‘United we stand and divided we fall’. With this borne in mind, the Bauchi sons and daughters living in Abuja has come together under one umbrella called Association of Bauchi State Indigenes (ABASI) to achieve same and by extension to give its members living in a far-flung town of Abuja a sense of belonging and brotherhood so as to wax stronger.
For the time immemorial, associations are in place to champion the cause of its members. These causes could border on welfare or lack of it, plight of its members or safeguard from it. This is no more that what resonated at the ABASI’s 4th General Congress and Public Lecture held at the Centre for Women Development, Abuja during the weekend.
The theme of this year’s Congress was ‘Leadership and Youth Development’. This theme, according to the Chairman of the association, Mallam Salisu Bello, was carefully chosen in line with the current realities in the country. He believed that good leadership and youth development is one of the essential requirements for Nigeria’s growth and sustainable development.
According to the chairman, the task of running the affairs of the association should not be left to the executive members alone.
Hence the call on the members to come together with a view to achieving the aims and objectives of the association which is principally to bring all the sons and daughters of Bauchi state living in Abuja under one forum.
The congress was event packed with lectures, progress reports and a lot more was attended by some of the prominent sons and daughters of Bauchi state living in Abuja.
The first lecture was delivered by one of the eminent sons of Bauchi state, Professor of Economics at the University of Abuja, Prof. Sule Magaji. The highpoint of his lecture was when he said that the current fight against corruption would not last long until these fights were backed by economic measures.
He said: “People must live decent lives and the legal ways of living such lives are not there. Nowadays people’s incomes are not commensurate with their efforts.
That is why I consider corruption as a child of necessity because it is the scramble for people to live a decent or a modest life that pushes them into corrupt practices.
“Therefore, means of engaging our youth through revival of our industries, mechanized farming and other economic empowerment are the needed economic measures that the government needs to put in place.”
The second presentation was made by another son of Bauchi state who hailed for Darazau Local Government of the state. He is none other person than Abdulrahman Ibrahim Sade. Sade, who is the Spokesperson of the association, is an Abuja-based media consultant. His lectures, which was titles: ‘Development: The role of Unity’, had a lot of bearing on the need for the sons and daughters of Bauch state living in Abuja to come together, decrying that ABASI as an association had not been given the right recognition among the prominent sons and daughters of Bauchi state living in Abuja.
He said: “When you look at the composition of the government of today, we have a lot of officials that are from Bauchi state. From the INEC Chairman, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Ministers including the Customs Boss, but none of them is here today. We understand people’s schedules anyway, but at least they should identify with this association.
“We need to be self less and help the association because this association is here to empower us and gives us a sense of belonging. So we are not after anybody’s money or political career but after the welfare of Bauchi state indigenes living in Abuja regardless of his or her political leaning, language or religion.
