Deepening Community Engagement Can Help Resolve Crisis- Bauchi Governor

Bauchi State Governor in Northern Nigeria, Bala Mohammed said deepening community engagement can go a long way in resolving security challenges in any society.

He made the declaration while fielding questions from State House Correspondents on Wednesday, after he led a delegation from his State, on a thank-you visit to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Governor said: “In Bauchi, we are deepening community engagement, our traditional institutions are doing so much and our security agencies are up and doing; we are giving them support.

“We are really carrying the stick and the carrot and we are so heterogeneous as a state and we appreciate that diversity we have and we are managing it very well by deepening inclusion and that is why when there was about to be crisis following a case of blasphemy in one of our local governments, we were there with our traditional institutions and security.

“We read the riot act while there but we did so by persuasion and that is the way to go. You must be able to understand the feelings, sensibility and perception of people in order to be able to manage it very well. We are managing sensibilities, we are managing diversities and we are managing it with humility and transparency where there is inclusion.”

The Governor said the visit to the seat of power was used to appreciate the President for the recent inauguration of the urban water supply project in the State, executed by the Nigerian government in collaboration with the World Bank.

He said he also used the occasion to appeal for more infrastructural development in Bauchi State, particularly the reconstruction of the Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe road.

“We sincerely ask for our area to be opened up from Akwanga to Jos, Bauchi and Gombe and that corridor because we really need the road because the place is very bad and insecurity is bedevilling us especially where there are so much bad roads but essentially we have come with our Deputy Governor, Emirs and elder statesmen with all modesty and humility to thank the President for showing passion,” he said.

Commenting on his Presidential ambition, the Governor said he has the experience and wherewithal to lead the country, adding that he is very hopeful of winning the election if he emerges as the candidate of his party.