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Tag: Taraba State Government

  • My five graduate kids can’t find work – Senator laments

    My five graduate kids can’t find work – Senator laments

    .Falana, Ananaba back calls for restructuring

    A former Secretary to the Taraba State Government Senator Abdulahi Bala Adamu on Friday lamented that despite their university degrees, five of his children are out of work.

    Bala disagreed with “the perception” that Nigerians from the north have it rosier in the country because a northerner – President Muhammadu Buhari – is in power.

    He said the country’s economic challenges affected all Nigerians, irrespective of their region of origin or religion.

    The former gubernatorial candidate in Taraba State spoke in Lagos yesterday at the 2017 National Conference of the Public Administration and Management Development Institute (PAMDI).

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was the Guest of honour at the event, themed ‘Re-engineering the Nigeria state: Challenges and prospects.’

    Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) delivered the keynote address.

    Falana and Dr. Paul Ananaba (SAN) were afterwards conferred with conferred with Distinguished Professional Service Award and Fellowship Award.

    Adamu, who represented his state at the 2014 national conference, said the calls for restructuring was resounding across the country but that there were differences as to what it meant.

    He urged Nigerians unite and forge a consensus on how to make the country better.

    Adam said: “The idea of existing federal structure and the clamour for restructuring that we are inundated with cannot be wished away.”

    He added: “This perception of domination or injustice, I think, is based on a false premise.

    “As I stand before you, I had the privilege of getting free education from primary, secondary, university and even post-graduate degree qualifications all paid for by the state.

    “I had the privilege of serving my state at the highest level as secretary to government and head of the civil service, I had the privilege of being elected to the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but today, I have at least five graduates, my own children, that can’t secure a job.

    “And if you say because a northerner is President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, what has it impacted on me and my family? I believe we need to create a consensus about how to move this country forward.”

    Falana, who was represented by a rights activist Stanley Imhanruor, backed the call for restructuring if it involved true federalism and justiciability of Chapter 2 of the Constitution.

    He said: “It is difficult to talk about restructuring without talking about true federalism.”

    Falana noted that he was “100 percent in support of restructuring provided that the issue of justiciability of Chapter 2 of the Constitution and the issue of redistribution of national resources is revisited.

    “We must restructure Nigeria economically so that the country’s wealth is fairly distributed.”

    He warned Nigerians to be wary of political jobbers who might try to hijack the clamour for restructuring.

    Ananaba, who shared similar sentiments, condemned any attempt to balkanise the country.

    He said: “Nobody should be preaching the balkanisation of Nigeria; that is wrong. But we should be looking at reducing the size of government. This bogus government style will not help us.”

    The chairman, governing council of PAMDI, Prof Uche Jack-Osimiri said re-engineering, rather than restructuring was the way to solve the mounting agitations across the country.

    He urged Nigerians to be their brother’s keeper.

    “We cannot afford to leave one section of the country behind. Yes there is poverty in the north east, but the rest of the country must not leave them behind to die. We must help them to grow, just like West Germany helped East Germany after the fall of communism,” Jack-Osimiri said.

    He noted that the country’s problems were complex, but that the problems had nothing to do with “tribe, federal or unity government. The problem is re-engineering of the Nigerian state.”

  • Taraba to build 5000 housing unit for low income earners

    Taraba to build 5000 housing unit for low income earners

    As part of efforts at addressing the housing deficit in the state, the Taraba State Government has flagged off the construction of 5000 housing units for low income earners in the state. 

    Speaking at the foundation laying ceremony to flag off the construction, the state governor, Darius Ishaku said the project would comprehensively address the problem of housing deficit in the state. 

    The governor said the houses would be sold to civil servants and other members of the public who show interest at prices which the governor said would be pocket-friendly.

    According to Ishaku, the estate will be a community that would not be dependent on Jalingo for power, water, clinic and security. All these facilities would be provided separately for the estate.

    Ishaku advised civil servants, particularly new entrants into the service to register so that their salaries could be deducted towards payment for the houses and advised private individuals interested in the houses to feel free to book for them. 

    The governor asked civil servants in the state to take advantage of the houses since which will be completed within one year since it will ease their problems after retirement. 

    Ishaku used the occassion to re-assure the people of his commitment to the development of the state, and urged them to remain steadfast on the side of peace and to work for its sustenance, while condemning  the recent cases of herdsmen attacks in some parts of the state.

