Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, born 11 December, 1956, is the current Governor of Bauchi State in the Northeastern part of Nigeria. He began his career in the Civil Service where he rose through the ranks to the position of Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice. He ran for Governor of Bauchi State in 2015 under the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and won the election, defeating the ruling party’s candidate by over 370,000 votes. He began his tenure as Governor of Bauchi state on 29th August 2016, succeeding Alhaji Isa Yuguda.
On his assumption of office, Governor Abubakar immediately settled the backlog of salaries owed by the government of Isa Yuguda. The Governor launched the 2015 farming season in Misau, followed by the disbursement of 10,000 metric tons of fertilizer to farmers at subsidized rate of N2, 750.00 for NPK and N3, 000.00 for Urea.
Other achievements of the administration in the agricultural sector, include partnership with the Food and Agricultural Organization, FAO, in the improvement of food security of about 2, 000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the state through the provision of 60 metric tons of assorted crop seeds; distribution of artisanal fishery input (nets, floats, sinkers, ropes etc) to about 200 fishermen under the GESS Project, while in the 2016 farming season, 20 metric tons of fertilizer, equivalent to 666 trucks were procured and distributed in over 40 different locations in the 20 Local Government Areas of the state.
The administration also keyed into the federal government’s agricultural financing programs, especially the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers Program, working to make it easy for farmers to access funds from commercial banks to work on rice and sorghum production for rain, rice and wheat for dry season production.
The Governor made contacts with commodity companies in China and Lebanon, who had indicated interest in investments in sesame, soybeans and groundnuts, while others showed interest in establishing agro-processing industries.
During his recent visit to the Czech Republic to prospect for investments, Governor Abubakar identified eight models of small and medium capacity tractors affordable to farmers seeking to reduce the time and labour which they spend on land preparation, planting, weed control and harvesting. Efforts are being concluded to procure the tractors before the commencement of the 2017 planting season.
In order to mechanize farming in the state, the Abubakar administration procured some combined harvesters and sold them to farmers with heavy subsidy. Similarly, to encourage necessary change in livestock farming, the administration is making efforts to encourage ranching, breeding, beef and dairy productions as well poultry and fish production. To that effect, it is collaborating with the China Research Institute on the development of pastures and fodder for livestock, especially on a grass species that yield 500 metric tons of fodder per hectare in one growing season. This would be made available to livestock farmers.
