, extremely loyal and down-to-earth, Mai Mala no doubt, displayed high and esteemed leadership qualities which endeared to the people of the state. Indeed, he perfectly fitted into the postulation by John C Maxwell when he said: “Success knows your purpose in life, growing maximum potential and sowing seeds that will benefit others.

 

The 100 days in Yobe State have been action-packed and applause-worthy and indicate that the governor has started his journey on a very sound footing. Nevertheless, Governor Buni has gone beyond sharpening the axe in many areas of infrastructural development. He has already chopped down many trees these past 100 days.

 

What should be obvious by now to any perceptive observer is that Buni has devoted a large chunk of his first 100 days in office to plan, strategize and solicit broad experts counsel on government policies, planning and forethought are central to success in governance.