In this piece, Mark Longyen, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State highlights the achievements of the administration in the last two and half years and the laudable projects, which President Muhammadu Buhari will commission as he visits the Northcentral state today.
As President Muhammadu Buhari visists Plateau State today, people are full of expectations. They want the president to assist the state to confront the its challenges of development.
Plateau is living to its billing as of the “Home of Peace and Tourism.” The President’s visit provides, among others, the best opportunity to examine Governor Simon Lalong’s scorecard, in view of many projects that will be commissioned by him.
Some of the road projects include the Mararaban Jema’a-British America Highway, the Low-Cost Road network, the Rantya-Rafiki Road network, the Rukuba Road network, the State Secretariat Flyover, the Angwan Rogo Road network, the Tudun Wada-Kabong Road network, among many others.
Some of them were inherited from past administrations and completed by Lalong for the benefit of the people. The multi-billion naira projects were completed in record time, thus ending the culture of abandoned projects in Plateau State.
Also, the President’s itinerary include the inspection of some of the on-going rural road projects, which contracts were awarded at the cost of N40 bn and spread across the 17 local government areas. Some of them are nearing completion. However, due to time constraint, the inspection may be restricted to those within the Jos-Bukuru metropolis.
The President will inaugurate the Tractor Hiring Scheme, a mechanised farming scheme for massive food production, another pacesetting feat of the administration in which 400 brand new tractors were acquired for hiring to interested farmers and farmers’ cooperative societies. The Tractorization Scheme, which is to take off this farming season, is in line with the governor’s wise decision to diversify the state’s economy to agriculture as the driver and mainstay of the state’s economy, following the fall in oil revenues.
President Buhari is also expected to hold a town hall meeting with the people. Many issues agitating their minds will be tabled before the President and he is expected to respond to them directly without let or hindrance.
The President will unveil the ‘Plateau Roadmap To Peace,’ a model five-year peace plan for the state, which is the brainchild of the Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA) set up by Lalong on assumption of office to ensure that the state’s hitherto legion of crises are nipped in the bud and peace is perpetually engendered, maintained and sustained in the state.
The Plateau Roadmap To Peace is a ‘Model Peace Masterplan’ or strategic plan of action for ensuring peace and security in the next five years. It was developed through a bench marking exercise that brought together many stakeholders, civil society organisations, security agencies and experts, international donor agencies, international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), the academia and the media.
This aspect of the President’s visit is particularly significant, considering the security challenges staring the nation in the face like the Sword of Damocles. This unfortunate scenario accounts for the drafting of the armed forces to 32 states to maintain or restore peace that has been disrupted by insurgency, farmers-herders clashes, kidnappings, militancy, self-determination agitations, occult killings and other forms of violent.
Plateau is like an island surrounded by insecurity, considering the crises in the surrounding states due to the measures so far put in place by government to stem crises.
Joseph Lengmang, Director-General of the PPBA, while giving a synopsis of the agency’s Peace Roadmap, which many have urged the Federal Government to adopt, said the Federal Government stands to benefit a lot from the Plateau model, if it replicates same at the national level.
He said: “What we did through this process was to identify the gaps in the post-conflict peace building process on the Plateau and the idea was to see how to develop and design a framework for engaging issues of conflict and ways of resolving them toward promoting a peaceful society in Plateau State”.
He added: “The creation of the Plateau Peace Building Agency, which is the first of it kind in the country, has also set the pace for states such as Kaduna State to establish the Kaduna State Peace Commission”
“The Plateau State Peace Building Agency has, by way of the Plateau Roadmap To Peace, gone ahead now to develop a five-year plan of action on how to proactively engage issues of conflict and to innovatively transform them as the demonstration of its commitment to delivering the promise of peace and security to the vast majority of its citisens,” he added.
The establishment of the PPBA has, no doubt, underscored the seriousness and sheer determination with which Lalong’s administration has taken the issue of peace aimed at building confidence among the ethnic nationalities living in the state, as this has also culminated in the multiplier effect of rekindling hope and the possibility of having a peaceful state built on the foundation of equity and social justice through his deliberate policy of inclusive governance.
