By Muslim Lawal
Dr Aminu Hassan Gamawa was appointed Chief of Staff, Government House Bauchi by Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed on the 14th day of June 2022 following the dissolution of the State Executive Council where Gamawa served as Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning.
Dr. Gamawa’s ability to operate an open door policy made him to be relevant, dependable and reliable to Governor Bala Mohammed where the governor also supported him wholeheartedly to discharge his responsibilities diligently.
The current Chief of Staff on the assumption of office and in a bid to justify the confidence reposed on him, provided a lavel playing ground for the staff of Government House to discharge their duties without interference to enable him to coordinate well all matters of state interest especially proper accommodation of Governor’s visitors and investors.
Many have said that Dr. Aminu Gamawa’s emergence as the Chief of Staff was connected to his track record of achievements while serving as the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning. What the reason might be, what he was able to bring to the Governor Bala-led administration evidently speaks volumes for his breakthroughs.
Initially, at the inception of the Government, many anticipated that Dr. Gamawa will be deployed to the Ministry of Justice in view of his capacity as a trained lawyer and an advocate of societal issues. However, his emergence as Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning was surprising to many because of the position he holds in the United States of America, where a lot of well-wishers applauded him for accepting the offer to serve in his state.
An individual with International experience and expertise in critical sectors, Dr Aminu Gamawa has proved to be indispensable and someone Governor Bala Mohammed considers to eminently qualify at the beginning of the government to manage the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning before elevating him to be the Chief of Staff.
Immediately after assuming office, Dr Aminu Gamawa embarked on crucial discussions and consultations with critical stakeholders on budget, planning and administration in order to ensure transparency and accountability. For instance, within 100 days in office as Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Dr. Gamawa set an agenda and goals to assist the administration to improve the welfare of the people through effective and efficient use of resources, especially in the sectors of Health, Agriculture, Youths and Women Empowerment, housing, commerce and education through efficient mobilization, allocation and utilization of resources for the development of the state.
Dr. Gamawa at the ministry promoted transparency and accountability in governance as well as developed a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and a robust Fiscal Strategy Paper for the state in addition to Leveraging on the resources and opportunities available at the federal government, encouraging innovation in governance and adoption of best practices from other jurisdictions in a bid to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the staff of the ministry in the discharge of their responsibilities.
Dr. Aminu Gamawa prepared the state by making it attractive for support and partnership from donors, financial agencies and other stakeholders as well as identifying additional taxable public revenue streams and working with agencies collecting tax to increase Internally Generated Revenues. He was among the government officials that facilitated the modalities of the planned construction of 500-kilometre road projects Under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project as part of the determination of the present administration in the state to ensure that rural farmers transport their products without any hitches.
The Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning under him has assisted Governor Bala Mohammed to find lasting solutions to the challenges affecting critical sectors of the state’s economy, by ensuring transparency and accountability in the budget proposal submitted by Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Dr. Aminu Gamawa at a meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abuja told the participants that Bauchi State has recorded a number of successes in developing partnerships with the African Development Bank and it was able to secure substantial new avenues of funding. The funding is to complement the efforts Governor Bala Mohammed is making in tackling the developmental issues the state currently faces.
Following the meeting, the state was agreed to access a total of 44.63 Million Dollars of funding from the AfDB (28.76 Million naira) and African Development Foundation ADF (15.87 Million naira) respectively. In addition to the funding obtained, there is an additional mechanism for funding that is dependent on qualified programme performance.
In the 2022 budget, the Commissioner engaged ministries to capture their projects in the 2020 budget. This is due to the fact that the disbursements are linked with the performance of the state, which is also linked to specific performance indicators and criteria.
It is on record that the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning under the leadership of Dr. Aminu Gamawa had conducted public hearings on the proposed 2020 budget across the 3 Senatorial Districts of the state as part of efforts to promote transparency and accountability and boost citizens’ participation in governance, facilitated the disbursement of the 377 Million naira fund under the Community and Social Development Project in the state.
Similarly, on the 28th of September 2019, Dr Aminu Gamawa facilitated the Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Bauchi State Government and a consulting company, Africa Energy S A Nigeria Limited with a view to enabling the state government to access funding from Kuwait funds where the state is expected to access 200 million dollars.
The Bauchi State Ministry of Budget and Planning has now set itself on a number of clear objectives in its mission to deliver on the promises of His Excellency Governor Bala Mohammed with full implementation of the Disbursement-linked Indicators, a World Bank initiative, under State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability.
Thus, with the likes of Dr. Aminu Gamawa in the present administration, Bauchi state would be transformed as one of the fast growing states in Nigeria. Indeed, Governor Bala Mohammed has made a wise decision of bringing home this American trained philanthropist, whose fashion is always to ensure human and socio-economic development of Bauchi state.
Muslim Lawal, writes from the Press Center, Government House Bauchi.
