Musa Azare: Bala Mohammed: The performer who delivers; why continuity matters for Bauchi

One of the enduring challenges of governance in Nigeria is the failure of successive administrations to sustain worthwhile projects and policies inherited from their predecessors.

Too often, a change of government is treated as an opportunity to start afresh rather than to build on what already exists. Projects initiated by previous administrations are sometimes abandoned, reviewed or replaced, even after substantial public resources have been committed to them.

The consequences go beyond political differences. Abandoned projects can leave public funds tied up in incomplete infrastructure, increase the eventual cost of completion, delay the delivery of services and deprive citizens of benefits for which the projects were originally conceived.

This is why the principle that government is a continuum deserves greater attention in Nigeria’s governance system. And Governor Bala Mohammed has demonstrated that in Bauchi State, as clearly shown in my previous article.

A public project should not lose its relevance simply because the administration that initiated it has left office. The more important question should be whether the project remains viable, whether public resources have already been committed to it and whether completing it will serve the public interest.

The consequences of project discontinuity can be seen at both the federal and state levels.

The proposed Dasin Hausa Dam in Adamawa State provides a useful national example. The project was originally planned in the late 1970s to complement Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam and was conceived as a multipurpose infrastructure project with flood-control, irrigation and power-generation potentials.

More than four decades later, the project remained stalled. In March 2025, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) announced steps to accelerate its development through a public-private partnership involving the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited.

The commission said the proposed dam could support flood mitigation, generate more than 300 megawatts of electricity and provide irrigation for more than 150,000 hectares of farmland.

The Dasin Hausa experience illustrates an important point: the cost of an unfinished strategic project is not limited to the money already spent. Society also loses the economic and social benefits that the infrastructure was intended to deliver.

The broader lesson remains relevant. Governments need mechanisms that allow worthwhile long-term projects to survive changes in administration.

Bauchi State provides a useful case study.

Successive administrations have pursued different development priorities, while political differences have sometimes influenced how the records of previous governments were treated. The result has been an uneven pattern in which some projects were completed, others reviewed or investigated, while some were left at various stages of implementation.

Continuity failures have been a recurring challenge in Bauchi State, perhaps explaining why former Governor Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu has advocated institutional safeguards to protect the state’s development trajectory.

Speaking at a public lecture to mark the 50th anniversary of Bauchi State, Mu’azu called for a law-backed development plan to secure the state’s future and protect it from the “stop-start cycle” of governance, whereby successive administrations abandon projects initiated by their predecessors in favour of new ones, largely owing to political differences.

“I believe in the continuation of good projects for the good of the people of the state; therefore, there is no need to waste precious time of governance on probing. The Governor Bala Mohammed-led administration has done wonderfully well, considering the various infrastructure spread across the state,” Mu’azu said.

“I want a better Bauchi State where there will be unity and support for each other,” he added.

Let us take a few examples from among the civilian Governors who have led Bauchi State over the years.

AHMADU ADAMU MU’AZU TENURE (1999–2007)

Available public records indicate that the Mu’azu administration completed several infrastructure projects during its eight-year tenure. Yuguda, however, claimed in media interviews that he inherited abandoned projects and completed them. Reports from his administration however, largely highlighted new and completed projects rather than providing a detailed account of specific projects inherited from Mu’azu and either continued or discontinued. Yet, the bitter political rivalry between Mu’azu and Yuguda at the time, resulted in probes, and, aside the waste of valuable time, resources that were supposed to be channelled to developmental projects, were also wasted. And in the end, the duo reconciled their political differences and, everything was laid to rest. Bauchi was the loser!

Mu’azu was unable to secure a successor who would continue the development trajectory associated with his administration.

MALAM ISA YUGUDA TENURE (2007–2015)

The Yuguda administration also faced allegations by his successor, Barrister Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, concerning uncompleted or poorly executed projects. Bauchi’s political atmosphere at that time, was dominated by political disagreements and competing allegations between Yuguda and Abubakar.

The Abubakar administration established forensic audit committees to examine major contracts awarded during the Yuguda years, covering areas including the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), the Ministry of Local Government Affairs, Bauchi Specialist Hospital and other ministries, departments and agencies.

The committees reportedly identified contracts that were allegedly uncompleted, not executed despite payments, inflated, poorly executed or awarded without due process. Yuguda and some of his associates were subsequently asked to account for approximately N213 billion, while specific recovery recommendations covered contracts involving the Bauchi International Airport, Alkaleri-Futuk Road, Ningi-Burra Road, Specialist Hospital projects, schools and other infrastructure.

It is important to note, however, that these were findings and recommendations arising from investigations, while Yuguda and his associates disputed some of the allegations.

The experience illustrates one of the difficulties surrounding project continuity in Nigeria in general. Changes in political leadership often results in a combination of investigations, policy reversals and changes in projects priorities. Projects initiated by one administration can remain unfinished while the successor focuses on other priorities.

