Lalong: Plateau Will No Longer Depend on Oil

Lalong...we are taming our challenges

Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State recently said the success of his election was informed by his promise to restore Plateau’s economic buoyance in all its facets. He spoke to Journalists in Abuja on the strides of his administration so far, especially the need to make Plateau survive beyond oil. Onyebuchi Ezigbo presents the excerpts:

In view of the dwindling resources from oil, what is your blueprint for revamping the solid mineral sector in the state?
 

Before the dwindling resources from oil, nobody was bothered about solid minerals. We lost so much in the area because we left it to illegal miners. This is the time to look inward. Plateau was the headquarters of the Nigeria Mining Corporation. That should tell you the importance or significance of mining to the people of Plateau State. In those days when people were talking about groundnuts and cocoa, we were hitting our chest and talking about mining. That was why the name Jos became popular. When the prices of oil started falling we said we must go back to mining and agriculture.

I was very happy when the Minister for Solid Minerals Development came to Jos. He told me that the best inputs he got on ways of managing the solid mineral sector came from Jos. The day he visited Jos, I was having a wider stakeholders’ meeting with the people of Plateau and they were also part of it. That meeting shifted from all other things to solid minerals and very heavy contributions came from Plateau State and those contributions were what helped us at the National Economic Council meeting and that is what is going to form the policy thrust of the administration both at the federal and state levels.

So, to me, it is an advantage. Virtually every part of my state is rich with solid minerals. But the law was done in such a way that the states were disadvantaged. People come into your state after collecting license from Abuja, sometimes, they come with military and police escort, do whatever they want and give the communities stipends and you don't know what they are taking.

This time, the president has a change of attitude according to the change mantra. He said no, we must follow the law. States must also participate in the exploration and advantage of solid minerals in their states. To me, it is going to boost the economy and have serious impact on my revenue generation. We factor that into our retreat as to how to take advantage of the new policy on solid minerals in improving revenue generation.

What are you doing about tourism as a major revenue earner?
If you don't have peace, you can't have tourism. Plateau was known as the home of peace and tourism. I can still remember that when I was younger, people usually travelled from far and near to come Jos. I was discussing with Ambassador Jeta yesterday and he said Plateau was a tourist attraction for every American, who like spending their weekends and holidays in Jos. That was why many people kept their families in Jos even when they were working in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.

Suddenly, crisis came in and people started running away from Jos and the hope of making the place a tourist attraction was no longer there. So, when we came in, we made peace and tourism part of our policy thrust. As part of our five policy thrust, peace and security was number one. I had the challenge of first curtailing the insecurity that I inherited and I am sure that you know that in the last four month before we came in, Jos was a no go area.

So, we first concentrated on checking the insecurity in the state by ensuring there is mutual understanding between the Fulanis and the Berons. We went as far as establishing a committee to take care of their problem and quickly, I established a Bureau for Conflict Management. We have put in place a law to that effect. So, we have been able to curtail the insecurity in the state and those areas that were hitherto no go areas are now free areas for people. Having done with peace, we are now moving into other areas of attraction for tourism.

Although tourism is not the second pillar on our policy thrust, agriculture which is also the focus of the federal government; we are going in line with the policy of the federal government and the APC manifesto. So, we are following exactly what the President is proposing especially in respect to agriculture, commerce and industry. We just came back from a retreat where the five policy thrusts were discussed.

The Jos Wildlife Park is another tourist attraction in the state that has been left fallow. What are you doing about reviving the place?
 

Part of the suggestions from our retreat was whether we should continue to run the place through government effort or give it to private investors. We are now in the era of public private partnership, where government will only rock the enabling environment. We are also thinking about that. We want to attract people because wildlife is very important.

Apart from the Jos Wildlife Park, we also have the Pandam Wildlife Park, which is untapped. We also have the Wase Rock and even the weather on the plateau. We see tourism as an advantage to us and so, we are going to develop that tourism while concentrating on sustaining the peace and then go on to fulfill our mandate as contained in the five pillar thrust.

 

Do you have the cooperation of the people of the state especially from other political parties?
 

Plateau is a unique state – unique in the sense that when they want to do something, they do it without looking back. Plateau is also a very religious state. That is why you don't find many cases of corruption in the state. So, when the election came, we knew that something was going to happen – change was going to happen on the Plateau because we are united. Suddenly, an administration came that was almost dividing everybody along religious and ethnic lines and Plateau people said no, this is not the time for that; we must get a change.

