BUWDA is the Pride of Bura People, Humanity in General – Dr. Bukar Usman
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This is the text of Dr. Bukar Usman’s Speech as Guest Speaker at the Bura Women Development Association (BUWDA) Abuja-Chapter Bura Day Celebration and the Launching of BUWDA Microfinance Bank and Furnishing of the Association’s Guest House at the Skills Acquisition Centre, Marama, Hawul Local Government, Borno State, North-Eastern Nigeria, held at AGNL Park Apo, Abuja, on April 12, 2025.
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The President
Bura Women Development Association (BUWDA)
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is an honour and pleasure for me to be given the opportunity to address this gathering of our people and well- wishers who have come to express their solidarity with Bura Women Development Association (BUWDA) Abuja-Chapter in particular and the parent body in general.
The parent body of the Association whose activities I have followed closely and has kept me informed since its inception has all the best of intentions to improve the welfare of our people and the development of Buraland. So far, the Association has been fortunate to have leaderships that are committed to its laudable objectives and with all sense of modesty have something physically on the ground at Marama, which houses the Association’s Skills Acquisition Centre, to show. All who had the opportunity to attend the well-thought-out training facilities at the Centre have benefited and the facilities remain ever open to attract more and more trainees and visitors. Skills acquisition is part of education which our people have embraced seriously at all levels since its introduction by former colonial administrators and foreign missionaries to our native community decades ago.
It will be recalled that BUWDA which was inaugurated in 2014 established the Marama Skills Acquisition Centre in 2020. The Centre was formally commissioned by the Borno State Government on December 31, 2022 which was also the day of the graduation of the first set of trainees of the Centre.
The Centre is our pride and a showpiece of self help in Buraland, Biu Emirate, Borno State, North-Eastern Nigeria, for others to emulate. It is also a lasting legacy to the goodwill and commitment of the initiators alive and of blessed memory. We should thank those of them alive immensely for their selfless contributions. For those who have passed on, we should continue to remember them with fond memories.
With new leadership, the Association is embarking on new initiatives to improve the facilities at the Centre and accord more comfort to august visitors far and near. Having thought it fit, the proposal to promote microfinance bank that will further open up our rural communities to modern financial transaction required for rapid socio-economic development is most welcome. However, its take-off should be based on sound feasibility studies and assured financial management after its take-off. These are heavy responsibilities that rest on the shoulders of current and succeeding leaderships of the Association and it is my hope and prayer that the leaderships would continue to perform creditably to earn and retain our peoples’ confidence and trust for the overall development of Buraland and sustenance of the worthy objectives set out by the initiators of the Association and the Centre.
I should emphasize that skills of various kinds are badly needed by our people to supplement farming as a major traditional occupation of our people. Farming itself is requiring introduction of modern farming methods and production at a higher scale to meet up with growing population. We tend to leave naturally-endowed vast arable lands suitable for mechanization uncultivated. It is time to minimize scratching the ground with inefficient hoe and labour intensive, the terrain permitting.
While our native plant species are worth conserving, we should find a way of doing so without jeopardizing the dire need for increased crop production. Agricultural Shows should be revived and regularly staged to show improved crop and animal varieties and reward exemplary farmers with new and more efficient farm implements.
In conclusion, I wish the leaderships of the Abuja-Chapter of BUWDA and of the parent body every success in their endeavours. They deserve every support generally and timely too.
I thank you.
Dr. Bukar Usman, OON
Former permanent secretary in the presidency, Abuja.
