Senator Bala Mohammed is a nation-builder that is committed to the growth, building, restructuring, and development of both people and communities. He is a leader of few words and robust action. He has a passion to serve humanity and has occupied various positions to this day that have shown his stewardship towards the Nigerian state and its people.
Born on Oct. 5, 1958, as a native of Duguri Town in Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State. He is married to Hajiya Aisha Bala Mohammed with children. He is a practicing Muslim and a ranking member of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
As a faithful steward, he has served in various positions ranging from;
- Senator, Bauchi South Senatorial district: Senator Bala Mohammed is recognized for his role in the execution of the ‘Doctrine of Necessity, which brought in the emergence of the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President and was subsequently appointed a minister of Cabinet rank by the beneficiary of his legislative activism and honesty of purpose.
- Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory: Under the leadership of Senator Bala Mohammed as an FCT Minister, he constructed several roads within the capital city and satellite town and brought extensive reforms that addressed the problems of waste in the land administration of the FCT and many other key achievements.
- Governor of Bauchi State: Bala Mohammed’s administration in Bauchi State, has been recognized for upgrades in the healthcare delivery systems as well as the revival of agriculture, a rejuvenated educational system, people empowerment within the state, abandoned road projects within the state have also been revamped and completed under his administration.
From the leadership positions occupied by Bala Mohammed, he has proven his capabilities as a transformational leader with undeniable results in every office he has held. He is vested in building systems and delivering projects that empower the people and the nation as a whole.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Governor Bala Mohammed has had a major impact and has kept his promises in delivering on the job in the following areas.
HEALTH CARE
The Bala Mohammed administration in Bauchi State launched a major campaign to upgrade the healthcare delivery systems, setting a record for administering the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to 84% of its eligible population, within the state.
Within the first two (2) years of his tenure as Governor Bala Mohammed either constructed, renovated, upgraded, and fully equipped about 323 Primary and Secondary Healthcare centers across the rural communities under the BASG/NSHIP program, which includes the construction of New General Hospital at Warji LGA, construction of New General Hospital at Dambam, construction of New cottage at Yelwan Duguri, and others spread across the local government areas of Bauchi State. He also approved the recruitment of 100 medical doctors and 1,060 medical/paramedical professionals.
INFRASTRUCTURE
In his first term as Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed has built approximately 250 kilometers of roads across the state into rural towns and farmlands. He revolutionized road and housing infrastructure within the state.
His plan to modernize Bauchi led to the completion of four major road constructions that were formerly abandoned by the previous administration. The construction of Mararrabar Ganye – Gwalfada road in Toro LGA; Giade Juguda – Kurda – Gulka road in Giade LGA; Darazo – Gafchiyari road in Darazo LGA; Dass – Gajiwal – Bangim – Falantulu – Bununu in Dass & Tafawa Balewa LGA’s.
Governor Bala Mohammed’s administration also saw the construction of The Burga to Yalwan – Duguri to Yashi road, which is currently under construction. It connects the local government areas of Tafawa Balewa and Alkaleri. Other road constructions include:
– 36km road from Bulkachuwa to Udubo road;
– 25km road from Udubo to Gamawa road;
– 3.8 km Bisina township road;
– 2.8 km Sade township road;
– 16.8km road from Sade to Akuyam town;
– 2.8 km Bununu township road.
Within the capital city, there was also the construction of
– 22km dualization of Kano Road – from Awalah roundabout to airport;
– Dualization of Maiduguri Road from Awalah roundabout to Bauchi University in Yuli campus – 14km
– Dualization of Jos Road from Total filling station in Bauchi metropolis to Dungal village about 12 km.
– 6.4km newly constructed road commissioned by President Jonathan in Bauchi metropolis named after Goodluck E. Jonathan.
– Total renovation of Adamu Jumba road about 1km.
– Ibrahim Bako estate road commissioned by Abubakar Atiku – and named after him.
With respect to improving the housing infrastructure of citizens of the State, Governor Bala Mohammed constructed a 1,500 Housing Estate at Dungal, in addition to the ongoing construction at the Bauchi Hajj Camp. His administration has sunk 1,046 solar-powered and hand-pump boreholes across the State. The upgrade of Gubi Dam Water Treatment Plant and the Water Reservoir, near Zaranda Hotel have both been upgraded and are nearing completion.
EDUCATION
Bala Mohammed values education, particularly for children. He is of the view that Child Education is a right that is owned by the government. So far, his government has spent over N8 billion on education and has also approved payment of NABTEB exam fees for all the 1,751 SS3 students of Government Technical Colleges along with all the 499 students sitting for NBAIS exams for Government Arabic Colleges.
Within his first year in office, Governor Bala Mohammed upgraded the level of education within the state by investing in school infrastructure with the construction of 270 new classrooms and renovating 405 schools within the state. This initiative has been pushed further into hard-to-reach parts of the state, to guarantee that great education is not limited to metropolitan inhabitants.
AGRICULTURE
In terms of Agriculture, the Bala Mohammed administration, within the past few years has procured over 4,000 metric tons of fertilizer for Bauchi State farmers and has sponsored 1000 students for training on better farming mechanisms. Over 5000 farmers were recipients of the fertilizers.
Governor Bala Mohammed prioritizes agriculture as a major agenda for its government and views it as an industry that brings immense benefits to the self-sufficiency of the economy, transfers technology, and raises agricultural yields for domestic consumption and export which in turn enhances productivity, and creates employment opportunities.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
Bala Mohammed’s leadership has built a strong feedback mechanism to address the insecurity challenges in both urban and rural regions. On several occasions, his administration has provided patrol security vehicles as well as welfare to support the police security force within the state in tackling insecurity.
GOOD GOVERNANCE
Bala Mohammed has always been an advocate for good governance through social reforms that cut across Social Justice, Social Welfare, and Anti-Corruption.
Upon coming into power in 2019, the Bala Mohammed administration got into action by setting up a committee task force, that was able to discover and recover billions of Naira to the state – monies that the Governor put to work immediately by reinvesting into the State by erecting lasting infrastructures such as roads [international standards], schools, water treatment plant, hospital upgrades, and refurbishment, agriculture/farming, power and water supply to rural communities, and other critical sectors of the State.
He also launched the most successful and sustainable empowerment program in the history of Bauchi State, called the Kaura Economic and Empowerment Program (KEEP), which is a grant scheme that empowers the youth and women, and also provides soft loans for traders and artisans of the state.
The KEEP program today can boast of about distribution of 156 commercial buses across the 20 LGAs, the distribution of 1,500 tricycles, a micro-grant of N10,000 for each petty trader, a fully funded micro-grant scheme of N200million, and an N75million KEEP initiatives per LGA for youths and women, another sum of N500m reserved for soft loans to traders and artisans.
Bauchi State, led by Senator Bala Mohammed, is the first and only state in Nigeria’s Northern Eastern area to domesticate the VAPP Act since it was adopted in July 2020.
The VAPP Act is the only statute in place that ensures justice and protects the rights and property of victims of sexual and gender-based violence across the country, transcending the criminal and penal codes. It also assures victims’ rights to justice and protection in a way that ensures their freedom, recompense, and respect for human rights.
In his fight against Anti-corruption within the state, Governor Bala Mohammed began a sanitization exercise by setting up a committee on Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) and authentication of civil servants on its payroll. The exercise immediately netted gains for the Bauchi people. This is because the Bauchi State Government removed 1115 employees from the payroll and saved N763,792,664.007.
Press Release by TAGET Media
