From Jude Dangwam, Jos

MAY 29, 2023 will mark the end of the eight years tenure of the outgoing Plateau State Governor, Simon Bako Lalong after serving for two terms of four years in office, from 2015-2023 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Lalong, a two term former Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) became the pioneer governorship candidate of the APC in Nigeria prior to the 2015 general elections in the state, a platform that brought him to power as the governor of Plateau State.

As governor of Plateau State, Lalong considers himself privileged to have headed the 19 Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) as Chairman. It is a position he believes will certainly be maximized to attract so many goodies and the total physical transformation of his state and the Northern region of the country in the last eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari which will also elapse on May 29, 2023.

The governor made his name in the area of prompt payment of salaries and the return of relative peace to the state capital despite attacks in pockets of areas in the state.

However, as the countdown to the end of the eight years tenure of the APC led administration continued in the state, Lalong was bold to admit that he has some regrets looking back at the journey of his stewardship.

For instance, the Southern Senatorial zone of the state which he comes from did not witness the unprecedented transformation citizens of the area were expecting by having one of them as governor especially in the area of physical infrastructures and rural development.

Eight years after, the zone has not been connected to the national grid to attract cottage industries that can boost the commercial activities in the  zone and the State. Also, the water problem in the zone including Lalong’s Nyak-Ajikamai village in Shendam Local Government Area of the state still remains a major headache. There is no stronger healthcare facility in addition to poor road network with the agricultural potentials in the zone like rice and yam which could be in commercial quantity not receiving any value addition.

The National Coordinator of Economic Freedom Fighters,

Nigeria, Mr. Timkat Peter decried the alarming water scarcity problem in Langtang-South Local Government Area located in the southern Senatorial zone of the state which is calling for a national emergency as people struggle with animals on the untreated water from the Mabudi dam.

His petition for proper attention on issue of water in the locality titled; “WATER SCARCITY IN LANGTANG SOUTH LGA PLATEAU STATE: A CALL FOR NATIONAL EMERGENCY” draws the attention of the Executive Governor of Plateau State, “Rt Hon. Simon Bako Lalong, Distinguished Senator Dame Nora Daduut, Hon. Minister, Dame Pauline Tallen, Deputy Speaker Federal House of Representatives, Rt Idris Maje Ahmed, Hon. Beni Lar, Member Representing Langtang-North/Langtang-South, Chairman of Langtang South LGC, Hon Vincent Bulus,” to act in the interest of the common man.

Part of it reads, “ there is lingering water scarcity in Langtang South Local Government Area of Plateau State. People in the area can no longer have access to clean water for their usages. Langtang South is one of the Local Government areas in Plateau State that has been underdeveloped for over decades.

“People travel to long distances to fetch water for their domestic usages; the Local Government has been producing vast varieties of agricultural products ranging from yam, maize, cassava, groundnuts etc in commercial quantities. Yet the local government area don’t have good water and other basic amenities like road network, electricity, healthcare facilities were lacking.”

He added, “There are several efforts made by government but no feasible solution yet. It is either the fault from the sponsorship or the contractors or usual diversion of the project funds to personal benefits. There are abandoned projects in the locality that needed urgent intervention from both the State and Federal Governments. It is only government that has good political will can handle the challenges.

“The water scarcity in the area has been causing so many diseases amongst residents and increasing rate of deaths alarming. People are dying on daily basis which one of the reasons among many could be lack of portable water supply. Water is said to be life but in a community where there is no good water , life would cease to be in existence.  We need government intervention!”

Peter called on the government authorities from State and National to urgently come to the rescue of Langtang South people facing water scarcity.

“The rural dwellers urgently needs intervention to provide good water in the area. The problem of water scarcity in Langtang South needed a holistic approach. The problem needed government intervention with good political will to address the hardship faced by our people. As your tenures come to an end, we pray that you will act fast and leave the legacy for the incoming administrations.”

Governor Simon Lalong who is the third democratically elected governor of Plateau State since the return of democracy in 1999 will be remembered for deforesting the famous Pandam Wildlife Park, a gazetted Park with Lake of international repute upon coming into power in 2015 as the Executive Governor of Plateau State in the name of revenue generation.

Some commentators described the sudden efforts towards making it a National Park as a cover-up to his mess despite community and public outcry, aside professional bodies and government institutions cautioning the governor not to embark on such environmental abuses.

The Lalong led administration through a Chinese expatriate “W. J Global Trading and Investment Company Limited” harvested an endangered species of tree from the Pandam Wildlife Park known as Madrid and were moved to China. There is no record to the number of trucks of Madrid logs that was harvested aside other bigger trees cutdown as timbers in continuation of the business from the Park and how much was realized from the entire deals that left the Game Reserve a shadow of itself?.

There are also elephant projects embarked upon by the governor in many parts of the state.

Some of these might be enough reasons why Governor Lalong is regretting his actions as the number one citizen of the state while governing the Plateau.

However, Governor Lalong during the commissioning of the remodelled Plateau State NUJ Secretariat in Jos and his valedictory season with Journalists in the state at the NUJ Garden responded to questions as to what could be his regrets after eight years of his tenure?.

Lalong has this to say, “What is my regrets? Sometimes I won’t say I have regrets because I was elected for 8 years. Even though many of the things I wanted to do were things that I would have done in six years. But so many interventions came and many of them I was not been able to conclude them; that could have been my regrets.

“But part of it is continuation of projects, if you don’t have a system that will continue with projects, you will continue to lose in Plateau State because that was what brought a lot of my projects down.”

Commenting on the legacy projects, he said, “The legacy projects, today I commission one; it was my dream that by now I would have finished my legacy projects but so many things came. Some people thought the legacy projects are gone but I say no it will not go; the legacy projects are still ongoing. If anybody who comes after me believes in continuation, he will complete those projects for the people of Plateau State.”