It was the week of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku’s birthday anniversary. He added another year to his age on July 30. That special day met him in Kaduna where he was on a private visit. There were no special birthday ceremonies. He just attended a church service in company of his wife, Anna where no official announcement was even made about the fact that the day was his birthday anniversary.
But before going to church, Ishaku was ambushed by some members of his personal staff with birth greetings soon as they realised he had woken up and was on his way down to the living room of his Kaduna residence. Later, it was the turn of his security staff and then members of his media crew. They all took their turns to sing birthday songs for the Governor and to wish him well. All of these happened in Kaduna except that of his media crew which took place in the evening of that day in Abuja.
In his brief remarks in the church, Ishaku assured the people of Taraba State of his determination to ensure that peace and development are achieved for the state. He urged the people to play their own role by being law-abiding and tolerant of one another so that peace could reign in all communities in the state. He said his administration has already made remarkable progress in the provision of water to many communities, improved the quality of health services and provided job opportunities to thousands of people through direct employment and skill acquisition programmes of his administration and the Hope Afresh programme of his wife.
He also told his audience that peace has already returned to Mambilla where herdsmen and farmers recently clashed. “Mambilla is now calm. We have also provided succour for victims and resettled many of the displaced persons”, he said, and appealed to communities in Mambilla to let peace to reign so that plans by government to develop the area will not be jeopardised.
Back home in Jalingo August 2, Governor Ishaku began preparations for the impending visit of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo. The august visitor who is coming to this blessed state in the month of August is expected to commission a few of the Ishaku administration’s numerous completed projects. These include the popular Green House project, Kona Road and a water project in Jalingo. The Green House is a rare model farm, the first of its type in Nigeria, even West Africa. It produces vegetable of various varieties, tomatoes, pepper and cucumber, among others. Ishaku spent the better part of the week visiting sites of these projects.
At the Green House project, hundreds of people, many of them workers on the farm, trooped out to greet Governor Ishaku. They turned the visit into a kind of carnival by singing and dancing in appreciation of the government’s decision to establish the farm that has given them jobs and improved the food situation in the state. The Governor toured various departments of the farm and gave specific instructions on what the contractors must do as part of preparations to receive the Acting President on the farm.
On Thursday, Governor Ishaku’s convoy zoomed off to Wukari on projects inspection. The Wukari General Hospital, one of the three that government is renovating under its rescue agenda in the health sector, is among the projects Ishaku inspected. Work on the project is more than 70 percent completed. The hospital was built by the Northern Regional government in the 60s and facilities there had not been improved at all since then. The Ishaku administration is giving the hospital a complete facelift that will turn it into a brand new hospital with modern facilities. New and modern equipment already imported for the hospitals are awaiting the completion of the renovation work to be installed. One hospital each will be renovated in the other two senatorial zones of the state. Work on the other two will start after the completion of the Wukari project. Ishaku also inspected road projects in Wukari Local Government Area during the visit.
During the week, the government announced a change of the burial date of the former Governor, Danbaba Danfulani Suntai. The burial was initially scheduled for August 5 but had to be changed to August 19 because the first date was conflicting with several other high profile national events that would prevent many high profile dignitaries from attending the burial. Suntai died after a protracted illness that resulted from a plane crash which he personally piloted in 2013. He had survived the crash but the injuries sustained had taken him to several hospitals at home and overseas until he died recently.
A burial committee set up by the state government is already working assiduously to achieve a befitting state burial which the government had promised to accord the late Governor. He will be buried in Suntai, his home town in Bali Local Government Area.
Reactions to the recent signing of the Bill on Anti-open grazing and establishment of ranches law in Taraba State by Governor Ishaku have been largely positive. There have been many positive commends at some events and on social media during the week. A lot of people seem to have only bothered to read the provisions of the Bill after it had become law. The law has won a lot more support and it is being celebrated in various places, including schools, churches and mosques. Reports have it that some pastors and Imams have been explaining the provisions of the law to their members during worship sessions and reactions to the enactment of the law are gradually changing from the initial resistance by some people to almost wholesale acceptance of the law as the best step government has taken towards resolving permanently crisis arising from open and unregulated grazing.
The law is a product deep and profound reflection on the part of Governor Ishaku on the need to find a lasting solution to frequent clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the state. The plan to solve the problem through legislation was part of the items listed in Ishaku’s famous Green Book. The book was published even before Ishaku became governor. At the signing of the Bill into law recently, Ishaku took time to remind the select audience that witnessed the event that the law was a product of a patriotic concern to solve a problem that greatly devastated social and economic life in the state and rendered many people orphans, widows and widowers prematurely. He urged the people to support the law and to ensure that its implementation is hitch-free and to serve the purpose for which it was intended.