Senator Simon Bako Lalong is the immediate past governor of Plateau State. He served as the Director General of the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Organisation in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election and was subsequently named Minister of Labour before he returned to the Senate to represent Plateau South Senatorial District. In this interview with ISAAC SHOBAYO, he speaks on the push by some chieftains of the ruling APC to form a mega coalition against the party in 2027, the huge allocations being collected by states and local governments, alleged abandonment of the projects he initiated as governor, his constituency projects, and other related issues.
Sir, what factor influenced your decision to renovate the government hospital and other health projects as part of your constituency projects?
I started my political career as a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly. I was two terms speaker of the House, later a governor, minister and now a Senator by the grace of God. If I don’t go back to do something for my people, then everything God gave me is useless. That’s why I’m coming back to do something for my people. The hospital I renovated is part of what I set out to do for my people. I grew up here in Shendam local government as a child. We were always here. I was admitted in the hospital twice—one time for a football injury, the other for an attempted snake bite. So, if we are privileged and we don’t do anything for the ordinary people, it is like we are ungrateful. That’s why I’m coming back to this hospital.The last time I was a governor, we shifted attention because we had a vision; we came up with a legacy project, a legacy project that was going to be the teaching hospital. My concept was to turn this place into the School of Nursing. Not to demolish it, but to expand it to serve as the teaching hospital. But today, with the new government, they’ve taken away the teaching hospital. And there’s no attention to this general hospital. So, for me, we must bring back attention to this general hospital. The ordinary man who cannot afford a private hospital should also benefit from a public one.
These health facilities are owned by the state government. Why don’t you embark on an independent project?
This is my constituency project, but the state government has nothing to do with it—despite it being a state government facility. I didn’t collect one kobo from the state government. The hospital is owned by the Plateau State Government, but the renovation is being done as a federal constituency project. We are entitled to intervene where we see lapses from the state government. Mind you, the Federal Government is building a hospital in my constituency; it was started by the former President Muhammadu Buhari, but it is being continued by President Bola Tinubu, and it is about to be completed. That is what I expected when I left office—that the next government would continue with my projects. But almost all of them that I left behind, they said, ‘No, we are not continuing with them’. So now, you see me going back to continue what I started. That’s what I’m doing.
What other constituency projects are you working on outside the health sector initiatives?
I have done boreholes and solar panels; classrooms were built; we are focusing on education; the Total bridge in Shendam has been completed; when I was leaving office, there was no road there; nobody intervened. So, we went back again. As a senator, I had to beg Mr. President, and in less than a year, the Total Bridge was reconstructed. Now I’m going back to inspect that project. It hasn’t been commissioned yet, but they are coming to commission it. We have other projects in Lantang—we have classrooms, and we have solar power systems. We also have projects in Langtang South. All of them—classrooms—are within the limit of what a senator can do. Also, there is road construction. I also have projects inside the Federal Polytechnic. There are roads that have been completed, waiting to be commissioned. Some of these projects were initiated when I was the governor of the state, and since nobody is ready to continue with them, by God’s grace I’m in the Senate—and I have the support of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, and the Senate president. So, with all that support, I’m coming back to the zone to continue these projects. In addition, there’s the continuation of the bridge linking Wase and Langtang. That’s also part of my constituency project. I started that bridge. So, by God’s grace, we will continue and complete it.I told you about the 100-bed hospital we inspected. Let me ask you—there is nothing like that under the state government. None. Not even Plateau Hospital is up to that standard. I brought it quietly. Nobody knew. The building is done. The equipment has arrived. And by the grace of God, in a few months, they will commission it. Though they took away the teaching hospital project from me, this one is more than a teaching hospital. It will serve not just the people of the Southern Plateau, but even people from Taraba and Nasarawa will be coming to use that hospital.
As one of the founding fathers of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who made a significant contribution to bringing this administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on board, are you satisfied with the way members are departing to form anti-party pressure groups against the APC?
Well, let me tell you something: people are moving out of APC for lack of knowledge—for lack of information. You saw what I did in the last three days. Even people who had no hope in APC are now running back. Even within PDP—yes, PDP—now that I’m talking, people are not running to PDP; PDP people are running to APC. In Plateau State, we’ll start receiving people. Why? Because there is no sincerity in what the current government in Plateau State is doing.
