Bauchi Govt set to privatise Yankari Game Reserve as APC kicks

From David Kuvie Bauchi

Bauchi State Government has revealed plan to privatise Yankari Game Reserves even as the All Progressives Congress (APC) has criticised the lease and sale of six state-owned companies.

It had announced the lease of Zaranda Hotel and Wikki Hotel at the sun of N1.2 billion naira and N200 million respectively for a period of 25 years.

It sold off Bauchi Fertilizer and Blending Company at N400 million, Bauchi Meat Factory at N301 million, Bauchi Furniture Company at N150 million and Galambi Cattle N150 million.

The  Secretary to the State Government, Barrister Kashim Mohammed, explained that privatising the six dying entities was in the best interest of the people adding that more would be privatised.

“Yankari is definitely one of the areas of concern,” the SSG disclosed at a press briefing with journalists on Saturday, at Banquet Hall of Government House Annex.

“We are keen about Yankari because Bauchi State is supposed to be a pearl of Tourism and we want to maximise our capacity.

“What happened is that there was a  Bauchi State Tourism Board which is a board under the Bauchi Ministry of Tourism.

“If you want to bring in private sector people to come and manage any entity they will want to deal with a legal entity, they would not want to deal with a Board

“We have had meetings with a lot of people coming in and we had to establish legal regime.

“We did exact laws. We took it to the House of Assembly, they passed it.

“The  Bauchi Tourism Board Law is one of the laws the governor açcented three weeks ago.

“Now that the law is accented we are talking with people who are interested in coming to help us develop our tourism potentials.

“Apart from the Wikki Spring, there four other springs in Yankari that have not been developed.

“We are thinking of privatizing Yankari. We have been to parks in Paris and Disney,Maimi where different companies doing one thing or the other

“Our thoughts is to open it up Yankari where companies will build Hotels, Children play ground and develop the tourism sector”

It will be recalled that while announcing the lease and sale of the ailing entities last week, the Deputy Governor  Senator Baba Tela, who is the Chairman,  Bureau for Privatisation and Economic Reforms, had maintained that privatisation was in the best interest of the people of the state.

Tela had revealed that more government enterprises would be put up for sale to improve their management and generate revenue for the state.

However, the first phase of privatisation of six public assets has not gone down well with the opposition All Progressives Congress who viewed the process as skewed to benefit family and friends of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government and shortchange the people of the state.

Chairman of the APC in the state, Alhaji Aliyu Babayo Misau, called on Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), and other anti-graft agencies to cause investigations into the Bauchi State government’s move to hands-off the ownership of six of the industries through privatization.

“We call on all people of Bauchi state to remain calm and keep abreast with the activities of the State Government so as to ensure that their rights and interests are not compromised,” Misau stated.