Plateau: We’ve secured NIPSS from further attacks – Commissioner

Plateau State Commissioner for Environment, Climate Change and Mineral Development, Mr Joshua Nanven, has said the state government has made good on its promise to secure the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, from further attacks.

Nigeria’s premier think-tank institution had been subjected to serious attacks in recent months by unknown gunmen, leading to the death of some security personnel attached to the institute.

Nanven told newsmen during an interactive session in Jos on Thursday that the state government had provided adequate solar lighting around the institution, including the participants’ quarters, to prevent late-night invasions by bandits.

He said that Governor Caleb Mutfwang, during the visit of Vice President Kashim Shettima to the institute after the attacks, had promised to provide more lighting points to illuminate all the nooks and crannies of the institution, as well as strengthen security around the institute and neighbouring communities.

The commissioner listed some of the measures put in place by the Mutfwang administration to curb insecurity, including the provision of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in some flashpoints in the metropolis and the installation of more solar lights around the city centre.

According to him, Plateau is better protected under the Mutfwang administration’s renewed agenda, stressing that the people now have more confidence in giving him a second mandate.

Nanven, who was recently redeployed from the Ministry of Works, allayed fears that his redeployment was punitive, saying it was one of the administration’s moves to reposition the machinery of government ahead of the 2027 election and prepare the administration for a second term in office.

He said, “We are not in competition in this government we are working together as a team and I can assure you that we’re all winners what I’ve done and left in the works ministry now is plug and play and my successor will come and continue from where I stopped.”

He boasted that all elective positions, from the presidency to the House of Assembly, would be won by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the opposition as no threat to Mutfwang’s second-term bid.

“The best hands are being recruited in every team that wants to win. So Plateau State is already focused, and we don’t need to be distracted. We need to be focused and ensure that Plateau State achieves this dream of this apostle of the time, who has transformed the state, and I’m a part of the team that is cardinal in this transformation.”