    He urged the people to be vigilant and to watch out for strange elements who come into their communities with evil intentions.

    Former governor of the state, Rev. Jolly Nyame commended the foresight of Governor Ishaku for initiating the project which he said will help improve the revenue profile of the state.

    Rev. Nyame asked the governor to sustain the project to attain maturity and yield expected dividends.

    He also commended the Governor for remaining focused despite series of the court cases that had trailed his victory in the 2015 governorship elections in the state most of which lasted nearly two years. “Court cases can be very distracting. As a former governor of the state, I know what it feels to contend with court cases while trying to concentrate of working for the state”, he said.

  • Taraba government denies owing pensioners

    Taraba government denies owing pensioners

    The Taraba State government Thursday insisted it is not owing any pensioner in the state.

    “We are up to date in terms of payment of pensions. Even last month (January), our retired civil servants collected their monthly pensions,” Chairman of the Taraba State Pensions Board Nuhu Aber said.

    Aber spoke during an interactive session with newsmen called ‘Face the Press,’ organised by Emmanuel Bello, Governor Darius Ishaku’s senior aide on Public Affairs.

    There have been allegations that the Taraba State government has not been paying its retirees their pensions and gratuities. But the Pensions Board chairman Thursday challenged any pensioner who has not been collecting his/her pension to show up at the board, “if they have the necessary documentary records and have not been paid, they would be paid immediately,” Aber said.

    Aber was accompanied at the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs –the venue, by the Chief of Staff Rebo Usman, the secretary of the Pensions Board and a finance director.

    The Chief of Staff Rebo Usman, who differentiated pension from gratuity, explained that for pension, the state has paid up to date. But for gratuity, it has owed since 2007, saying “but it is not the fault of the state government.”

    “The problem started since the Olusegun Obasanjo administration,” Usman said.

    The pension board said the Taraba State government pays at least N173 million pension to 3,482 retirees monthly.

    The board however, said it is owing some 3,547 retired civil servants an accumulated gratuity of about N9.7 billion since 2007. “But the fault is not from the present administration. The reasons are that we couldn’t cue into the reformed pension scheme, and because of lack of proper financial management principles and techniques,” the chief of staff said.

    Usman, however could not answer what is stopping the state government from doing the needful, when asked by one reporter.

    The board said the pension is more important and can go round unlike the gratuity which involves bigger money that cannot go round, which is why the government prefers to pay pension.

  • Taraba PDP delegates reject Appeal Court judgment

    Taraba PDP delegates reject Appeal Court judgment

    • Heads to Supreme Court

    Delegates elected from 168 electoral wards in Taraba State under the umbrella of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), have rejected the decision of an Appeal Court sitting in Yola, dismissing its petition seeking to declare all candidates selected in the Abuja sham primary election of the party illegal.

    The Appellate Court in Yola on Wednesday dismissed the Taraba PDP delegates appeal to declare all PDP candidates in the last election illegal and order a fresh primary election.

    According to the Spokesperson of the over 400 PDP delegates and a delegate from Gassol local government area, Bala Ahmed in a statement, said the judgment failed to return delegates rights to lawfully elect candidates that will represent its party in an election.

    Ahmed said it’s disturbing that the appeal was not allowed based on its merit, but was striken out based on technical ground, saying the Delegates will seek Justice at the Supreme Court.

    “They were several allegations that the state governor moved several millions to Yola, we are now forced to believe that the judgment was bought over with money, money that should be used to pay workers’ salaries are now spent by the Taraba State Government to sustain their illegality against PDP delegates and members,” Ahmed said.

    He maintained that PDP members in Taraba state were clearly and brazenly denied their right to elect candidates of their choice for the 2015 general election.

    He said several elections have been nullified based on the irregular conduct of primary election conducted by the PDP and other pre-election matters.

    He said if the primaries were held anywhere without the knowledge of relevant authorities and lawful delegates, the primaries should appropriately be declared as unconstitutional, null and void.

    “The ruling of the Election Tribunal is very explicit and unambiguous; there were no PDP primaries in Taraba, simple, We were denied our voting rights to choose a candidate for our party, we strongly believed that the Supreme Court will restore these rights.”

    He said the judgment was highly tinted, “the delegates will seek redress at the Supreme Court because nothing can supersede the rights of party members through their elected delegates to elect their candidates for an election,” Ahmed said.