Lalong’s giant strides in governance have not gone unnoticed by critical stakeholders in the state. For instance, while commenting on the governor’s great achievements in the last three years, a group under the aegis of Plateau Youths for Change, stressed that the governor’s scorecard is second to none in the area of inclusive governance, judging by his ability to carry along the 53 ethnic nationalities in the governance of the state.
The group, in a statement by its President, Malunga Alex, in Jos, the state capital, said: “Lalong has shown that he is a proactive and exemplary leader, for in less than one year into office, he had reunited the people of the state who were hitherto divided by the past leadership in the state on the basis of religious, ethnic and party affiliations.”
“We must also commend our governor for his efforts at entrenching lasting peace in the state and for clearing the backlog of salaries of civil servants, despite the huge arrears of workers’ salaries and humongous debt burden that he inherited from the immediate past administration.
“We indeed commend him for taking headlong the uncompleted projects inherited from the immediate past administration, most of which are key to the growth and development of the state.”
Patrick Dariem, Special Adviser to the governor on Finance and Investment, while speaking on Lalong’s efforts aimed at diversifying the state’s economy through agriculture, the reviving of hitherto moribund state-owned industries, foreign direct investment, tourism, among others, said investments in the state have tremendously increased and raised the people’s hope for an unprecedented socio-economic growth.
Dariem added: “The importance of the prevailing relative peace in the state since this government came on board cannot be over-emphasized. As you can see, we have become the preferred destination for investors.
“We have been able to get investors for the hitherto abandoned Panyam Fish Farm and buying back our BARC-Farms sold out about 30 years ago. So with these two large scale farms now being revived, you can only imagine the economic gains the government and the people will benefit in both the short and long run.
“Our attention to agriculture is not unconnected with where we feel we have comparative advantage. You know I am an accountant, so we have to bring investments that would benefit us more. The state has purchased tractors and fertilizers for farmers. But most importantly, the administration has showcased willingness by reviving our own Bokkos Fertiliser Blending Plant, which will go a long way in helping the farmers get fertilizer when needed and at affordable rates.”
He added: “ As many states in the country are now producing rice, we have also started our own dry season rice farming in Kalong, Shendam LGA. So, as you can see, the government has already set the machinery in motion and with more investors coming in, Plateau state would experience economic boom like never seen before.”
Another critical area of developmental stride is women and youth empowerment. Prior to his assumption of office, the youths were in a state of despair, disenchantment and disillusionment due to wanton neglect by the past government. Their parents were not paid their salaries or pensions and, as a result, many of them were not going to school. For some, their schools were permanently shut and there were no jobs for them, especially the graduates among them.
However, Lalong, was intimidated by the intractable challenges. He took the bull by the horns by keying into the Federal Government’s Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, (SMEDAN). He immediately sent an Executive Bill to the House of Assembly to establish the Plateau State Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (PLASMEDA). The agency has employed and empowered thousands of women and youths since its establishment.
The governor has also supported the state-owned Football Club, Plateau United, leading to their exploits in the 2016/2017 Professional Football League. For the first time, the club lifted the highest and most prestigious club medal in Nigeria when they were crowned the winners of the 2016/2017 NPFL Trophy.
Even, the opposition in the state has attested to Lalong’s uncanny courage and ability to run the affairs of the state like a colossus and get positive results.
Former Deputy Senate President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, while speaking during a recent consultative stakeholders meeting organised by the governor, said that he did not give the governor a chance to succeed, owning to the financial challenges he inherited.
Mantu told the stakeholders, which cut across party, ethnic and religious divides, that the governor would not have an opponent to challenge him in next year’s election, if he decides to contest for a second term. Giving the governor a pass mark, he said his ability to confront the security challenges was commendable.
Other ardent critics of the governor have also changed their views about the administration. President Buhari’s visit provides the golden opportunity for the whole world to catch a glimpse of governor Lalong’s footprints on the hills of Plateau as the president inaugurates some of his landmark projects.
President Buhari commissioning the fly over bridge in Jos during his 2-day working visit to Plateau State.
