Three local councils have been identified as inexhaustible sources of revenue or what is popularly referred to in business as cash cows. One of the councils is Ibi in the southern part of the state known for the famous Nwonyo Fishing Festival.
Another revenue source is Sardauna Council in the central area of the state where the equally renowned Mambila Plateau is located.
The third is Yorro on the northern tip of the state, where you find rocks so neatly arranged that you might think some ancient hands placed them there. Yorro rocks remind visitors of those in Plateau State.
Who identified these cash cows? It was Darius Dickson Ishaku, who is running for governorship of the state on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Some have said his campaigns have been issue-based and innovative, from house to house. He has toured the entire state canvassing support and eliciting votes. During the campaign tours, he had firsthand information on the nature of the state, popularly called Nature’s Gift.
Ishaku said he believed those three councils could generate enough revenue to drive the state. So why not develop the tourist havens?
Ibi council
The attraction here is the Nwonyo Lake, which has produced the biggest fish in Nigeria. The fishing festival is a tourism product that has put the country in world reckoning. The lake has been the identity and heritage of southern Taraba people for 101 years now. A tributary of River Benue flows into it, covering a distance of about 10km. Most of the aquatic creatures from the main river course take asylum at Nwonyo due to its cool and serene habitat and the fact that the lake is a reserve. The main business of the festival is the fishing expedition.
But there is also the search for turtles and crocodiles. Boat regatta, horse race, traditional wrestling, masquerades and cultural dances are other exhilarating attractions that herald the day. The atmosphere is generally that of a carnival. The catcher of the biggest fish is usually rewarded with a car prize. The biggest catch ever at Nwonyo has been the Nile Porch fish, known in Hausa as Giwa Ruwa by Hudu Yakubu which weighed 280kg.
The state, however, has not been spinning the kind of currency it desires to derive from the fishing festival and other tourists attractions. And the socio-economic lifestyle of more than half of the natives in Ibi and its environs contrasts sharply with the nature’s benevolence. Ishaku said he will rebrand it to yield economic benefits. The candidate is not happy that Taraba is richly blessed with natural endowments, but its people are wallowing in misery.
Sardauna council
In Sardauna, the ‘great’ Mambilla Plateau and other beautiful mountains are the essence, as far as tourism is concerned. And that was the reason why the candidate began his campaign at the Mambilla Plateau, a breathtaking 1,840 meters above sea level.
He said the plateau is one of the greatest tourist destinations in Africa, with the best climate in Nigeria. Being the most accessible high altitude, offering the largest and most impressive eco-system sights, Ishaku said he will build a world-class holiday resort in the area where world presidents shall be going to enjoy their holidays.
One favourable factor for this the temperate weather which does not exceed 25°C all year round.
Ishaku said, “The plateau will become an ideal place for hosting ECOWAS Summits. I believe participants who would come across West Africa would love to visit some of the exciting historic sites on the mountains and the plateau.
Besides the captivating mountains, the fields look beautiful, with evergreen lengthy belts of tea plantation and gallery forests that inhabit beautiful birds, chimpanzees and little mammals that tourists love to watch.
To achieve this, Ishaku said he has to complete the Mambilla Hydroelectric power dam which is to generate 3050 megawatts electricity. The people of Mambilla Plateau had confronted the candidate with seven demands. But the former minister of Niger Delta Affairs told them that the hydroelectric dam shall be their life wire when completed.
“The venue (Mambilla Plateau) for this rally is deliberate because of President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts to complete the Mambilla Dam project.
“The Mambilla Hydroelectric Dam project had been on the drawing board since 1960. It was when Jonathan came on board that the project came to fruition. It can employ many youths in Sardauna and other parts of the state.
“After voting for Jonathan on February 14, you must vote me on February 28, because I was the one the president sent to work on the dam project when he appointed me as minister of state for Power,” he told a curious mammoth crowd at the Mansur Stadium in Gembu, headquarters of Sardauna local government area.
Yorro (Northern Taraba)
Yorro is another council area in the north of Taraba identified by Ishaku as a tourist haven. But it is usually difficult getting to Yorro, because of bad roads. The absence of road alone can scare a tourist, especially a new comer. Here, the sun can rise piercingly and ferociously sharp above 45°C. The dust and searing heat can also put a visitor to flight. But while in Yorro, you will marvel at what nature has offered the state. The blazing heat becomes dissipated in the shadows of hills and inselbergs. Some of the hills are a heap of stones or boulders. You will think a human being arranged them. In some areas a boulder is perfectly placed on another, as though it would fall, but it has been there for thousands of years, according to the natives. Like in Gembu, you can see the rock with giant footprints of an unnamed ancient warrior. Another rock looks like a woman and her daughter, without any application of art work.
The vegetation is beautiful too, a mix grill of Guinea Savannah shrubs and desert tree species. These plants have the abilities to adapt to both dry/hot and wet/humid seasons using both physical and behavioral mechanisms to endure, resist and or retain water. Saguaro, Joshua tree and Palmyra palm trees are good examples.
One major setback for these tourist havens is woeful roads.
Ishaku said he would build those roads if elected.
“Roads and other infrastructural facilities must be built in these tourist areas to speed up massive development,” he said. The candidate said he believed that when this is done, the people would be more united and bridged closer to their cultures. The tourism, which he referred to as an “effervescent industry,” shall create wealth for the people.
Ishaku, who was ferried via local boats when crossing from Lau to Karimlamido, made a covenant with the electorate. “Do you want roads? Do you want development?” When the crowd answered in the affirmative, he solicited: “Give me your votes and I will build beautiful roads for you; I will complete the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Dam; I will rebrand tourism in Taraba.”
Good news! President Goodluck Jonathan, during his presidential campaign in Jalingo, said he has released $1 billion of the $1.5 billion contract sum, through counterpart funding for the Mambilla dam project.
“The contractors are already on the site. The Mambilla dam is the best in West Africa. We shall develop it with top grade infrastructure for all African presidents to be going there to holiday. I believe this would generate revenue for the state,” Jonathan said.
Acting Governor Abubakar Sani Danladi also assured the people that Ishaku is an architect while his running mate, Haruna Manu, is an engineer. “These technocrats will design and reconstruct a beautiful Taraba for us,” Danladi said.
The people will decide on February 28, whether they want Ishaku to ‘beautifully’ transform Taraba, or not.
