2019: Bauchi guber candidate decries high rate of unemployment, poverty

The gubernatorial candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Ambassador Shuaibu Ahmed has lamented that despite amazing potentials and the huge financial resources received by the current administration from the Federation Account, Bauchi state is allegedly confronted with excruciating poverty, high unemployment, overwhelming illiteracy, internal tensions and strife. The guber candidate who stating this yesterday while inaugurating his campaign council lamented that despite the land mass of the state, only 23 per cent or 920, 000 hectares is currently being farmed for rain-fed agriculture and only 16, 000 hectares is being utilised for irrigation farming. “Bauchi state has the capacity to turn all these thousands of hectares of land green all year round utilising them for growing various food and cash crops, thus, creating tremendous job opportunities for our people”. He opined. According to him, aside from fertile land, the state has an estimated livestock population of 1.2 million heads of cattle, 2.1 million sheep, 2.8 million goats and nearly four million poultry and 43 grazing reserves which he asserted could turn Bauchi into the meat capital of Nigeria if properly harnessed. According to him, “from the 2017 Oxford University Multidimensional Poverty Index, Bauchi State is one of the most poverty ravaged states in the country with a rate of 87 per cent ahead of only of Jigawa and Zamfara States”. The governorship hopeful alleged that recent statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics indicates that Unemployment is at an alarming rate of 41.4 per cent while the literacy rate of the state is 27 per cent or the illiteracy rate of 73 per cent, second lowest in the federation. Ambassador Ahmed who stated that the state is endowed with a land mass of 4, 925, 900 million hectares of land out of which about 3, 940, 000 million hectares is suitable for farming, pledged that if elected as governor in 2019, his administration would harness the state’s agricultural potentials. “The combination of the existing wildlife, Eco, Conferencing and Sports hosting facilities of Bauchi State will no doubt make the State the most preferred and premier destination for corporate retreats, Sports events, Conferences and Meetings, Family recreation and Youth camps in West Africa”. He pointed out. “A new Bauchi state is indeed possible! Bauchi State that is characterised by an unrelenting quest for good of the greatest number of our people, putting people first in all decisions and actions of Government. This is what citizens of Bauchi State want, and this is what our party, the NNPP and myself, as Governor, are offering and promising. Samuel Luka, Bauchi