By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
In what can be described as a total departure from allocating larger percentages of States budget into recurrent expenditure, Kaduna State Government has allocated almost 70 percent of it’s 2024 budget to capital expenditure.
This move is inline with the State’s Government stance of continuing from where the last administration stopped in providing infrastructural development and social services to citizens of the State.
This assertion was made by Professor Bello Ayuba, the Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, recently in Bauchi when he hosted news men to an interactive session over the weekend, at the secretariat of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Bauchi State Council.
Professor Ayuba specifically informed that N318.8 billion was allocated for capital expenditure, with only N139.4 billion earmarked for recurrent expenditure.
While reminiscing his days as a Journalist in Bauchi way back in the late 80s and most of 90s when there was no much technology advancement in ICT and other advanced tools, Bello Ayuba tasked his former colleagues to embrace emerging new trends in technology in their news gathering and desimmination inline with global best practices.
He further urged Journalists in the country to focus on development and solution- based journalism, using evidence to keep Government on track in the implementation of policie and programs that seeks to enhance social services and human capital development.
The PPS, who said he was in Bauchi on a private visit to see his former colleagues of the pen profession, friends and relatives, disclosed that his experience as a Journalist had greatly assisted him in the academic community where he rose to the rank of a Professor.
He then implored journalists to be a united front in championing the course of the common man that constitute the bulk of the Nigerian population through their reportages.
Earlier in his remarks, Bauchi State Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Umar Sa’idu said that the visit to the State Council by the Professor and the large turnout of some of his former colleagues and friends was a clear demonstration of how well he related with people when he was in Bauchi.
Comrade Sa’idu said that, though the PPS had forayed into academic cycle and now serving as a high level official in Kaduna State Government, the Bauchi State Council of the NUJ always sees him as an ambassador of the Council and Bauchi State at large.
He said that the positive testimonies of beneficiaries of Professor Ayuba’s benevolence during his days in Bauchi, the University of Abuja and now Kaduna State Government, speaks volumes about his personality.
The Council Chairman said that Bauchi NUJ is proud to associate with the successes, achievements and ascension of leadership position of Professor Ayuba.
High points of the visit was going down memory lane and experiences shared by the visitor and some of his former colleagues when they were practicing Journalism together in Bauchi, which elicited jokes, laughter, pleasantries and general banters in a relaxed atmosphere.
Congratulations to the people of Kaduna State for having a gaingentic Governor and Indeed the active PPS to the the Governor in person of Prof Bello Ayuba Umar. Many uncompleted project of last tenure have been completed more over some new project have been completed, while some are on the way. More grease to your elbows. While wishes you more achievement in your tenure. May Almighty Allah bless guide and protect you Amin