PLATEAU State
Governor, Mr. Simon Lalong has launched a blistering attack on his predecessor,
Jonah Jang, saying while he is still trying to clear the mess left he left
behind, the former governor is instigating discord among the people over the
ranching policy introduced by the Federal Government.
In this
interview with some editors in Lagos last Monday, Lalong alleged that Jang
failed to account for N2 billion he received for youth SME empowerment.
Lalong also
accused the former governor of failing to provide the list of beneficiaries of
500 SURE-P vehicles, which record showed were bought by the state government
during the Jang administration, adding that he was determined to recover all
looted funds back to the state.
The governor
gave details of the difference between the contentious grazing reserves and
ranching policy adopted by the state and more.
When you
took over, what were the things you met on ground that suggested that the
quantum of work you would have to do is enormous?
I inherited
a state that was already in crisis, conflicts, killings here and there. In
terms of security, there was none and that was the number one challenge.
Secondly, immediately we were elected, I set up a transition committee and
what the committee came out with, was revealing. There were abandoned projects
everywhere. Many contractors had abandoned the state for almost a year.
We also saw
that there was no civil service in the state. The workers were on strike for
almost nine months, the judiciary was not there. We had uncompleted projects
here and there and then, I inherited a debt profile of about N222 billion. When
I called for the state’s accounts, what I was given was just N95 million. So,
imagine salary arrears of about nine months, a workforce that was utterly
demoralized and then above all, a state that was in very serious conflicts.
There were killings here and there.
What I did
was to look at the security situation because if you do not tackle insecurity,
there is no way you can surmount the other challenges I mentioned. So, we went
into how to curb the conflicts but I realised that you cannot tackle security
without sorting out the issue of the workers. So, what I did was to borrow
money, pleaded with the workers to return to work. Now, when they returned to
work, we set up a five-policy thrust. The first was on the issue of security,
second was agriculture, third was human empowerment, tourism and the last was
on physical development.
What I did
was to now follow the policy thrust in sequence. So, when the civil servants
were back to work, people were working and we were able to meet up with the
warring factions, we set up a committee, put them together. When we put them
together because part of the problem I saw was that the inability of the last
administration to bring the two factions together. The former governor had
taken sides this time but in our own case, our campaign was that we are going
to form a government of unity. When you talk about unity, Plateau State is like
a miniature Nigeria where we have 53 ethnic groups resident on the plateau.
So, if you
want peace, you must consider all of these ethnic groups and bring them together.
For the first time, we were able to bring together the 53 ethnic groups in the
history of Plateau State.
You have
achieved relative peace in the state since you came on board but that peace
appears threatened because of the issue of grazing reserves and ranching. What
is the true situation?
The one that
cropped up was settled last week, that was the political angle. I call it the
political angle because I inherited a policy that was not only included but
gazetted by my predecessor, Governor Jang. How did that come about? Due to the
incessant crisis in the state, several commissions of inquiry were set up in
the state. The last commission set up was the one headed by the late Justice
Niki Tobi.
Now, Niki
Tobi made some far reaching recommendations that would curb crisis on the
Plateau and what he recommended was that if you want to curb the crisis,
because that time it was still the issue of Fulani herdsmen and the natives,
you must identify and establish the grazing reserves and grazing route. It was
not implemented by Governor Dariye because of elections. Now when Governor Jang
came in, he called for all the recommendations of all the judicial panels and
made recommendations for grazing reserves and grazing routes and went ahead to
gazette it in Plateau State in 2009.
By the time
we came, things had changed. Implementing it would be a bit difficult. If you
are going to implement it, where are you going to get the routes? The problem
is the routes because when you establish it, you need to know the difference
between grazing reserves and ranches. Grazing reserve means people will have to
take their cattle to an open field for grazing, you can move from anywhere to
come and graze your cows and in the process of grazing you will look for
routes. In the process, they move into farmlands and feed on crops which is the
cause of crisis and then, even the grazing reserves attract the attention of
cattle rustlers.
So, the
difference between that and what is being introduced today is the ranches, you
cannot compare ranches and grazing reserves.
There was a
report by the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan and that
report was presided over by a sub-committee headed by the former governor of
Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, which made recommendations resolution of the
crisis and those solutions were to establish either grazing reserves or
ranches.
Coming back
to the case of Plateau State, it was unfortunate that the first person who came
in with the controversy was my predecessor. He held a press conference and said
that I was bringing in something very obnoxious and dangerous to the state;
that I was bringing in grazing reserves in connivance with the president, who
is a Fulani man, to Plateau State. The moment he made that statement, there
was commotion. His idea was to ignite crisis in the state but I took my time
because even before I decided on the policy of ranches, I set up a 14-man
committee made up of experts to go and study the difference between ranches and
grazing reserves.
The
committee came back and made recommendations that I should adopt the policy of
ranches for the state. Before the committee’s report was submitted, my
predecessor had gone on air and made such statements. One of the
recommendations of the committee was to sensitize the people, so I took my time
and did exactly what they recommended. We went on sensitization and we started
with traditional rulers. The moment we finished with traditional rulers, they
accepted. We invited the youths and they accepted too. It was just an
explanation that we were not going for the grazing reserves but ranches. We
made them realize the advantages of ranches and the disadvantages of grazing
reserves.
