Understanding Lalong’s legacy in Plateau

As the population of a country, a state or a city grows, there is a corresponding or higher increase in the demand and/or competition for available social amenities such as education, health care system, transportation, energy, waste management, housing, roads and other physical infrastructure.

This scenario aptly explains the phenomenon currently witnessed in Plateau State since the return of peace to the Metropolitan State located in the North Central region of Nigeria.

Prior to the election of Rt. Honourable Simon Bako Lalong in 2015 under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Plateau State was bedeviled with all manners of crises and misdemeanor which were given all sorts of colouration translated and captured in political, religious, ethnic grounds etc.

It could be recalled with gloomy nostalgia that this unfortunate development ultimately forced many residents living, especially in the Jos and Bukuru metropolis, to relocate to other states in the country. Similarly, many business owners who felt their investments were no longer safe were not left out in the exodus from the state that has historically been the melting pot of Nigeria.

The expectation was, therefore, very high that the wind of Change that brought in Governor Simon Bako Lalong will blow so deep so as to restore the dignity and prosperity of the State to what it has all along been known for “the Home of Peace and Tourism”.

Five years on, the state has been witnessing a tremendous influx of both people from different works of life and businesses. Many observers say there is an unusually high traffic in many parts of the State as a result of the surge in population.

A careful introspective analysis of the interesting situation shows that most of them are amongst those that had no other options but to flee the state few years back, while more and more new people and businesses have relocated to the state to the admiration and delight of the government and the good people of the State who have grabbed the opportunity to prove that they remain the peace-loving and accommodating people they are known to be.

The implication of this upsurge in population on the Plateau is the attendant increase in demand for health care services, education and other infrastructural facilities. No doubt, the concerted efforts and initiatives/approaches adopted by Governor Lalong to restore peace to the state are paying off.

As a proactive government, the Lalong Rescue Administration is taking necessary measures to expand existing structures to meet the increasing demand on the lean existing ones to prevent them from being overstretched. Prominent sectors are education, transportation and the health. This is at the heart of the design and implementation of the Governor Simon Lalong Legacy projects initiated across the three senatorial districts of Plateau State.

Plateau is a metropolitan state that is home to almost all ethno-linguistic groups represented in Nigeria. The lure of people to the State has been the clement weather, peace and security, ease of doing business, serene environment with lots of tourist sites etc.

Ever since he assumed the mantle of leadership as the Executive Governor, Lalong has been up and about to ensure primarily, the restoration of peace on the Plateau. He knew quite well that peace begets progress and development.

His concerted efforts ultimately culminated into the creation of admirable sustainable peace initiatives, engagement of regular and robust dialogue sessions with the creation and empowerment of the Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA) to ensure contact amongst all stakeholders on the importance of peace and unity in the state.

The landmark and laudable approaches towards sustainable peace adopted by Governor Lalong had endeared some proponents of peaceful co-existence in an egalitarian society to consult with Plateau state government on the formidable elixir that helped Governor Lalong instill the much-desired discipline and character re-orientation that currently pervades the corridors of the entire state.

This, to a large extent, is sacrosanct and has remained a point of reference in the daily constructive and productive engagements by well-meaning people of Plateau State. It is a new narrative, a new order.

Other achievements during the first tenure of his administration include but not limited to: the construction of over 270 roads across the state, as well as the completion of inherited infrastructural projects, renovation of hundreds of schools in the state, installation of street lights in almost all streets of the city, creation of Small and Medium Scale Agency (PLASMIDA) that has trained thousands of youths on variety of entrepreneurial skills, revival of the moribund State Fertilizer Blending Plant located in Bokkos, which has made fertilizer readily available to farmers and in turn, encouraged many more youths to return to farming which has led to the drastic reduction in the number of idle youths.

Having achieved this feat therefore, the rescue government under Rt. Hon. Lalong, rolled out people-oriented programmes and projects after painstaking consultations with the State’s Economic Adversary Team and other stakeholders on better ways to move Plateau State to an enviable pedestal of justifiable economic and social prosperity. These focused and well-thought-out projects have been christened “The Governor Lalong’s Legacy Projects”.

