Dan Bello Galadanci, a well-known comic and satirist, has criticized Bala Mohammed, the governor of Bauchi State, for putting his own agenda ahead of much-needed healthcare and education improvements.
Galadanci said in a series of videos that went viral that the state’s hospitals and schools are in terrible shape, despite the governor’s claims of infrastructure accomplishments. The videos also claimed that the governor had used state funds for his own residence and other non-essential projects.
Additionally, Galadanci promised to keep fighting corruption and neglect in Northern Nigeria, including Bauchi.
One of Dan Bello’s three TikTok videos satirically showed that, despite his failings in education and healthcare, Governor Mohammed still wants to be president of Nigeria.
If the state administration does not apologize for referring to him as a “liar who was trying to make a name,” the comedian threatened to proceed to the “Next Level” in another video.
He claims that Bauchi is not the only place where this plague is prevalent.
He made the statement in Hausa, stating that North Nigeria as a whole is affected and that things must change. He then declared a “war on corruption in terms of education and healthcare in all Northern Nigeria.”
The humorist went on to say, “The embezzlement is astonishing.” after poring over state budget performance papers from 2021 to 2024.
“We are not aware of how the government house construction doubled” from N6 billion to N13 billion, according to the satirist, who said the governor thought.
He claims that the governor’s mansion was constructed at the same time, which caused the price to be inflated.
“The Bauchi people don’t seem to grasp the mind-boggling amount of this money,” he went on to say.
With one billion naira, we can refurbish one thousand classrooms at a cost of six million naira each.
In addition, Dan Bello showed the governor pictures of several rundown general hospitals and schools in Bauchi and asked if the governor was unaware of the high number of deaths caused by his administration’s healthcare incompetence.
But Galadanci’s claims were rejected by the Ministry of Education administration, who claimed that Galadanci was only seeking to increase his public profile through the use of misleading remarks.
His accuser, Jamila Dahiru, the commissioner of education, called him “a liar trying to make a name for himself.”
Mr. Jalaludeen Usman, the public relations officer of the Ministry, also released a statement in which he credited Governor Bala Mohammed’s energetic leadership with the sector’s unparalleled achievement.
Among the many accomplishments of the Ministry, according to Usman, Governor Bala Mohammed has shown the state’s dedication to international best practices by launching the approval of three policies: one for inclusive education, one for the protection of girls in school, and another for the education of all students.
More than fourteen thousand students have had their WAEC, NECO, and JAMB registrations sponsored by the government, he added.
In a recent misleading one-minute and thirty-second Hausa film, Dan Bello showed pictures of crumbling school buildings in several isolated areas of the state, prompting the Ministry to recall the video.
The state of Bauchi has been at the forefront of data-driven effective education planning and management, with over 500,000 students re-enrolled in schools.
The implementation of the strategic roadmap has been guided by a consistent Annual Schools Census (ASC) that began in 2020 and continues to this day.
The PRO continued by outlining additional feasible initiatives, such as the National Gender Policy in Education and Child Rights Act, as well as other legislative and institutional frameworks. “This putting Bauchi today as one of six selected states receiving support through the System Transformation Grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), in furtherance of enhancing educational opportunities in the region.”
His Excellency, Sen. Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has made this area a top priority, and this award is a sign of that. “Those seeking exemplary conversations to elevate and (or) emulate must be equally acknowledged, supported, and encouraged,” the statement read.
According to Jalaludeen, following the Education Summit’s efforts to develop a plan for the sector, Governor Bala Mohammed raised funding for it from 12% to 16%, the largest share in recent memory.
Since 2019, the governor has relentlessly renovated and remodeled almost 5,000 different buildings, all while being cognizant of the inadequate distribution of funds to confront the state of deterioration and dilapidation.
actions that aim to improve the physical facilities of educational institutions.
In the state, 784 junior secondary schools and 219 senior secondary schools will soon be part of the AGILE initiative, which is being backed by the World Bank. Building 21 new junior high schools and 22 new senior high schools are also included in the project.
Additional 387 one-block classrooms have been rebuilt with the secured matching grants. These makeovers have been accompanied across the state by an unceasing stream of new projects.
“Among these, we have had the opportunity to work on the construction of three ECCDE Model Schools in Bauchi, Toro, and Shira. As part of the BESDA project, we have also built 12 blocks of four high-rise classrooms and a number of temporary shades.
Additionally, for IQE, we have constructed 880 blocks of temporary shades and an additional 18,000 seats, all through the BESDA project.” Continue reading the statement.