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NGF has given Service Chiefs 3 months to end kidnappings –Lalong

Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong in this interview with MUSA PAM in Jos said Northern Governors are collaborating with the new Service Chiefs to initiate new security tactics to fight banditry and end kidnapping of school children in the region. Lalong who is also the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum said Northern Governors had also keyed into Federal Government Livestock Transformation Plan to address unnecessary farmers/herders clashes in the region with Plateau carrying out the pilot scheme amongst other issues. Excerpts…

The Northern region is under attack from bandits on a daily basis, with school children kidnapped and people killed; as chairman Northern Governor’s Forum, what are you doing to halt the trend?

Well, some of the issues about security are not what I will talk about here, but within the period in which Service Chiefs were changed, I think a lot has been done. A lot has been put on ground because it is only a fool that will continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. We told them that the previous Service Chiefs did their best but you cannot continue to do the same thing and have a different result, that they must come up with something different to have a better result. I am happy that they have come up with different strategies in collaboration with the Northern Governors Forum and we are already seeing what they are doing. We have given them like President Muhammadu Buhari did, three months’ deadline and we are working within the deadline of the three months to end the security problems. All they need is our collaboration and cooperation and we also need the cooperation of Journalists to bring out reports that will help bring about security; sometimes some reports are damaging. Damaging in the sense that I will be sitting here and some people will bring a video from Kenya and say this thing is happening in Shendam Local Government in Plateau, it will make some people in Kanke or Jos East to start fighting each other and that is not helping the system. When the security agencies are doing well, you should help us report what is true. Very soon you will see what the Security Chiefs are doing; they have brought in drones and very soon you will see positive changes. We will continue to tell you our efforts in addressing the issue of kidnapping, banditry and tackling other security challenges in the whole North and Plateau State. When we have peace, that will attract investors to the North and Plateau State has laid the foundation. I just came back from Denmark and very soon you will see investors coming to develop the tourism sector. We will ask people to come and build more hotels in Jos, even the Jos Main Market, some of you saw when I met the President and I told him the importance of building the Jos Main Market and the effort is on. The President is passionate about rebuilding the burnt Jos Main Market because he stayed in Jos and he said it used to be one of the biggest markets in West Africa and he quickly put in place a process and that is the process that we are pursuing. By God grace if things work out well, we will start reconstructing the burnt Jos Main Market and that will add value to Plateau and the North.

In view of the persistent kidnapping of students in schools in the North, what is Plateau doing to secure students in boarding schools?

Although that has not happened in Plateau, we have to take precaution, because if it is happening in other states, we have to protect our schools. We know that this is real so we have to protect our own schools. When we saw it happening in Zamfara, Katsina we quickly set up machinery to stem the tide. We are also devising plans in our schools to protect the students; some of you are in the know of what we are doing because security is not what you will tell people. I want to assure you that for now, it will be very difficult for anybody to come in, because sometimes when you say it you find people making attempt to disprove what you are saying. We are tightening security around our schools, so that we will not have any schools that will be attacked. Some people came to me and said I should close down our schools in fear of those who will want to come and kidnap students and I said no, the schools are about closing, they have about one week or so to vacate and the intention of those who are always going out to kidnap students is to interrupt the school system in the North, so by the time we start closing, they will be very happy even without attempting to kidnap people. What we are doing is to tighten security in our schools and as they go on holidays, before they come back, more will be done to strengthen security in all the schools. We are trying to create security awareness in our schools and I was telling my commissioner for education that we are abandoning certain things which were helping, in those days there were clubs such as the Boys Scout, the Man’o war, the Cadet and in some schools, there were student police. I recall, I was one of them, I was in the Boys Scout, Man’o war and student police. They will select students, train them and they were the people protecting the school at night and as we were doing, that some were lucky and went to NDA straight. I remember schools like Government College Keffi, they took the highest number from there because the strengthened some of those clubs; we better reintroduce those clubs in our schools and encourage them. By the time bandits are coming for kidnapping and if you have a very good Man’o and Cadets they would be able to do something based on training. During that period, some of us got prizes in whistle calling, I thought I was going to NDA but I don’t know what happened along the way. We will bring security people to come and train the students, security is no longer the business of security personnel alone, it’s everybody’s business. That can help protect us in our houses; if the kidnappers come and your son is well trained in school, he can use the whistle to communicate with security people that are nearby and give them information. We should not sit down and depend on security agencies alone. I was saying that before you finish Secondary School, you must have some security knowledge, that will help us to address some of these issues. We didn’t know that banditry will become what it is now, we didn’t know that kidnapping will get to this level but we can’t allow our people to continue to suffer. Even when we say we will sentence kidnappers to death when they are arrested, we realized that some of the bandits are not afraid of death, the more you are trying to address the issues, the more they are coming but we will do our best to protect our schools and students in Plateau and the North.

