OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY, CALEB MANASSEH MUTFWANG, ESQ., THE GOVERNOR-ELECT OF PLATEAU STATE
Dear Sir,
NOW THAT YOU HAVE WON
On behalf of the Citizens Observers Hub, I wish to congratulate you over your victory at the just-concluded March 18th 2023 Gubernatorial Elections in Plateau State. Your victory is a reflection of the trust and confidence the people of Plateau State have in you.
Now that the elections are over and you will to be sworn-in by May 29th 2023, it is pertinent to bring to your attention certain important issues.
First, we all rejoice with the photos and news of persons pouring in to your residence to congratulate you over your victory. However, you must be mindful of the fact that most of those visiting at this point may just be praise-singers and sycophants who harbour future requests and favours. We urge you to be blind to praise-singers, deaf to sycophants while sourcing for the best brains into the right offices in your cabinet to facilitate delivery of the expectations of Plateau people. Indeed, the selection of personalities into your cabinet will be interpreted as a reflection of your intellectual prowess and resolution to implementation of governance philosophy and programmes.
Secondly, we implore you to hit the ground running without delay in order to save time and attract the goodwill of the electorates. This proposition is drawn from the failures of previous administrations arising from delays in constitution of a cabinet and other key executive and administrative positions and thus, wasted time on internal politicking on who gets what, where the person came from, and the office to be occupied. Resultantly, it took months before the administration took off fully while the electorates waited in near-dwindling hopes. Time is of essence, hence you must begin implementing your blue prints for Plateau State from the first day you assume office to ensure that Plateau people do not experience the pains and frustrations the outgoing administration brought on the State for eight (8) years.
Thirdly, it is important to look at those critical projects like the National Library - Abattoir Connecting Bridge and road networks which the outgoing administration refused to complete throughout their eight (8) years in office. This project, when completed, will ease traffic and make navigation easy for Plateau people within Jos Metropolis. We wish to also bring to your attention the dilapidated state of the most used in-road into Plateau State, the Kuru-Riyom road linking Plateau State to Kaduna State. We kindly request that you use your influence to enable the repair and/or dualization of the road while considering other funding options and raw materials in road construction. As evident by security and safety reports issued by government agencies, the road has become a death trap in relation to fatal accidents and security breaches. In addition, as contained in your Policy Thrust, there is need to immediately revamp the state security outfit, the 'Operation Rainbow' to quickly dominating trouble spots, flash points and security risk areas in our rural communities. This is important to ensure that lives and property are protected proactively and not reactionary responses after the damage has been done. There is a ready army of young people who can be integrated to protect lives and property. You will recall how young people applied the same motivation and endurance in resisting attempts to manipulate results at various collation centres.
Furthermore, there is an urgent need for massive employment into the Civil Service upon your assumption into office. The youth who came out to defend your mandate are mostly unemployed, hence the need to engage them into fruitful ventures for the overall security and economic prosperity of Plateau State.
In addition, drawing from your Governance Philosophy and Programmes on the need to boost the State’s economy through investment in the agricultural sector, you will recall that the Agric Services Training Center and Marketing Limited (ASTC) packed up immediately the Lalong-led administration took over. Rather than continue from where the Jang-led administration left off, equipment and farm supplies were left to rot away. Farmers were left to their fate in subsistence farming which had little capacity to meet the daily food consumption requirements of the State. Thus, rejuvenating the ASTC will give ample employment opportunities in agriculture for Plateau people.
May I bring to your attention the need to re-visit the Greater Jos Master Plan in order to open up other areas of Jos through massive road infrastructure to bring more development and ease of urbanization. Throbbing in the heart of Plateau residents is the Jos Main Market project which should be looked into with a view to addressing the issues through confidence building among Plateau residents.
Your Excellency, from the results at various levels of collation and computation and the merry ambience and jubilations which heralded the elections, it is evident that Plateau youth came out massively to vote for you. To this effect, they ensured that there were no interferences from foreign interests at various collation centers across the State. These youth stayed under the sun and in the rain, endured brutalisation by state-sponsored security operatives and slept at collations centers to ensure that your mandate did not suffer premature termination. Thus, it is our urgent plea that you do not betray their trust as the outgoing administration did. Therefore, we humbly recommend that thirty percent (30%) of slots in your cabinet be reserved for young people, and young people that are experts in their field of endeavours should be appointed into your cabinet. Young persons are weary of their usual appointment as Special Assistants (SAs) or “data boys” with no portfolio or job description attached to those appointments. In the outgoing administration, there were young people who distinguished themselves in various leadership positions. Kindly consider engaging them to continue their good works. We make bold to say that there are young persons from Plateau State or affiliated to the Plateau course who are making impact in various fields in Nigeria and abroad, and those are the brains needed for quality governance. The time for politics has ended, this is the time for leadership and governance for Plateau people.
The Citizens Observers Hub is a coalition of civil society organizations working on credible Elections and deepening democratic Governance in Nigeria. Thus, in fulfilling our mandate, we will not fail to raise red flags when your government decides to abandon governance for frivolities. To this effect, we are committed to tracking every penny and every project at all levels in Plateau State, including the conduct of persons who will occupy office in your administration. It is not going to be business as usual. May we remind you that your mandate as Governor of Plateau State from May 29th 2023 came from the people and not godfathers. Hence, we will follow your administration every inch of the way to ensure that you deliver on your mandate and do everything possible to develop Plateau State, deliver dividends of democracy and secure lives and property.
Once again, congratulations on your victory, and we wish you success in your administration.
FOR:
Ambassador Chris Iyama
Convener, Citizens Observers Hub and Executive Director, CYPA Africa
4 Beach Road Second Floor Beach Plaza Jos.
www.cypa.org
07038562565
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