MOHAMMED ABDULLAHI ABUBAKAR TENURE (2015–2019)

The administration of Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar also left a number of projects at various stages of completion, which were subsequently inherited by Governor Bala Mohammed.

Although there is no single consolidated public figure establishing the total cost of all abandoned or unfinished projects inherited by the Bala Mohammed administration across sectors, the financial implications of completing some of the major inherited projects ran into billions of naira. I know this because I served as the Special Adviser on Projects Monitoring and Evaluation in the Bala Mohammed administration. Not only that, I also was among members of the administration who encouraged him not to abandon the projects he inherited from his predecessor. And to his credit, rather than abandoning all the inherited projects, Governor Bala Mohammed adopted the position that government is a continuum and proceeded to complete several projects initiated by his predecessor, particularly strategic road projects.

The approach demonstrated an important principle of governance: public projects should be assessed according to their value to citizens rather than solely according to the administration that initiated them.

Where a project is viable and public funds have already been committed to it, abandoning it can result in further financial losses through deterioration, inflation, variation in contract costs and remobilisation expenses. More importantly, citizens continue to be denied the benefits for which the project was originally conceived.

The Bauchi experience therefore provides a strong argument for a development culture in which successive administrations inherit not only the offices of their predecessors but also the responsibility to protect and complete worthwhile public investments.

One visible example is the Bauchi Government House project. In 2021, former Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal commissioned an extension of the Bauchi Government House and described the project as one that had commenced decades earlier before being completed under Governor Bala Mohammed. He used the occasion to argue that meaningful projects inherited from previous administrations should be continued regardless of which political party initiated them.

That example illustrates what continuity can accomplish, an administration can receive a project it did not originate, complete it and still deliver the benefit to citizens without having to claim its original conception.

When a new administration abandons a project that is already substantially completed, the state may eventually have to spend considerably more to revive it. Inflation, exchange-rate movements, deterioration of unfinished structures, mobilisation costs and revised contract prices can all increase the eventual cost.

In contrast, completing a viable inherited project can protect the investment already made and bring the intended benefits into use sooner. There is also an opportunity cost. Money committed to an abandoned project cannot easily be recovered and redirected to other priorities. Citizens therefore lose twice: first through the resources tied up in the abandoned project and again through the absence of the service or infrastructure that project was meant to provide.

The essential principle is that political ownership should never be more important than public value.

This is why the question of continuity is likely to remain important as Bauchi approaches another transition in 2027.

Governor Bala Mohammed, who assumed office in 2019 and won re-election in 2023, is scheduled to complete his second term on May 29, 2027. He has positioned and mentored his successor – his former Commissioner of Finance, Dr. Yakubu Adamu. Adamu, under the tutelage and mentorship of Governor Mohammed, is said to be one of the most prudent commissioners of finance the state has ever seen. He has been credited for the successes recorded by the Bala Mohammed administration, generally.

The challenge for a Yakubu Adamu administration after that of Bala Mohammed would not be to distinguish between projects that should be completed, projects that require restructuring and projects that may no longer represent value for money. It would simply be that of continuity from where the latter ends.

Bauchi needs a system in which development survives political transitions. Roads, schools, hospitals, bridges, agricultural projects, water schemes and other public infrastructure are not personal property of the governors who initiate them. They are public investments funded by taxpayers and should therefore be protected in the public interest.

Against this background, the debate over who succeeds Governor Bala Mohammed in 2027 should include more than questions of political affiliation or personal ambition.

It should also include a fundamental development question: What happens to Bauchi’s ongoing development projects when the present administration leaves office?. Governor Bala Mohammed has pursued a broad infrastructure programme during his tenure, including road construction and rehabilitation and other capital projects. His administration has also taken credit for completing some projects inherited from earlier governments, including the long-delayed Government House extension.

The argument for continuity is therefore not necessarily an argument against change. A successor can introduce new ideas while preserving projects and policies that have demonstrable value to the people.

This is the standard that should guide the 2027 debate in Bauchi.

The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) presented Dr. Yakubu Adamu as a potential successor who would no doubt sustain the development direction of the Bala Mohammed administration.

But regardless of which candidate eventually receives political support, the underlying principle should remain bigger than any individual. Bauchi should not have to start development afresh every time a Governor leaves office.

The real measure of a successful administration should not only be how many projects it starts, but also how many useful projects it completes, maintains and successfully hands over to the next administration.

A governor should be able to say: I inherited this project, completed it and handed it over for the benefit of the people. The successor should then be able to say: I inherited this project from my predecessor, maintained it, expanded it where necessary and delivered additional value. That is how states develop.

That is the essence of continuity in governance, not preserving a politician’s legacy for its own sake, but protecting public investment and ensuring that development moves forward instead of repeatedly returning to the starting point.

Musa Azare: Bala Mohammed: The performer who delivers; why continuity matters for Bauchi