Bauchi State ‘Mono-economy’: The Need For Optimum Economic Diversification -By Babangida Mohammed

In economics Parlance, diversification means expansion of economic activities into different sectors through government directives. The most evident advantages of doing so would be to increase the resilience of an economy. Just as one does not “put all eggs into one basket”, economy as a rule of thumb should not be heavily reliant on a particular sector to drive growth.

No one can debate against that, Bauchi State economy is mono in nature depending largely on monthly allocation from oil revenue shared among three tiers of government periodically, usually on monthly basis. And more than 80% of that allocation goes to salary if it was enough to choke a horse, talkless of jumbo outstanding pension and gratuity of retirees who are eagerly waiting to enjoy the benefit of spending significant part of their lives serving the government.

Quest what? Sadly, almost all the Governors who served the state including the present; H. E. Gov. Bala Muhammad Abdulkadir CON are faced with the economic hardship and financial difficulties that led to a delay and non-payment of workers salary and counter verification that put many civil servants in heart-sinking trauma and fear of being omitted from the payroll in an effort of the government to eliminate those who are ghostly injected into its payroll. This is the story that known to all and sundry in our dear state, the question is, are we to continue with this tradition? Absolutely not.
It is high time we thought of alternatives ways of freeing Bauchi State from distress of mono-culturally economy to a viable and diversified one that will bring growth and developments and accommodate teeming unemployed youth through venture creation and expanding economic activities into different sectors.

An investigation shows that, in 2017, the population of Bauchi State is estimated to be close to 7.3 Million, out of which only 5% are civil servants. If 80% of the allocation went to the pockets of civil servants and political appointees, what did the remaining 95% of the population expect government to provide for them in terms of health care, education, employment, and infrastructure?

It is absolutely necessary for Bauchi State government to shift the economy away from single income sources towards multiple sources from a growing range of sectors and markets in order to create jobs and achieve structural transformation and economic development. This can be realized by placing economic policies and strategies that will revive collapsed industries like Arewa Ceramics Misau, Zaki Flour Azare, Bauchi Meat Factory, Bauchi Steer Company, and the rest. The government should also foster investments in agriculture, education sector, Health sector, Human Capital development, Create a strong business environment, and wider welfare gains.

Expanding into other sectors will open up a variety of new jobs as the demand increases, helping to alleviate structural unemployment in the state.

May God bless Bauchi State!

Babangida Mohammed, a Potential Economist, Write from Misau LG, Bauchi State & can be reached @ babangidamuhammadcaptain@gmail.com