Waking up from sleep

Date: 14-07-2008 8:14 pm (15 years ago) | Author: Sabo Sani Labaran
- at 14-07-2008 08:14 PM (15 years ago)
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During the first year anniversary celebrations, Governor David Jang reeled off a catalogue of his achievements but critics said that the projects on ground are not commensurate with the huge revenue that the state had received from the federation account. This criticism seems to have gingered the governor into action as a lot of projects are now taking off in Plateau State.

When the Jonah Jang administration celebrated  one year in office last May, there were efforts by key functionaries of the administration to not only showcase its achievements, but to present the achievements as feats that were novel and unattained by previous administrations in the state. In a statement, the Director of Press James Mannok said Plateau state, with the advent of Jang, is "on the rise again," as the state has never had it so good as the past one year. Specifically, Mr Mannok mentioned the donation of 14 Hilux vans to the security agencies in the state, the face lift given to Jos town due to the introduction of the monthly sanitation exercise as the town is constantly being swept. In addition, refuse bins have been provided

The Director of press was not alone in this self-praise. The chairmen of the 17 local governments also corroborated Mannok’s claims. The chairmen, led by Mr Sylvanus Gongkum, the state’s ALGON chairman said that the Jang administraion has tranformed the lives of the people within one year and that as representatives of the people at the grassroots, they can testify to that. According to them, the government has renewed it commitment to rural areas by embarking on many laudable programmes. The coumcil bosses also said that the Jang administration has saved N6 billion in six months, paid counterpart funding for relevant projects, and supplemented students feeding as well as paid bursary allowances. In addition, the government has bought 23 tractors and distributed to farmers.

However, in spite of what the government and local government chairmen want people to believe, some people are still unimpressed. According to them, the so-called achievements belittle, rather than boost the image of the present administration. These groups, comprising mainly of the opposition, said that the government should have something more concrete on ground to justify the whopping sums it had collected in the last one year.

Alhaji Yusuf Kanam, the chairman of the Conference of National Political Parties (CNPP) said that the state has earned more than N30 billion in the last one year, while there is little to show for it. According to him, "while government officials are beating their chests, some of the basic problems have remained unsolved." We are still talking about lack of water in Jos, civil servants are still demanding for 15 percent, no elected representatives at the local government level and no value had been added to the lives of the state, yet somebody is talking about achievements."

However, there are some people who think that the government’s achievements should be predicated on Jang’s promise during his inagural speech. The governor promised to better the lives of the people of the state and build a new Government  House in the state capital. The present structure, he said, is "too small" to House both the office and residence of the state’s chief executive. In addition, he promised to build a new presidential lodge as the present one, known is as "Green House," is too close to the road and not secured enough to put the nation’s president in it.

Other projects that he promised to undertake include the building of a new office for the deputy governor, renovation the official residence of the House speaker, rebuilding the burnt down Jos ultra modern market, building a new market along  Mararaban Jema’a as well as dualization and reconstruction of a number of roads. Although some of the projects have commenced, a lot more are yet to take off. For instance, the dualisation of the Gada Biyu-Zaria road is about to start because compensations have since been paid to people whose properties will be affected by the work. The contractors has since been mobilized to site. The same thing applies to the proposed Government House.

The state commissioner for works, Mr Solomon Zang also confirmed that the speaker’s house has recently been renovated while work on the  deputy governor’s office has commenced.

But the Plateau state chapter of Action Congress (AC), say the Jang administration has been largely disappointing as it has not been able to carry the people of the state along. According to the party, while the present administration has received more revenue allocations than other administrations in the past, it has not done anything with the funds to better the lot of the people other than its claim of having saved N6 billion. Mr. Maichibi Vwarji, AC’s state chairman said that the current administration has reversed some laudable policies and programmes. He listed the retirement of 22 permanent secretaries, non implementation of workers demands, closure of the Plateau state University, relocation of the headquarters of Jos North local government as well as dissolution of chiefdioms, districts, and development areas created by the past administration.

Despite the mix reactions regarding the achievements of the Jang administration , there have been renewed efforts, especially after the first year anniversary, to deliver service to the people. Less than six months after presenting the 2008 budget, the Plateau state government for instance forwarded a supplementary budget of N3.8 billion to the state House of Assembly. The budget, according to Mr Joel Gwatau, the state’s commissioner for youth and sports, is to cover  critical areas for the development  and to make up for short falls recorded in some of the items in the 2008 budget.

The commissioner explained that the supplementary budget is meant to address needs in the agricultural sector, expenditure for the approved pension scheme and emoluments for former governors and their deputies. Vehicles would also be purchased for all tiers of government in the state from the budget. He added that costs for Government House administration and the payment of more hands to clean the streets, would also be covered by the supplementary budget. In addition, the government has approved the award of contracts for the construction of the 38-kilometres Zamko-Mabudi road spanning Mban and linking Langtang North and South local governments at the cost of N1.4 billion.

The payment of 30% mobilization fees to all contractors for the immediate take off of the over 20 road projects recently awarded by the state government at the cost of  over 11 billion has been approved. Not quite two weeks after the commissioner made the plegde, the state governor, presented the N3.5Billion worth of cheques as mobilization fees to foreign and indigenous contractors in the state.

Many have wondered why it took the state government this long to embark on infrastructural development . It looks like the Jang administration has just woken up from its slumber.

n the metropolis and salary arrears and leave grants have been paid to civil servants.


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