Luckily enough, the change came through APC. Some of us were diehard members of the PDP. You know I was Speaker under PDP for seven years. But we realised that many things were going wrong in the party and that was why some of us left the party and joined the opposition. When we saw the opposition moving under a driver like the present president, Buhari, we knew that something was going to happen in this country and so, we followed that opposition and that was what gave rise to our election.

You said the PDP won everywhere. It is not everywhere they won. Some of the elections were rigged and the tribunal gave it to them. Otherwise, if it were true election, APC won in so many places and the governorship was very clear. It was the collective opinion of Plateau people and the hard work done by the then opposition.

When I won my election, everybody came on board irrespective of political affiliation. It was seen as a Plateau project and I am also managing it as a Plateau project. I can only manage and build the confidence of Plateau project, when I deliver the dividends of democracy to the people and when we see a change in attitude from what obtained before. That is what we are trying to do to bring unity to the people of Plateau State.

What’s your take about the fight against corruption being championed by your party?
 

I have said it many times that the fact that you are not hearing anything from the Plateau does not mean we are not fighting corruption on the Plateau. We have sent several cases to the EFCC and ICPC. My Accountant General just came back from the EFCC. They were called to come and give evidence as to the investigations that are going on. We have a lot of such investigations going on; we have also had so many arrests especially from the last administration and many of them are on bail.

At the appropriate time, prosecution will start. EFCC may be slow, but I know they will prosecute. We had a transition committee and we came out and told Plateau people what we inherited. Some may be genuine and others not genuine. Some of them we have submitted to the EFCC and others, we have commissioned a very reputable accounting firm, KPMG, who are currently auditing the state and at the appropriate time, when they come out with the result, you will hear what will happen on the Plateau.

We know that some states have not been able to access their bailout funds. What is the update on the issue regarding your state and have you been able to pay all outstanding salaries?
No, in my state, not yet! Before the issue of bailout came, we had already started paying workers in the state even with the backlog of problems we inherited. When the issue of bailout was announced, we applied for N10 billion which was supposed to be for the arrears of salaries for about eight or nine months. Even without the full bailout, we only received five billion. Today, I was in CBN, trying to pursue the bailout for Plateau State.

Plateau was supposed to get 10 billion for salaries and 10 billion for infrastructure. But we got only N5 billion and even with that, we were able to clear the backlog of salaries.

The Treasury Single Account is aimed at assisting in the fight against Corruption. Why are the states finding it difficult to implement the policy?
 

Well, other states may be finding it difficult, not Plateau. We are already implementing TSA. Immediately I saw the introduction of the TSA by the president, I called my accountant-general and commissioner for finance and told them they must implement. I am not an accountant and at that time, I didn't know the implication. But from what I saw about the advantages of TSA, I said let TSA be implemented in the state. I immediately set up a committee and today, it is being implemented in my state. I don't know why some governors will find it difficult to implement TSA. But for me, if wasn't difficult for me to implement and we are getting some reserved funds.

You said federal allocation to your state has reduced drastically and this is the complaint by all your colleagues, who have argued that they could not keep up with the minimum wage. Do you share their sentiment?
 

Initially, there was a misconception about what we were saying. At the Governors' Forum, we were appealing to the president to reconsider the position of the states so that people will be able to pay salaries. It is not about payment of salaries that we have as our responsibility. There are so many people on the street and so, you need to employ people and this was becoming very impossible and to pay salaries. So, we were calling for measures. Thank God that the president has introduced some measure.

For example, we are talking about solid minerals now; we are beginning to open the space so that we can use that to improve our internal revenue. I am not sure they got us right when they said we wanted to downsize. As far as I am concerned, it is going to be very difficult to say we will downsize on the Plateau. I am not thinking of doing that. What I am trying to do is to be able to retain what I have and be able to improve on it. That is why our concentration is on how to improve our revenue generation so that we can sustain the salary structure that we have, and if possible, employ additional workforce.

What is your view about criticism of President Buhari's foreign trips?
For me, I see nothing wrong in traveling. Today, I am granting an interview in Abuja and not in Jos. Sometimes, people say we governors don't sit down in our states, but travel a lot. Imagine, if I sat down in Jos, who will fight my bailout fund for me? We are concentrating on donor agencies, but they are in Abuja and always, they would want to meet with the governor. When I became governor, because of the insecurity, foreigners were not coming to Jos, but will only end up in Abuja. So, if you are looking for investors, they will say if you don't come to Abuja, we will not come to Jos.

