INAUGURAL SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, ALHAJI MUHAMMADU BADARU ABUBAKAR AT THE SWEARING-IN CEREMONY AT MALLAM AMINU KANO TRIANGLE, DUTSE, MAY 29TH, 2015

1. INAUGURAL SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, ALHAJI MUHAMMADU BADARU
ABUBAKAR AT THE SWEARING-IN CEREMONY AT MALLAM AMINU KANO
TRIANGLE, DUTSE, MAY 29TH, 2015
A’udhu billahi sami’ul alim, mina shaythanir rajim, bismillahi rahmani rahim
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah, wa barakatuh.
Your Excellency the Deputy Governor Jigawa State
Your Excellencies former Governors and Deputy Governors
Your Royal Highnesses
APC officials headed by The State Chairman
Members of the National Assembly
Members of the Jigawa State Assembly
My lord spiritual and temporal, gentlemen of the press
Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen from Jigawa and our invited guests.
I stand before you this morning in total submission to the will of The Almighty and
in absolute appreciation of the weight and significance of the oath of office we have
just sworn to before you.
Only a few weeks ago we were criss-crossing the length and breadth of our dear
State canvassing for your support and votes in a contest that many people did not
see us winning because we were up against a sitting government with all the power
and re-sources that incumbency bestows. With the help of Allah (swt) on whom we
put our complete trust, we went to the polls where the citizens of Jigawa defied the
odds and overwhelmingly cast and defended their votes in favour of the APC at the
National and State level. We thank you.
I want to use this opportunity to remind us all about the precarious situation our
country found itself, especially over the last 3 years or so and consider the political
upheaval that took place as a divine intervention in answer to our collective prayers
to the Almighty. We certainly believe so and we solicit for more of your prayers for

2. guidance as we begin the onerous task of discharging the obligation of leadership
which He has bestowed on us at a time of challenging economic realities and a
perilous security situation.
In line with our commitment to running an open and transparent administration I
want to share a few vital statistics on the financial situation we are inheriting
especially since it is apparent that the outgoing government appears to be confused
about what constitutes a liability in the normal sense of the word.
I will start with the budget we inherited for 2015 which stands at N99.5 Billion. In
2014 the budget was N114.7 billion with an oil price benchmark of $77.5 a barrel
and actual oil prices averaging $100 a barrel till late October. The benchmark for
the 2015 budget was $52 and in January Oil prices dipped to about $47 before the
recovery we are seeing today. Despite these ominous signs, a sum of N8.1bn is
factored into the 2015 budget as excess crude proceeds and N8.5 billion to be
transferred from general reserves when the treasury opening balance is less than
N700 Million. About 14Billon is indicated as being expected from capital grants and
reimbursements.
This clearly indicates a revenue base predicated on less than realistic projections
and we will certainly revisit the exercise to bring it in line with existing national
economic indices. Budgeting is serious business and as a vital planning tool cannot
be predicated on overly optimistic assumptions hinged on factors completely
outside our control. Let us all reflect on the fact that statutory allocations have
dropped by 16% from January to March this year with VAT dipping even further by
23% within the same period and SURE-P deductions have already been suspended.
We must therefore reorganize our internal revenue generation machinery to
improve on the present 5% IGR contribution to overall revenues.
While resources are dwindling the cost of governance has continued to rise
exponen-tially over the last 4 years. Recurrent expenditure (i.e. personnel cost,
overhead cost and the consolidated revenue fund charges, CRFC) grew at a rate
(10%) twice the annual rate of growth in total expenditure from 2009 to 2013.
Personnel cost doubled over the same period from N16.1 billion to N32.4 billion

