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Mohammed Umar Bago, is the 15th Governor of Niger State, by the special grace of God and by the overwhelming will of the good people of Niger State. His predecessor and now Senator Sani Bello clearly preferred Mohammed Idris, the incumbent Minister of Information and National Orientation, to take over from him as the governor of the “power state”. I must quickly acknowledge that it’s within former governor Bello’s democratic right to prefer Idris to Bago, but he ought to have known that Bago would be a hard nut to crack and that his support for Idris wouldn’t have made the battle tested Bago chicken out from the governorship primaries.
In 2011, when it was still fashionable for politicians to belong to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which automatically guaranteed them electoral victory, the confident Bago opted to join the former President Muhammadu Buhari’s newly-formed Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Considering that he was leaving certainty,his banking career, for the uncertainty and unpredictable murky world of politics, many people thought he had committed political suicide. Bago, confounded cynics by not only winning the House of Representatives seat for Chanchaga federal constituency, but went on to represent the district for a record four terms until his election as governor in 2023.
His reputation and quality representation which the people of his constituency never stopped talking about, was a key factor in getting the other parts of the state to jump onto the Bago Express Train. For instance, his Bago Foundation purchased the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) forms for his indigent constituents, because Bago understands that education is key. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Bago equally distributed trailer loads of palliatives to his constituents. The other reason why the people also warmly embraced Bago, a very popular politician, is because he continues to profoundly lives.
Bago, hitherto addressed as “Mr Empowerment” seems to now prefer being addressed as the farmer governor, is a perfect example of the will of the people prevailing when they are determined to have a say on who governs them. It was their resolute support that clinched Bago the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress(APC), and his eventual victory in the 2023 general elections.
They literally moved mountains for Bago; from the defeat of the former governor’s candidate to his victory in the general elections.
The support of the good people of Niger State for Bago had to do with what an analyst described as their “disenchantment” with former governor Bello who they believe spectacularly failed to pull his weight in addressing the numerous challenges confronting the power state. They seem to have said to Bello, you can’t impose a candidate because you failed to perform. Never mind that Bello went on to win his senatorial election.
Not much has really changed since the creation of Niger State and that’s the challenge that Bago faces as incumbent executive governor and that he can’t afford to fail.
It is not surprising that in return for their unflinching and resolute support, Bago is repaying the people with what Aisha Wakaso, his Special Adviser (Print Media), aptly described as a superlative performance. Said Wakaso:”For my governor, premium service is the only way to repay the people’s support and love”.
Thankfully the 50-year old Bago understands the burden of expectation from the people who want to see government work for them beyond the payment of salaries of the public servants. They want to see government harness the immense potentials of the state which includes its vast arable land covering about 86,000km2, to tackle the security challenges that is affecting economic activities, address the crisis in the education and health sectors.
Though Bago is just one year in office, there is a near unanimity amongst Nigerlites that a new Niger State is gradually taking shape under the watch of the farmer governor, whose burning commitment to the overall development of the state is not in doubt.
Last week, i had the pleasure of meeting Bago. The first thing that struck me was Bago’s height and his good looks. That he has remained married to one wife despite his cuteness, political attainments and wealth, speaks volumes about his personal discipline, focus and simplicity. Bago’s popularity was also manifest. I was equally struck by the very straightforward manner he performed the launching of his state logo and his other engagements. On the whole, our meeting lasted less than 10 minutes and without much ado, he passed the necessary instructions to my good friend Yerima Abdullahi, his amiable Director-General of Protocol and we were done. I later got to know that the governor is a Certified Management specialist with Distinction in Time Management from the London Graduate School.
So, how has Bago fared with his campaign promises? On May 29,2023, the governor listed security, agriculture, education, commerce, tourism, health, infrastructural development, and women and youth empowerment as the priorities of his administration.
There are many immediate actions that Bago took which showed quite early in the day that he came prepared to make a difference in the lives of the people who elected him.
Unfortunately in Nigeria, elected officials are most often assessed based on tangibles, like road projects that are easily visible, and not on intangibles like good governance which the governor is committed to; or the emphasis on compulsory basic education. These vital human capital investments definitely take time to yield results, but the results are worthwhile and enduring.
One of Governor Bago’s immediate actions was the revocation of the sales of houses and plots at the proposed 3-arms zone in Minna, by the immediate past administration. To popular acclaim, the governor restored the 3-arms zone to its original masterplan.
