Plateau State governor, Mr Caleb Muftwang, speaks on the efforts of his administration to arrest the spate of insecurity in the state, the debt burden and palliative for the state to cushion the effects of the removal of subsidies on petroleum, among other issues. ISAAC SHOBAYO brings the excerpt.
The mantra of your administration is that the time is now. Can you explain the choice of this mantra?
Before we came into government, we had observed that Plateau State was in dire need of resuscitation. And I want to inform you that since we came on board, we have discovered that the situation we thought was bad is indeed worse than we thought. And I say this without politicking we came in and in the two months that we have spent, we have not found any sector of life on the Plateau that is not in need of critical intervention. During the course of our campaigns, we knew that we had a debt of about N200 billion. But to our shock and surprise, when the transition committee brought out its report, it showed that we had gotten up to N300 billion. We found that the civil service, which is the engine room of government, was practically on its knees. I say this not again just to blackmail people, but I can tell you we found a situation where even government documents were being typed and photocopied in business centres because things as simple as paper were not available in the offices.
Shortly after you assumed office, the terrorists suddenly increased the tempo of their nefarious activities and attacked your local government, and lately Barakin-Ladi and Riyom local government areas, respectively. What is your government doing to arrest this pathetic situation?
It was a very grim situation that confronted us when we took over. And as you know, even before we came in, a reign of terror had been unleashed on the state, particularly in Mangu. Of course, it increased, particularly in Barakin-Ladi and Riyom, which had been traditional targets of terrorism. What we did upon coming on board was to tackle the issue of security head-on, and one of the things we did immediately was to put out the true narrative for the world to know that there was no Plateau community fighting another community.
It was an insurgency and a reign of terrorism, and we thought that it was necessary to put that in perspective so that the security agencies would be up and running to get to the root of the problem. Hitherto, the narrative had been of farmers and herders clashing. But I stand here as governor of the state to tell you and the world that such is not the narrative and reality on ground. And I believe that every Plateau native is a symbol of peace and what has confronted us is terrorism that has come from outside.
We say this because not only did the security agencies get the correct narrative, but we ourselves must have the right frame of mind to be able to rise together to confront the challenges that the insurgency presents before us. On my part, I took the liberty of my position to visit the president, and I had very useful interactions with him. After telling him the true situation on the Plateau, it was, therefore, not surprising that when I met with the newly appointed security chiefs, they made it clear that Mr President had given them the marching orders that the situation on the Plateau must be brought under control.
I, therefore, thank the president and the security chiefs because they immediately swung into action, and I want to salute particularly the new General Officer Commanding (GOC) and commander of the Special Task Force, who came and demonstrated professionalism. He did not stay in his air-conditioned office in Rukuba barracks, but moved straight to Mangu, where he stayed for close to a week, commanding the troops. Indeed, it is not yet over, but I want to give glory to God that at the moment, we can say we are experiencing relative peace.
What are the practical measures being put in place to complement the efforts of the security agencies?
As part of our efforts to ensure that the security situation is turned around and that peace is sustained, we have taken steps to revitalise Operation Rainbow (OR). It is not going to be a hidden thing because it is duly licensed by the Federal Government, and therefore we are going to make it fully operational and ensure that they perform their duty of protecting the respective communities. We are working in concert with the security agencies for the training of the OR manpower, and I am confident that they will go about their duties with a sense of patriotism.
Also, we understood the danger of leaving some of the abandoned lands fallow, because if they were not taken possession of, they would soon become a source of contention. After due consultation, we mobilised the tractors in the ASTC, and I think they mobilised close to 30 tractors and cultivated close to 900 hectares of land. Even though it is late for the traditional crops that our farmers would have planted, there are still a few crops they can take advantage of to be able to farm on those lands that were duly cultivated by the government.
We are therefore hopeful that, with these measures taken together, we will be able to stem the tide of insecurity. Also, since we came on board, we have held consistent security council meetings, and I have also had the privilege of interacting with our first-class traditional rulers.
We have also taken steps to revive the Interreligious Council. We are looking at the appropriate timing for us to be able to hold that meeting. We will also be calling the Plateau Youth Council for an interaction because the issue of security is everybody’s business and therefore we must come together.
From all indications, it has become a norm that successive administrations in Plateau State inherit salary arrears, just as you inherited five months from your predecessor. What is your government doing to clear these backlogs of salaries?
When we came on board, like I said, we faced unpaid salaries, and we began to take steps, first of all, to call the workers back to work. And they insisted that we must be able to pay at least the salaries for February and March before they get back. This we did. I am glad to tell you this morning that, as of the briefing I received this morning, we have been able to pay up to 70 per cent of the salaries in May. And I believe that before the end of this week, we will have tidied up May and begun June. By the grace of God, we have salaries up to July in the bank. What is delaying it is the civil service bureaucracy.
My duty is to find the money; it is the duty of civil servants to make the payment. So if the civil servants delay, please do not hang me for it. And I am hopeful that before long, we will stabilise the salary situation in Plateau. And of course, when I talk about salary, I also mean that we are also paying equally for pensions; we cannot leave that behind.
The debt burden of the state has been a subject of controversy. What is the true position of things?
When we did the solvency analysis of Plateau State, we found out that we were 36th in the country. If Plateau was a business, it would have filed for bankruptcy. But it is not a business; it is about the lives and destinies of our people. We therefore must do all we can to turn around the situation, which, by the grace of God, we will do. We have therefore gone about making strategic interventions in critical sectors that are in need. You would also have heard a lot about the local government’s situation. And let me set the record straight: when we came on board, we found a lot of irresponsible behaviours in the local government system. Very soon, we will make our findings known. And we had to rescue the system, and therefore, we have the House of Assembly still subsisting before the new assembly came on board. And the assembly took certain steps and advised us accordingly. And therefore, our intervention with the local government system is not about politics; it is about patriotism.
The removal of subsidies on petroleum has inflicted pains on Nigerians. What measures is Plateau State putting in place to cushion the effects of the hardship being experienced?
We are also working on the situation. We have gone in advance in talks with the Nigerian Railway Corporation to at least revive the rail between Bukuru and Jos, and I am sure in the next two to three weeks, we will make some definite pronouncements in that regard. We feel that this is necessary for the teeming poor population that cannot afford the high cost of transportation in view of the removal of petrol subsidy. We are also, therefore, determined to make life easier for our people in every way we can. And that brings me to the issue of palliative care.
I am sure a lot of you have been inundated with reports about the Federal Government allocating N5 billion to each state. And let me clarify that the N5 billion was allocated in principle to every state for the purposes of giving palliatives, supposedly to the poorest of the poor. We have received N2 billion so far of the N5 billion. Now the N5 billion has a 52 per cent grant component and only 48 per cent is a loan component, which means we must repay.
And then we also have 3000 bags of rice for the whole state now, but of the N5 billion, we are mandated to use N1 billion to buy rice locally. The intention of the federal government is that N1 billion should not be given to one big contractor. We must share it around so that money circulates within the local economy, and I will like to give you my pledge of honour that not a single kobo of this N5 billion will be misused.
We have set up a committee that will bring out all the possible palliatives we will look at so that they cover a wide spectrum of society. Also, we will be looking at issues like improving the bursaries for our students.
We will be looking at how to be able to get fertiliser at a subsidised rate for our farmers.
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