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From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Taraba State Governor Dr Kefas Agbu in this exclusive interview with Daily Sun through his Special Adviser on Media and digital communication, Mr Emmanuel Bello, talks on the challenges of governing Taraba and how he intends to reposition the state on the path of sustainable development. He also gave the assurance that the state is ready to implement the new minimum wage as soon as a figure is rolled out by the Federal Government.
What are your plans to cushion the hardship brought about by the subsidy removal?
Part of the major crisis of the subsidy removal is the escalation in the prices of every other thing. You can agree with me that in Nigeria, almost everything else is linked to the prices of fuel. So the first thing we did is to revolutionarily declare free education. Remember this was our campaign promise because we saw this coming and we had to keep to it. So basically, we have to take the worry of the parents about school fees off so that they could focus on feeding and other family challenges. We figured out that the fact that parents don’t have to bother about school fees, new uniforms, books and all of that is a major relief from the burden of the subsidy removal and the accompanying hardships that come with it.
Beyond this, we are also reaching out to the farmers to make sure that they are able to transfer their food products to the markets with relative ease. In fact, our target is to provide farm inputs such as fertiliser, herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, improved seedlings, tractors and other inputs they may need to ensure bomber harvest as well as cost effectiveness of moving their products to the markets. This will certainly impact the prices of food stuff.
And then we have embarked on massive employment. In fact, about ten thousand young person’s have been given jobs already as task force to tackle the issue of environmental sanctity just to ensure that our streets are relatively clean. Over the years, there have been agitations that Jalingo has the most unkept streets. Now that is in the past.
We also have arrangements on ground to speedily implement the new minimum wage as soon as the Federal Government and the organised labour are able to come to an agreed figure. These are just some of the basic measures we are putting in place to cushion the impact of the fuel subsidy removal. But you must note that, subsidy removal or not, our administration has the overall objective of making life better for the people of Taraba State. And so we already fashioned out a blueprint that will ensure that there are deliberate policies that will offer the people opportunities to grow and make the best of their environments. That is what we already had in mind and we will implement it to the letter.
How do you intend to fund this free education you talked about?
Well, first of all, I believe in cutting down the cost of governance. That means I will be saving quite a fortune from that. Besides that, we have been empowered by the State House of Assembly to obtain a loan that will enable us achieve most of our targets. And let me even say this for the purpose of emphasis that, irrespective of the level of government, there is never a shortage of funds to carry out developmental projects. What is usually the problem is lack of political will and transparency as well as accountability. It is never about how much you have but how transparent and decently you deploy the resources for the common good of the people that counts ultimately.
Now we are here purposefully to serve the people so the political will is even the guiding principle behind our coming on board. And so it is not lacking at all. Again, without being too modest, looting to amass wealth is not part of my agenda. As a person, I am already well contented. I am blessed beyond measure already and so I have no need for the state’s resources. We have a near zero greed level and that makes it easy to free some funds to take care of some of these projects. The whole amount parents spend on school fees is not so exorbitant that the government cannot afford to take it off. So one thing we have done is to engage the teachers and school managements to get them to buy into the idea.
In fact, I had an extensive meeting with teachers across the state and I can assure you that after explaining my intentions to them, they bought into this idea overwhelmingly. So it is no longer a matter of taking a project to them that they are not aware of. They are part of the planning and implementation process so they have come to accept it as their project. And so I can assure you that it’s going to be a smooth sail. And let me just clear it here that, it’s not just about the school fees. For the state owned University, we have slashed the school fees by 50 percent. For Primary and Secondary education, it is absolutely free. But then we are also providing free uniforms, books and all of that. So it is a very comprehensive package or so to say.
What are your plans about the abandoned projects by the previous administration ?
You understand that in a democratic setting, governance is a continuous process. One administration naturally slides into the other. So I can assure you that this government is already looking at all the projects that were ongoing during the last administration to ensure that those that need to be completed are done so and those that need to be fine tuned are also done so. Yes, there are a lot of projects that were supposedly completed and commissioned but we know better. The most important thing is that, we are looking into all of these to see how we can complete them for the good of the people, even as we initiate new projects in line with our blueprint.