The Governor started his first term by setting out a strategic plan of development for his four-year tenure. His burning desire was to ensure peace, security and good governance; human capital development and social welfare, agriculture and rural development, entrepreneurship and industrialization; as well as physical infrastructure and environment.

These formed the fulcrum of his policy, and his success during the first term could be aptly attributed to the Governor’s proactive approach to governance. Knowing full well the import of a well-articulated policy focus, and following his overwhelming successes recorded during the first tenure, Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, had unfolded a new five-year development plan during his second tenure.

Immediately after securing his second term mandate, he engaged the famous Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to work on the five year development plan for the state. This is the development guide for the next four years which is being rolled out gradually after in-depth study by the members of cabinet and key government officials.

The State’s development roadmap for the next four years is therefore hinged on a three-pillar vision that revolves around: peace, security and good governance; infrastructural development; and sustainable economic rebirth.

In other words, Lalong aims to ensure sustainable agriculture, improved revenue generation, better human capital development, well-articulated tourism development, and utilization of solid mineral endowments of the State.

Towards the end of the last tenure, Lalong came up with the new development goal known as ‘Legacy Project’. This legacy projects which are geared towards the provision of new social development projects include six comprehensive hospitals, six comprehensive secondary schools and eight comprehensive primary schools, all distributed across the three senatorial districts of the state. This is indeed a clear commitment of the Governor to carve a revolutionary niche in the annals of developing Plateau State in critical sectors towards leaving lasting legacies for the people at the end of his eight years on the saddle.

The legacy projects which are already at advanced stages of completion are hinged on critical sectors that touch on education, health, human and infrastructural development. Therefore, no amount of budgetary allocation to these sectors is too much because of their obvious benefits to the entire masses, especially the downtrodden.

As the saying goes, health is wealth! So, a healthy society is not just a productive one but a secured society. Little wonder, Governor Lalong, with careful judgement, picked the construction of hospitals in most communities, if not all the communities, of the three senatorial zones of Plateau, to say the least, this is a huge and laudable venture that should curry support and encouragement from all quarters of the state.

The short- and long-term benefits of a robust health care delivery to Plateau cannot be overemphasized.  When completed and operational, the hospitals are expected to take health care services closer to the people, especially the rural areas, to create more jobs and assist in the security and enhancement of productivity of the general public.

The second area the Legacy projects cover is the education sector. It has been admitted that a nation develops in relation to its achievement in education. This explains why contemporary world attention has focused on education as an instrument of launching nations into the world of science and technology and with consequential hope of human advancement in terms of living conditions and development of the environment. To put it mildly, Governor Lalong has taken the bull by the horns to develop grassroot education for the people of Plateau with attendant benefits to Nigeria and the world at large.

This he has done by ensuring that Technical education is given priority not only under the Legacy Projects, but in other areas. For instance, the Governor has invested heavily in Construction Technical Schools in Pankshin and Shendam while reviving the one in Bukuru (BUTEX). He believes that a proper and good education should ultimately end up in promoting social entrepreneurial skills that will assist in creating jobs and making people productive.

No doubt, the Lalong’s legacy projects in education are deliberately focused on the improvement of both primary and secondary education through the establishment of comprehensive number of primary and secondary schools in the three senatorial zones of the state. To a discerning mind, this deliberate move will, in no small measure, assist the benefiting pupils to be exposed to a range of learning environments that will later shape them into well-rounded people, and will help them cope with real problems as they grow up to become independent individuals that the society will be proud of.

Thankfully, the state is already reaping the benefits of peace as various investors from around the world have visited Plateau state in recent times. They include investors from China, Switzerland, Hungary, Germany, United States and the United Kingdom. All of them are interested in investing in agriculture, tourism and solid minerals development which are the areas of comparative advantage for the state.

Similarly, foreign envoys and high level delegations of international rrganisations such as the United Nations, World Bank among others are also trooping into the state to hold discussions with the Governor and his team.

With all the well-articulated plans and ongoing implementation of various initiatives by the Rescue Administration led by Governor Simon Lalong, the future of Plateau is in solid hands and its’ legacies brighter even as he works hard to engage every stakeholder to take Plateau State to the Next Level.

 

• Simon, Phd, is Director of Press and Public Affairs to the Executive Governor of Plateau State.