Samuel Atukum Explained

Samuel Bitrus Atukum
Honorific Prefix:Rear Admiral
Width:150px
Office1:Governor of Plateau State
Term Start1:January 1984
Term End1:August 1985
Predecessor1:Solomon Lar
Successor1:Chris Alli
Birth Date:1940
Birth Place:Plateau
Rank:Rear Admiral

Samuel Bitrus Atukum (born 1940) was the military governor of Plateau State, Nigeria from January 1984 to August 1985 during the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari.[1]

Plateau State Governor

As governor, Navy Captain Atukum had to handle many challenges with a severely limited budget. He reintroduced community and cattle tax.[2] In July 1984, while launching a statewide tree-planting program, he noted that 70,000 hectares of valuable farmland had been lost to mining activities, and called for Federal assistance in conservation and reclamation of eroded land.[3] He sold off all Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot 505 official cars, replacing them with less pretentious Peugeot 504s, and also banned after-hours use of government cars.[4] In August 1985 he proposed that the unions should accept a 20% cut in the salary of state civil servants in view of the state's financial difficulties.[5]

Atukum said politics "has adversely affected the lives of the citizens instead of being an instrument for institutional development".[2] He expressed concern over use of the terms "non-indigenes" and "indigenes", which he felt would cause disharmony among people in the state.[6] In 1985 he declared that anybody who harboured illegal immigrants after the 10 May departure deadline would be treated as a saboteur.[7] In December 1984 he launched a program to vaccinate all children against killer diseases, urging parents to take advantage.[8] He merged Plateau Television (PTV) and Plateau Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) into the Plateau Radio Television Corporation.[9]

Later career

After retirement, Atukum was appointed the chief executive of the Nigerian Unity Line (NUL), a new state-owned company established after the liquidation of the Nigerian National Shipping Line in 1995.The company was privatised in 2001.[10] In February 2002 the company's only vessel, MV Abuja, was stuck in Sri Lanka needing repairs, while the shipyard was insisting on a down payment for the work and the crew's salaries were unpaid.[11] The ship was finally released in February 2003 after a bank guarantee of US$500,000 had been provided.[12] A few weeks later, NUL put the 10,000 deadweight container ship up for sale and plans to float the company on the stock market were dropped.[13]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Nigerian States . WorldStatesmen . 20 May 2010.
  2. Book: 1986 . West Africa . West Africa Pub. Co., ltd. . 1984.
  3. 70,000 Hectares of Land Lost ro Mining in Plateau . https://web.archive.org/web/20121002084637/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA368271&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf . dead . 2 October 2012 . Kaduna New Nigerian . 13 July 1984 . Andrew Orolua . 20 May 2010.
  4. Book: 150 . The Nigerian state: political economy, state class and political system in the post-colonial era . William D. Graf . Currey . 1988 . 0-85255-314-5 .
  5. Plateau to Cut Wages by 20 percent . https://web.archive.org/web/20121002093959/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA337973&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf . dead . 2 October 2012 . Kaduna New Nigerian . Andrew Orolua . 15 August 1985 . 20 May 2010.
  6. Use of Word Indigene Causes Disharmony . Kaduna New Nigerian . 18 January 1985. Andrew Orolus.
  7. Book: Summary of world broadcasts: Non-Arab Africa, Issues 7939–7990 . British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service . 1985.
  8. Plateau State Immunization . https://web.archive.org/web/20121002093632/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA361826&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf . dead . 2 October 2012 . Kaduna New Nigerian . 14 December 1984 . Sehinde Dagunduro . 20 May 2010.
  9. Web site: History . Plateau Radio Television Corporation . 20 May 2010.
  10. Govt ought to subsidise shipping – Admiral Atukum, NUL boss . Daily Sub . TOKUNBO OLOKE . 6 May 2004. 20 May 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20040823043527/http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/money/2004/may/06/money-may6-03.htm . 23 August 2004.
  11. Web site: NUL MD Spends 68 Days Abroad to Recover Ship: Fears sabotage by crew members . Francis Ugwoke . ThisDay . 20 May 2010.
  12. Web site: Detained MV Abuja Released. . 18 February 2003. This Day . Francis Ugwoke And Chinedu Okwu . 20 May 2010.
  13. Web site: Move to Sell MV Abuja Terminates NUL Quotation . Yakubu Olaleye . C.W. Kellock & Co . 20 May 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081008212051/http://www.cwkellock.com/past_sales_files/nigeria.html . 8 October 2008 .