I saw it as
a good opportunity for the employment of our youths and benefit of our state,
so all the groups we met told us to continue with the ranching policy. When we
finished with the youths, we went to religious leaders and explained to them,
we took on the House of Assembly and the last group was the National Assembly.
I took them (National Assembly) last, because I knew there were mischief-makers
among them. This policy came from the Federal Government and it was the
National Assembly that sat and passed the budget for it. I saw it in the
budget. They were going to implement it, but because one was coming to Plateau
state, the National Assembly members ran back to Plateau and addressed a press
conference that the people of the state should not key into the ranching
policy. From their reaction, they saw it as an APC policy because many of them
are in the PDP.
When I
invited them, I said, “tell me why you do not want us to key into it?” Their
story changed. They said they thought it was grazing reserves but I asked them
at what time did we say we were going into grazing reserve? The National
Assembly passed the budget but now, they were mobilizing people against the
policy. I explained to them that people of the state have accepted ranches. I
did not bring grazing reserves to the state but I was only adopting the policy
of ranches.
Aside
clearing the backlog of salaries, in the last 14 months you assumed office as
governor and having cleared the cobweb of insecurity, what can you point at as
your developmental achievements in the state?
Even with
the challenge of the backlog of salaries I met, within the period of one year,
we have commissioned a lot of projects. One of the policies of the APC is not
to leave abandoned projects, so when we came in, we continued with the
abandoned projects, we completed many of them and we are still continuing with
some of them.
We also
introduced new projects like the new roads we flagged off, which are ongoing.
Besides, let me point out one thing. We set up a state university over 10 years
ago. At that time, I was the Speaker of the House of Assembly and I presided
over the passage of the law to set up the university but that university never
graduated students. There was no graduation for about 10 years. So, when I came
in as governor, I saw that the same university could not graduate students for
one reason of the other.
Is it that
the university did not start at all or they started…
(Cuts in)
They started, students came in but they did not graduate the students.
For 10
years? So, what were they doing for 10 years?
There have
been administrative problems here and there. About four vice chancellors were
changed. On the volition of Governor Jang, he would change the vice chancellor
and not only that, there was problem of administration and at the same time,
the students were suffering. So, the last vice chancellor was removed but the
university said no, we cannot continue like that. There was no accreditation of
courses, instead of concentrating on accreditation of courses and graduating
students, the politics of administration was what the governor was concerned
about. What we did was to go with the recommendations of the National Universities
Commission and we implemented all the recommendations. 17 courses were
accredited and right now, we are preparing for the first convocation of that
university. I brought in the last vice chancellor that was removed. I followed
due process.
With the
security situation, it is not easy to restore security in the state. When we
came in May 2015, people were running away from Plateau State, but now people
are eager to come to the state. It is when you have peace that people will
want to come to your state. Our state is already known for having the best
weather and when you have a good weather, people would want to take advantage
of that good weather. It was our responsibility to restore security.
In terms of
agriculture, that is also our focus for empowerment and also for revenue generation.
We have almost keyed into all the counterpart funding in agriculture as far as
we are concerned. We have FADAMA. We are into rice, potato, cassava and
several others. With our good weather, Plateau is known as the home for peace
and tourism; so we are still going back to tourism. We would embark on reviving
and developing our tourism.
Still on the
issue of grazing, what your predecessor is trying to make people believe
is that the state government wants to take lands from the natives, the indigenous
people of Plateau State and give to Fulani herdsmen. Is that what the ranching
policy is about?
No, an
emphatic no. The policy is that the government and people of Plateau State will
own the land. Government will identify the land, the people of that area will
give the land willingly for the ranches. Plateau State Government will not
confiscate land from any community or force any community to provide land for
the ranches. Now, when you give the land of about 2,500 hectares, the state
government will pay for the land, the Federal Government will develop the land,
they will bring in dams, fence the land and recently what they are doing is to
provide security. Right now, they are training some civil defence corps members
for the purpose of protecting the ranches. They will be called rangers. The
Federal Government will develop the land, but the Plateau State Government
will own the land. Then they will call for people who are interested in
ranching to apply and then, the state government will demarcate the land and
lease to people who want to participate.
So, the land
for the ranches belongs to the government and people of Plateau State but on
lease to people who would come and participate in the scheme. They cannot be
owners of the land. So, I don’t see why my predecessor is saying it is for
Fulani herdsmen. It is not for the Fulani. Initially, they said they preferred
grazing reserves, but when we did the stakeholders’ meeting, the Fulani people
understood and they said for the purpose of peace in Plateau State, they also
want to key into the ranching policy.