How will you describe the situation of things in the state when you came on board?
Okay. First of all, you need to understand that we came on board when there is a global economic downturn. It is a time of serious changes in the economic fortunes of a lot of people and we are not unaware of these. We are also confronted with the issue of insecurity as a national reality. So in the midst of all these, we are focused on ensuring that we work with our development partners around the world to see how we can move the stage forward.
I understand that the people are more interested in what we have on ground for them that what the situation was when we took over. And so we are more focused on building a state of their dream rather than lamenting over the mistakes or undoings of the past administrations in the state. We have seen lots of windows of opportunity and we intend to explore them maximally rather than trading blame.
We are literally restarting Taraba as a state. That is why we have new Ministries such as that of waste management that will turn waste into renewable energy. We also have the ministry of digital economy and lots more. And so we are more focused on our plans for the state than the history of the state and it’s attendant consequences.
What are the major challenges you have encountered so far?
Well, the most important thing to note is that the people are willing to support this government to move the state forward. That is one huge boost to us. Of course, we are faced with the challenge of shortage of funds which is a general issue. The challenges we have met are enormous but we see them as windows of opportunities instead. Things are really tough but we believe every issue is surmountable. Look at insecurity for instance. This has plagued the people for quite a while now.
We came on board with a near full proof blueprint to tackle the issue and that will show the people that there are always better ways of looking and tackling issues. So basically, we are seeing the Taraba problems as project opportunities that will give the people a sense of good governance and a feeling of something new and really good. Of course we understand that we must confront issues of disunity. We have a state that is pulverised and polarised terribly. That is an issue. But then the body language of my administration alone has shown everybody that those dividing lines must be deleted. And so gradually, people are going to focus more on the issues rather than religion and ethnicity. We cannot be wasting time on such mundane issues at this time of our statehood. For the first time in the history of the state, everyone is on the same page that we must put Taraba first. As a government, I can assure you that whatever the problems are, we will tackle them squarely because we have the political will and initiatives to navigate our way around.
What are some of the key areas you intend to focus attention on to boost the IGR of the state?
Agriculture naturally takes the lead. It is providing the platform for so many opportunities in both crop and animal husbandry. Taraba has the longest stretch of the river Benue as you know. That means we can explore commercial fishing for instance, to boost our IGR. Some countries depend basically on fishing for sustenance. In fact, the entire Dubai used to be a fishing port as you know.
Again, having the longest stretch of river Benue also means we have enormous potentials in irrigation systems of farming in and out of season. That means we can conveniently supply all the rice that Nigeria needs and more. We can provide a steady supply of tomatoes and other vegetables. Kenya as a country survives largely on tourism and tea production. Now these are two things that we have in excess on the Mambila plateau. In fact, our tea is seen as the best in the world. There was a time that they even held a world tea conference there.
What most people don’t also realise is that we have cocoa in commercial quantities here in Taraba. The land is such that we produce literally everything. We have avocados, apple, plantain, Irish potatoes, all kinds of roots and tubers. There is no grain or seed that is not grown in Taraba. It might also please you to note that we have the highest concentration of cattle in the country. So we would explore the limitless opportunities in agriculture for the general growth of the state. Already, we are taking protective measures to boost productivity by engaging farmers and providing the conducive environment for them to not only produce massively but to also have maximum value for what they produce.
We have also created the ministry of Ecotourism to boost tourism activities in the state. We have a lot of tourists sites in the state that are not so well developed. Our agenda is to attract investors in the sector so that we can collectively make the state a tourists favourite destination in Nigeria. We would showcase and harness our tourists potentials as best as we can.
Another area we would focus attention is solid minerals. We are expecting massive revenue from exploitation of solid minerals. You are aware that Taraba has literally all the solid minerals you can think of. We have uranium, gold, columbite and a whole lot. The first thing we did was to place a ban on illegal mining across the state. The essence is to get licenced miners to do their work in a controlled way so that the government can also derive the needed benefits. As we speak, the task force I set on illegal mining is working round the clock across the state and there is massive breakthrough.