Bago has also shown the capacity to take tough decisions, characteristic of outstanding leaders. Let us cite one example. For over 30 years, the Chanchaga Divisional Police Post had deprived the people access to water because it was built on the water pipeline. Successive state administrations shied away from dealing with the menace. Bago got the building demolished and built a more befitting office for the police. He thus solved a problem that had lingered over the past 30 years in no time.
Before the coming of Bago, the Kaduna–Sulejs-Abuja highway,especially during the Thursday Madalla market, was a nightmare for travelers. Those rushing to keep appointments or catch a flight at Abuja have been known to miss their appointments and flights. But without noise, Bago restored sanity on the dreaded road. Traders displaying their wares on the road with impunity and the indiscriminate parking of vehicles on the highway during the Madalla market are now past tense.
Consider another example. Before the coming this action governor, many ministries and agencies in the state were without electricity due to the failure of the government to meet its obligations to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC). Bago has restored light as he cleared the over N600 million tariffs owed AEDC.
From these relatively low hanging fruits Bago has taken on the educational, health sectors, security and infrastructural facilities in a fundamental manner.
Security has naturally received attention considering that Niger,Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states have been at the receiving end of the terrorism that has bedeviled the country. So, while it was widely expected that security would top the agenda of the Bago administration, considering the impact on lives of the people and on the economy of the state, the stark reality remains: state governors are mere glorified chief security officers as they lack control over the security agencies.
Bago has rightly adopted an unconventional strategy, after all terrorists attacks are equally unconventional. For the farmer governor,the issue of ungoverned territory is key, hence the involvement of Fulani youths as part of the security architecture to take back the forests from terror groups. The other side of the strategy is to deny the terrorists access to recruitment of youths through community engagement. Parents have become more responsible for their children which has drastically reduced incidents of rape, robbery, gang fights, kidnapping and other forms of criminality among restive youth in the state capital. Travellers on the dreaded Dikko-Suleja-Lambata-Paiko-Minna roads attest to the improved security.
There are other ways that Governor Bago’s impact is being felt in Minna, the state capital, which is now a huge construction site, just as Bida and Suleja. But Niger State, due to its location as gateway to the North and South, is suffering and would continue to suffer due to the unbelievable number of tankers with excess weight far exceeds the recommended tonnage. But the menace of the articulated vehicles haven’t deterred Bago from embarking on the construction of a six-lane road with a flyover in the state capital. Everyone around can attest to an aggressive urban renewal programme.
From his investments in education it is obvious that Bago fully understands that education is the bedrock of human capital development and that it is key to upward mobility of the poor. Unlike the numerous road projects, the fact that his investment in education would take sometime before manifesting results hasn’t stopped him from giving it the needed attention.
Because the state government is indebted to the National Examination Council (NECO), many students couldn’t continue their studies because their results were withheld by the Council. To offset the backlog of debts owed the examination body, the governor approved a monthly payment of N30 millio. He equally cleared the over N205 million owed the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC).
To further promote education in Niger state, a university of education is in the offing to help produce qualified teachers. The National Universities Commission (NUC), has approved the establishment of the university which would take off at State College of Education, Minna.
The health sector has equally not been left out. The Bago government has signed contracts worth N30.5 billion for the conversion of the old Shiroro Hotel, abandoned for years, to a University Teaching Hospital (IBBUTH). It will service the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University both in the training of medical students and without doubt a teaching hospital is key in providing healthcare.
While financial resources might pose a challenge to the execution of his lofty programme due to the global economic challenges, what Bago has going for him is his financial discipline and the extensive network that he had built over many years of working for some commercial banks like the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Standard Trust Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) and AfriBank. Bago should be able to cash in on this relationship to secure credit lines that would enable him develop the state at the dazzling pace he desires. It’s commendable that he has made efforts to block financial leakages by introducing the Treasury Single Account (TSA) which has reportedly saved the state over N10 billion. The savings have helped pay the salary backlog of local governments for the year 2020.
It’s not for nothing that Bago wants to be known as the farmer governor. Niger State is blessed with the arable land to feed Nigeria and for export. Bago intends to cultivate one million hectares of farmland of which 50,000 would be fully irrigated. If he gets it right, as indeed he should, Nigeria stands to profit in more ways than one: guaranteed food security and foreign exchange earnings. The name farmer governor is a confirmation that agriculture is the major policy thrust of his administration.