I said it, and I’ll say it again: when the subsidy was removed in Nigeria, we had revenues three times more than before. States started receiving three times more allocations than they used to. Local governments two to three times.For example, the Shendam local government was getting N500 million. Multiply that by three—how much is that? N1.5 billion every month. And a chairman will now tell me he’s working? What work? If you multiply N1.5 billion by one year, that’s about N18 billion. Multiply it by two years; that’s over N30 billion in Shendam. If I were governor and received that kind of money, we wouldn’t be renovating General Hospital—we’d be building a brand new one in Shendam.
But this is the insincerity we’re seeing everywhere. That’s why people are running. But I thank Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He said, ‘Anything that will not trickle down—I must destroy the ladder. I must destroy what is destroying development.’ That’s why you’re seeing the issue of local government autonomy come up again. Remember, I gave autonomy to local governments three years before I left office. But today, autonomy has been reversed. There’s no more autonomy. But President Tinubu insists whatever belongs to local government must go to local government. Let’s see development there.
And I know the president has already put mechanisms in place. If you are collecting N1.5 billion, then every kobo must be accounted for. Don’t come and tell the Shendam people you’re collecting N300 million. We have the facts. As lawmakers, our role is to do oversight—to tell the public the truth. Very soon, everybody will cough up what belongs to the people. Let them bring it out so everyone can smile. With this kind of accountability, we’re building confidence in our APC. I don’t think you’ll see people running away from APC. You’re a journalist—have you heard of many people defecting from the APC to the other party? But I’m here, and I have a record of many people waiting to return to APC.
You have visited Shimankar, where there were some skirmishes recently. What was your message to the people?
I just came from Srimankar. Srimankar is one of my political bases. If anybody will reject me, it won’t be in that place. There are a few wards that, no matter what you do in Shendam, will never turn their back on you—I don’t want to say others are not important—but we always have people who stand firm.
No matter what you do, you can’t deceive them. I was surprised that that level of conflict came there, but when the chief told me, we knew how to address the issues. And within a short time, the matter was resolved. I thank God that it was handled quickly and there was no life lost.
It’s the same thing everywhere. I’m sure that in most parts of the southern zone, after the conflict, after the visit of the humanitarian dialogue team, and after the signing of peace agreements, most of those conflicts are no longer happening. We expect people to also copy what we are doing in the southern zone and do it in the northern zone too.
Sir, are you implying that the existing administration in Plateau State is not completing the projects it inherited from your administration?
There’s no effort to complete them.
As a lawmaker, what do you think should be done by the National Assembly or leadership to see that most abandoned projects in Plateau state are completed?
Let me tell you. The first person who taught me not to abandon projects, even if you feel uncomfortable, was former Head of State General Gowon. When I became governor, I was taking up the project from Secretariat Junction to Mararaba Jama’a. The former governor said, ‘If you have willpower, why are you continuing with my project? Why not initiate your own?’ General Gowon called me and said, ‘Governor, I love what I heard.” Don’t follow that thinking. If that was the case, then after I left as Head of State, nobody would have continued my projects. Where would Nigeria be?’ With that encouragement, I finished it. With that mindset, I took on the High Court project—I finished it. So many hospitals that were started before me; I completed them. The hospital in Plateau South, was started by Dariye—I finished it. The one in Kanke, also started by Dariye—I completed it. Roads in Jos, started by Jang and abandoned—I completed them. Even the main Government House was about 50% done when I came—I completed it. The residence of the Governor—I completed it. But I refused to sleep there for eight years. I stayed in the old one until I left. And thank God, the current governor is also sleeping in the old one
If you abandon a project, it becomes a waste. You go and start a new project from scratch. I was telling them we’ve now lost the law school. We were given the law school, submitted our plans, everything. We were allocated the Law Centre. The new government said they won’t continue with it. And now, they’ve given the law school to Kwara State. Is that not a loss to Plateau?
There’s nothing like “abandoned project” in governance. These projects are for the people—it’s their tax. So, you do it so that anyone who comes in can continue from where you left off. If they don’t want to do that, I pray that we have a future governor who will continue projects. That’s how it should be—so that we don’t waste public funds.
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