3. while overhead cost rose by 74% from N10.7 billion (2009) to N18.7 billion (2013).
If current trend continues, by 2017, personnel cost and overhead cost would be in
the region of N50 billion and N30 billion respectively; a situation that is
unsustainable and in direct conflict with the capital and other developmental
sectors of the budget.
Against this backdrop we have received as part of our handover notes, and
reconciled with the treasury liability figure of N117Billion representing N5.2 Billion
($35.346 Mil-lion) as external debt stock and N92.1 Billion representing unpaid
liabilities to contractors with a further 13.3 Billion in vouchers awaiting payment.
There is the sum of N1.2 Billion in unpaid retentions and N1.5 Billion in payments
outstanding from the previous administration that ended in 2007. Another N822
million representing state pension liabilities and N1.2 Billion made up of local
government and LEA pension liabilities. The latest liability is made up of N2 Billion
CBN SME and micro credit support facility which appears in our books as a
liability but cannot be traced to any of the SME micro credit or community banks
that were supposed to be the ultimate beneficiaries.
You will agree with me that the first task before us is to verify, reclassify and
restructure these liabilities or face an imminent collapse of the state economy with
dire con-sequences. If we take our revenue in May as a yardstick it will take Jigawa
at least 7 years to clear the existing liabilities and this is by paying salaries and
doing nothing else.
While no one can fault the provision of basic infrastructure as a cardinal
responsibility of any government, grandiose pet projects with little or no direct
bearing on the common man, and executed at humongous cost passed on to
successive administrations are not the hallmarks of a talakawa inspired
government. Our beautiful but desolate N17 Billion airport is a case in point,
catering for an average of 9 passengers weekly and subsidized to the tune of almost
N47 million monthly including paying for the empty seats on the scheduled flight to
and from Abuja. Within the same period the Jigawa Transport Company (JISTA)
providing affordable mass transit services to the common man was liquidated and

4. shut down with their whole fleet auctioned off to the detriment of their customer
base draw from the masses/Common man.
Against this backdrop I want to assure the people of Jigawa of our commitment to
do our best under very difficult circumstances to create a local economy that will
eventually emerge as a self subsistent model leveraging on our greatest natural
asset; Agriculture.
The Agriculture sector is the greatest employer of labour and the largest
contributor to the State’s GDP, but unfortunately it has been relegated to the
background despite having a direct impact on over 80% of the population. We
intend to undertake a drastic reorientation of agriculture through the gradual
replacement of small holder subsistence farming with large scale cultivation
involving national and multinational investors in the sector who will bring the
desired equipment and expertise to provide irrigation infrastructure, increase yields
and raise our competitive advantage through economies of scale.
It will also necessitate the establishment of processing capacity with the attendant
job creation and revenue generation opportunities that will help in establishing and
nurturing a sustainable local economy across the Agribusiness value chain. This
approach will also provide the required momentum to elevate small holder farmers
throughout-grower schemes, cooperative aggregation and the complementary effect
of better seedlings, factored extension services and availability of a guaranteed
market.
We are already working with various developmental agencies to see that in opening
up to large scale investors, adequate protection is given to our local farmers to
ensure that their social and economic interests are protected through a robust
arrangement that will guarantee a responsible and mutually beneficial investment
climate.
We will invest in agriculture related vocational education to provide the human
capital required by the anticipated surge in Agribusiness and related activities. To
this end the various existing agricultural institutions including the research

5. institute will be repositioned and strengthened in collaboration with investors to
ensure adequate local content protection at all levels.
This is part of a multi pronged approach to solving the problem of youth
unemployment and opening up the economy to private sector driven opportunities
in small scale enterprise, processing and entrepreneurship.
Our government will also take full advantage of the planned liberalization of the
solid minerals sector as contained in our party's manifesto and we will partner with
the federal government to ensure detailed mapping and validation of our vast
mineral re-sources with a view to attracting investment in that area.
We intend to run an open and transparent government that will accept inputs and
counsel from all stakeholders in a bottom up approach to ensure a developmental
roadmap that caters to community specific needs and aspirations. We assure all
citizens of a fair and balanced approach to governance irrespective of political
affiliation and without discrimination or lopsided application of state resources or
developmental projects.
We will reinvigorate the civil service to provide the platform for the objective
realization of our programs and policies through team work and dedication to duty,
but we must also ensure that all leakages and unwarranted expenditure are
curtailed in line with our national leader’s mantra of stopping waste and zero
tolerance for corruption. We must realize that hard times are upon us and
sacrifices will have to be made in the area of recurrent government spending to free
up resources for development and social services. it is only through a combination
of cost control and a sustained increase in internally generated revenue that we
can avoid a situation where we will be budgeting for salary payment only,
essentially running a government that exists solely to justify its existence and
nothing else.
I will like to use this opportunity to express our profound gratitude to our teeming
supporters for their support and encouragement and to our Royal fathers for their

6. wise counsel and prayers for our beloved state and country leading up to the
elections.
We continue to solicit for prayers and constructive advice as we begin the very
difficult task of fulfilling the mandate given to us by the good people of Jigawa
State.
May Allah in his infinite mercy guide us and continue to protect us, Amen.
Masalaam.