BY Suzan Edeh

Bauchi- There is tension in Bauchi State following controversies surrounding the creation of 96 districts as well as appointment of 456 village heads by the state government, even as the Bauchi State Emirate Council has expressed its readiness to intervene in the matter with a view to resolving the dispute.

Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Adamu stated the Emirate’s readiness to intervene in the crises when the Garam community in Bununu area of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area summited its request for the creation of Garam Village Area out of Bununu.

Alhaji Adamu appealed to the members of the community to remain calm as they submit their proposal to the appropriate authority for consideration, as according to him, the creation of more districts and villages was aimed at increasing the tempo of development that would also, engender peaceful coexistence in the state.

Earlier, the spokesman of the community, Mallam Abdullahi Garam, said they were in the Emir’s palace to seek his intervention over the issue.

He said: “We understand that the name of Garam community was in the first list, but we later discovered that the name was missing in the final list; only to be merged with far away Dajin community.

’’This is causing apprehension because of the long distance. We are therefore appealing to the emir of Bauchi and the authorities concerned to accord our community with the status of village head or we will choose to remain with Bununu community rather than being merged with any other community.”

Garam described Garam community as the oldest in the communities with a large population and vast land, adding that it deserved to be accorded the status of a village head.

Meanwhile, ward heads in Ningi Local Government Area of the state have asked the state government to complete all abandoned and on-going projects in the area before embarking on new ones.

Eighteen ward heads in the area made this appeal at a workshop on local government budget implementation organized by Women Empowerment Initiative in Nigeria Bauchi, WEIN, Bauchi branch,.

They argued that completion of abandoned projects before embarking on new ones would ensure proper implementation and monitoring of budgets especially at the local government areas.

In his welcome address, the Head of Ningi Local Government Administration Alhaji Usman Idiris asked the participants to go back to their respective communities and come up with issues affecting them, to enable the state government address them.

In her remarks, the WEIN program officer, Mrs Deborah Kogi commended all the ward heads for taking the sensitization and awareness campaign seriously, saying “I want every ward head in all the communities to list all the abandoned and on-going projects and also prioritise what they want the state government to embark on, for proper implementation of budget at the local level”.