We are also going to explore sporting activities to attract a lot of people to the state. We are already planning a lot of sporting activities for the coming times such that people will be coming into the state from all over the country and beyond to watch and participate. We have one of the best stadiums in the country with world class facilities. What we are doing now is to refurbish the stadium and make sure that all the facilities are back to full capacity and in their best shapes. We have an Olympic size swimming pool and facilities for all indoor and outdoor sports activities. We would restore those that are not in the best of shapes and harness all the talents we have around the state. The good thing is that, the stadium also has a standard hotel that would provide accommodation to a lot of people.
We also intend to make optimum use of the massive manpower that we have in the state for the growth of all sectors of our economy. So far, we have already engaged over ten thousand persons in environment maintenance scheme. This is just the beginning. We have programme for massive skill acquisition programmes and manpower development such that in the next few months, we could have a boom in SMEs across the state. We would make sure that young persons are more entrepreneur-minded than relying on white collar jobs that are can never be enough for everyone. Already, we are providing scholarship for training of pilots, architects, medical doctors and a whole lot of other critical sectors. For the state to achieve the needed growth, we must be deliberate and elaborate in our planning and scheming. That is exactly what we are doing, looking beyond the here and now
How do you intend tackling the lingering crisis in the state especially in the Southern zone where you come from?
You are already aware that security is my area of specialty with my background in military intelligence and all. We are aware that without a secured environment, we cannot achieve any of these noble ideas and policies that we have mapped out. And so we are not taking the issue of security lightly. I wouldn’t want to go into the critical details but you can be rest assured that we are already tackling the issue of insecurity all over the state.
There is ongoing engagements with critical stakeholders including traditional and religious leaders, security agencies, the elites and others. The first thing we did was to hold the security summit within the first few days of our coming to power. This is going to be followed by even more summits involving even other states to discuss the basis for this crisis and find lasting solutions. It is going to be a comprehensive approach that will bring about lasting solutions. We are looking at tackling even the basic intra city crimes to the barest minimum. We must, and we will make Taraba a most secured place for businesses and leisure. That is our dream and target. We have the capacity and political will to achieve this because we would pursue it without sentiments.
Taraba will be 32 in a few days. What is your take on the journey so far and way forward?
Well, in the last 32 years, we have had various governments and governance. All of them came and did the best they could and as it stands, we are where we are. What really matters is that there is room for improvement. The history of development cannot be confined to one period. It is a continuous process. So as we celebrate our state at 32, our major concern is not to focus so much on what has gone wrong in the past but what we can do to make the state better placed in the committee of states. We are focused on attracting the needed development in all ramifications.
We hope to create a truly cosmopolitan city and develop other key places like Zing, Kunini, Takum Bali, Serti, Baisa, Wukari, and so many others to cities where one can move away from the state capital to go relax and comfortably spend weekends or their vacations. The good thing about Taraba is that, there are unique potentials in every part of the state. The cultural diversity in the composition makes it such that, there is always something new to be found wherever you go in the state. We intend to make the best of this.
We need to set the stage that will take our state from where it is now, somewhere down the bottom rung of the ladder to an enviable place at the top rungs. So I can assure you that we are going to explore contemporary opportunities and make sure that we set our dear state moving in the desired direction such that regime change will no longer affect the trend of development.
What are your plans for civil servants in the state?
Okay. First of all, my administration recognises the fact that civil servants are the driving force of everything we are doing or intend to do. We also recognise that a well motivated civil servant is a productive one. And so we are not taking the welfare of our civil servants for granted at all.
So far we have put in place concrete arrangement to ensure prompt implementation of the new minimum wage once the figures are rolled out by the Federal Government. We are also working to ensure prompt payment of complete salaries and pensions. I believe that you need to pay your workers on time so that they will also work on time. And it is not just about paying them but paying them decently. We are also taking steps towards massive training and retraining of our workers especially teachers so that they will be in tune with the evolving global best practices.
We took a tour of the state secretariat when we came on board and like I said even then, it is definitely not a conducive place of work for our workers. And so we have initiated the process for the overall redoing of the state secretariat to make sure that it is a very safe, comfortable and conducive environment for our workers. We would make it a convenient place for our workers because we believe that the more comfortable they are, the better output.