So, I had to be coming to Abuja because if I don't, they will not come to Jos because in most cases, they will say we want to meet with the governor. Sometimes, they will refuse to meet with the deputy governor. In that case, you have to move round. That is what the President is doing. We are moving into attracting the private sector into doing business in this country and so, he cannot sit down in one place. So, I think we cannot undervalue these trips. It was not because he travelled that he had problem with the budget. Sometimes, whatever you are doing, there will be sabotage. Sometimes, you do your best. But the civil servants will always be smarter than you. You will trust everybody, but these things happen from time to time. So, I think that the President's trips should not be a thing of concern to us as long as the trips are bringing the benefits.

The roads in Jos are in a terrible state. What are you doing about that?
I am sure that the last time you were in Jos was last year. Those are some of the things I inherited and it was very glaring that it was going to be difficult for those of us who are going to be governors in such states. We inherited a debt of over N200 billion and an impending contractual liabilities of about N105 billion. Everything that was left in that state was N95 million and that was horrible. Uncompleted projects were littered all over the place including the main road leading into Jos. Contract was awarded and abandoned.
 

So, what I did in my own way was to say, these roads are for the people of Plateau state and so, must be completed. We are investigating the cost of some of the contracts, but that will not stop us from going ahead to complete them. It may interest you to hear that if you get back to Jos now, it will be a different story. There was a flyover bridge that was abandoned and nobody believed that we will complete the bridge. Right now, we have completed that bridge and all the main roads are under construction. I am hoping that in the next six months, if I am able to get my bailout, I will complete most of the projects that were abandoned and even engage new ones.

There are allegations that the President is under pressure to drop the anti-corruption war. Are you facing similar pressure in Plateau?
I am worried because of the kinds of complaints that are coming. I am also worried because of the impatience of Nigerians. If you begin to compare the state of the nation before the election, you will understand what the President is facing. Before 2014, what was the cost of a barrel of oil? At a stage, it was over $140, but today, we are getting back to less than $30 with the same budget and the same responsibility.

In my state, it is the same salary and every other thing. In the past, allocation to my state was between N5 billion and N8 billion, but today, with a salary bill of about N1.8 billion, we are getting about N2 billion, sometimes less. Last month (January), we got N1.6 billion. But the people will not understand. They will tell you it is change and since you said change, it should have been better. But they must also understand the economic situation we are going through. What we need to do is to be a little bit patient because the reforms that are going on are yielding fruits, but it will not be something that will be immediate. We will have to take out time. Let us give ourselves at least one year and see what the president is doing.

The EFCC chairman has accused the Judiciary and lawyers of being a problem to the fight against corruption in the country. As a lawyer, how would react to that?
If there are allegations against a profession like that, it is always good to be specific. We have had cases like that severally and each profession had a way of disciplining their members. We can't say that the law profession is a perfect one. We are not angel and that is why there are disciplinary measures against members. That is not to say that there are no members who are recalcitrant. There are ways of going about that and not to make a blanket statement like that. Of course, he did not say all, but some and I am sure that with time, he will name those lawyers.

It is better to name those lawyers and not to make a blanket statement against a profession like that. I hold the EFCC in high regard. I was also a guest of the EFCC. If you are aware, in 2005/2006, I was detained by EFCC as Speaker for more than 40 days. I was prosecuted and discharged. Those ones were during the Obasanjo era. It was complicated with desire to impeach the governor illegally, which some of us resisted. We were all detained and at the end of the day, we didn't do that. Many people who did it regretted it after.

My reason was not because I was defending somebody against corruption, I was following due process. Some people did it without following due process and at the end of the day, many of us were vindicated by the Supreme Court. What I am saying is that I respect my profession and hold it in high esteem. So, for anybody to say there are some that are bad, it is good to be specific. As EFCC, if you know some of these bad lawyers, you have a right to arrest, investigate and prosecute them because they don't have immunity. Even governors, who have immunity cannot go away from investigation.

Quote
This is the time to look inward. Plateau was the headquarters of the Nigeria Mining Corporation. That should tell you the importance or significance of mining to the people of Plateau State. In those days when people were talking about groundnuts and cocoa, we were hitting our chest and talking about mining. That was why the name Jos became popular

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lalong-plateau-will-no-longer-depend-on-oil/232189/

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