You are constructing legacy projects across the 17 Local Government Areas in Plateau and some of the projects are not moving fast; are you sure you will complete those projects within record time and what plan do you have for sustainability?

The lega c y projects were initially valued at N50 billion but when we started, we realised from the contractor that that was not the intention, because it was an investor who said he was going to invest N50 billion in the projects and we will pay within N25 years. I jumped at that and realised later that it was not going to work. I said I will not start projects in Plateau with the intention of completing them and then leave huge abandoned projects again, it will not make sense. We went into reevaluated the projects from N50billion to N30 billion. We said we may not have the funds to do them and we went into the capital market and we got money and the money is there. We told the contractor that now that the money is there, we must finish these projects within the stipulated time because the money is there but we realised that the contractor is moving too slowly. I decided that I cannot have money and leave these projects. We have reached a stage where we have issued him a notice of termination, by the time the process is over, you will see what will happen within the next three months. The legacy projects and its sustainability, this is not something that you can guarantee but you can only pray for it. I am not campaigning now because they have not opened time for campaign. When a political party and a governor have a vision, you would want to continue with the vision and the principles of that administration. But if we have another political party and another governor, there is no way I can guarantee the sustainability of the legacy projects, it is not time to campaign now. I have also seen in other places where some of my friends constructed big structures but when a new governor came in, they said that is not our business, the structures were abandoned. They often start new projects which they will not even finish and another government will come, I see that as a complete waste. In our own vision, we said no, we don’t care who started the projects but if those projects are viable and going to useful for the people, we will continue with the projects. Today, people are very happy, I didn’t start the Victoria Gowon Hall at new Government House, met it at 40 percent conclusion, I have completed and commissioned the project and we are using it.

What was your experience when you took the COVID-19 vaccine?

I was in Abuja recently and somebody told me that they said I was knocked down by the vaccine, because that day I had appointment with some people and the rule say if you take vaccine you will not work that day and the next day and I thought I had the advantage to rest but it was a different matter. The news was that the Governor was hit by the vaccine. The day I took it, I wanted to go and play golf but they said no, that I had to lead by example, and I decided to rest. For your information, I and my wife are doing well, there was no side effect. I went down to Abuja and asked my colleagues if there was any effect and they said there is no side effect. May be those who had effect outside the country took a different vaccine but for us in Nigeria, there is no side effect.

Are you worried as Chairman Northern Governors Forum that one of your members, the Governor of Kogi State, doesn’t believe in the COVID-19 pandemic?

They said EndSARS destroyed their COVID- 19 equipment but NCDC said they are going to replace those equipment and them start vaccination; that is why Kogi is about the last state they are doing vaccination. But for the Governor, like we said it is voluntary, we cannot force him to take it. He said he doesn’t believe in it, he said he is not going to take it but he is making arrangements for his people to be vaccinated, that is the picture in Kogi State. No state will be left out, Kogi will have their vaccine.

Plateau State seems to have keyed into the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan of the Federal Government, do you have the land for the programme in the state?

Yes; in terms of the implementation of the programme in the state, we did a lot of awareness and the media was involved. Based on that, the Federal Government selected Plateau and three other states for the pilot scheme. We are now waiting for the Federal Government to provide the counterpart funds for us to go and develop the dams and what is needed for us is to kick start. Even now, all eyes are on Plateau to start the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan; the good thing about Plateau is that, we are not taking anybody’s land. We have a small portion of land at Wase grazing reserve and at Kanam grazing reserve as pilot scheme. Initially, there was lack of sensitization and some states were saying they don’t want but as we speak now, almost the 36 states have keyed into it and the difference is that, some of them do not have the land. But nobody will force anybody if you don’t have the land but if you have, provide a portion and Federal Government will give you counterpart funds for you to do it for your people in the state. It’s not for any particular tribe, not for any particular religion, it is for you to take it as an investment. But all of us have agreed in the north and even at the Governors Forum that may be from now till next year, there will be no open grazing. If you don’t have open grazing and you want to eat meat, then you must go into National Livestock to produce meat enough for people. The scheme is very comprehensive. We have gone very far and Plateau is the first state to start the implementation and if we are able to implement it, it will go a long way in addressing the issue of farmers/herders clashes that has been going on for a long time. That will protect the farmers and protect the herdsmen. In the scheme, the final stage is the implementation of the law, because without the law you cannot perfectly implement the National Livestock Transformation Plan. Some states said they enacted anti-grazing law but implementing it was very difficult. For us, we have taken all the necessary steps and we have sent our law on the National Livestock Transformation Plan to the Plateau State House of Assembly and when it gets to public hearing, you should also go there and look at the law and contribute whatever you want so that when the law is passed, we will go into full implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan with the pilot scheme.

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