The fear of
acquiring somebody else’s land or community land is not there, it is for
communities who are willing to provide land for the ranches. It is not all the
states that have keyed into it. It means they don’t have the land or they don’t
want it. But if you want it, the recommendation is that you must provide land
because it is a pilot scheme. The Federal Government is trying to encourage
people to go into that scheme. If you are doing that kind of encouragement,
definitely the government must start something so that when people see it as
good, they will go into it. Even the one that is for Plateau State now, I don’t
know how we would allocate it because the number of people that have applied
now is more than the allocation that we are going to do.
So, I have
been explaining with every sense of responsibility that people should key into
it. They should not be afraid that it is for the Fulani man. It is for
everybody, who wants to go into livestock production. I was also confronted
with the allegation that it was the president that was bringing it because he
is a Fulani man, to benefit his Fulani people. With due respect and apology,
may God forgive the people that say such vile and wicked things. This policy
started in 2014 when President Jonathan was the president of this country. We
inherited the document and recommendation from the last federal administration,
so, what has it got to do with President Buhari? President Buhari waited for
governors to make recommendations to him and we made recommendations for
ranches, and I agree with ranches. I prefer ranches.
The Federal
Government said those who are willing to key into it should bring their land.
So, why should anybody say that we are going to confiscate our people’s land
and give it to a Fulani man or Fulani herdsmen? Why I am saying this is for
Nigerians to understand the policy. The best thing is to avoid sentiments and
move straight into ranching, which will be of great benefits to the people,
including in the production of milk and beef.
I was
expecting you to talk about solid minerals because your state has been
associated with tin and other kinds of solid minerals and frankly people are
surprised that you are not generating a lot of revenue from this. What are you
doing in the area of solid mineral development?
For solid
mineral development, most of the policies are restricted by law to the Federal
Government, on the exclusive list but Plateau State happens to be the
headquarters of solid minerals. The mining corporation is still there in Jos.
At a time
when we were all depending on oil, people left minerals, but now, reality has
dawned on everybody and we have gone back. We have a solid mineral development
company in Plateau state, which was abandoned for a long time, so what we have
done is that we have brought back, revive the company.
Now, the
company is back on stream. We are exploring and looking at areas in mining
that will be favourable to the state. In Plateau, there is a place called Wase
and apart from Wase, in almost all the 17 government areas, you will find
solid minerals. We are putting a lot of emphasis on solid minerals; we are also
looking at tourism and the gold mine in solid minerals. We have provided enough
security to chase away illegal miners. So, we are taking back gradually what is
due to Plateau state and in terms of solid minerals, you will find people in
the next few years talking about resource control in Plateau State on solid
minerals.
One of the
things that your predecessor has talked about is the local government issue.
Why is it difficult to conduct local government elections in the state?
It is not
difficult to organise local government elections. We came in and have been
trying to tackle the issue of insecurity in the state.
My
predecessor, Jang, who’s talking left the state in complete mess. He destroyed
almost everything. The mess needed to be sorted out first before we talk of
conducting local government elections.
For
instance, I have a case where N2 billion was sent to my state for youth SME
empowerment, the money disappeared and no list of beneficiaries till date. Now,
when I applied for the second one, I was told that I am supposed to refund that
N2 billion before I can access another one. So, I went back to ask him (Jang),
to give me the list of the beneficiaries and let me know where the money is, he
has not accounted for that money. I am sorry to say that in such a case, I call
such a person a hypocrite. I am asking him, let me know where the N2 billion
that was meant for SME went to, and who were the beneficiaries?
The second
one was that we got a record where 500 vehicles were bought in the state, that
is the SURE-P and we asked, where are the 500 vehicles? And where is the list
of beneficiaries? He went up and down, saying that I am witch-hunting him. Is
that witch-hunting? Let us put the records straight. It is supposed to be a
revolving scheme so that when we get the proceeds, we can give to other people.
We are determined to get all looted funds back to the state.
When Jang
brought up the issue of the grazing reserves, I brought out the gazetted
document where Jang gazetted grazing reserves in 2009 when he was governor. He
even appropriated funding for it in the 2013 and 2014 budgets. So, if it was so
bad why did he gazette it and provided money for it in his budgets of 2013 and
2014. Jang gazetted grazing reserves and grazing routes in Plateau State. If
you ask him to come and implement it, he cannot implement it. He did that and
he is now trying to pretend that he does not know anything about it. That is
the hypocrisy I am talking about.
We will
conduct local government elections. We are about putting a process in place.
There are two conflicting judgements in Plateau after the last one conducted
by my predecessor and all the judgements are from the high court.
Unfortunately, they all stopped at the high court. There was one law that we
did in 2005. I was then the Speaker of the legislature, but after we left, the
governor who came on board during the state of emergency did something else.
The deputy governor took over and amended the law, brought in another. When my
predecessor came, he also amended the law and brought in another law, thereby
confusing the whole exercise. The last election he had, two court judgements
came from the tribunal nullifying the two laws. So, if you are going to conduct
another local government election, you will require to put the proper laws in
place first. I have set up a team and very soon, I will present the law to the
State House of Assembly so that we will get the law adopted to conduct the elections.
I am not one
that likes to keep caretaker committees, but I want to start the process of
local government elections with a good law and a good process.
