Ahead of his formal declaration for the 2019 governorship seat, Engr Jimmy Cheto has outlined his plans in a short interview, below is the full text.

Plateau has one of the highest revenue generation potentials, yet it generates very little – If elected Governor, how will you change that? 

Being a technocrat (not a politician), I will be strategic, measured and smart about how I attack this complex matter. I will not go about chasing new revenue generation areas/sector (like typical politicians do). Instead, I will first review the existing revenue collection structure/processes and with clinical precision, work-out ways of plugging leakages and increasing the efficiency of collection.

With all due respect, the revenue collection processes we have today are grossly inefficient, with lots of avenues for fraud and misappropriation. As such, I shall move to block all these avenues (without considering new revenue sectors yet). After blocking them, I guarantee that – it shall result to at least a 30 – 40% increase in the revenue base. That will take the Plateau monthly revenue collection to nearly N1.5 billion (which will almost cover workers monthly wages of N1.7 billion -as it currently stands).

Having plugged the leakages and therefore raised the revenue base, I shall then consider new avenues for raising revenue. Specifically, I shall look at land. And in this regard, let me posit that if we have lasting peace in Plateau, the value of land in Jos can appreciate upwards towards Abuja levels. I say so because of the unique nature of Jos – with its habitable weather, serenity and welcoming people. To kick start the land-value-recovery of Jos, I shall invite all people who lived in Jos in the past for up to 5 years and make them “brand ambassadors” for the state. This means we create new layouts called ambassadors layout for these people and we apportion lands to them at good rates to bring them back into our communities and re-create that microcosm which hitherto made Plateau the Caribbean of Nigeria. This will both create business confidence, generate revenue and inject fresh ideas/concepts into our communities -and serve to reposition Plateau for loftier and greater things.

If elected Governor, could you tell us what your immediate priorities will be?

Ordinarily, my main priority if elected will be to heavily invest in education, to reposition our state for the future. However, given the ravaging attacks that have crippled virtually all sectors of the Plateau economy, my priority will be how to solve the security conundrum.

To do this, I shall breakdown my approach into short, medium and long-term fixes.

In the short term, my plan will be to restore Plateau back to the serene and attractive city it once was. What I mean by this, is that I will make it tourism and investor friendly. And for this to be possible, the current insecurity challenges which are affecting Plateau will have to be eradicated completely (not just in rhetoric).

As such, I shall convene a high-powered Plateau Summit of Stakeholders, where every clan, chiefdom, religion and interest is represented and I shall open a frank discussion about what we have to do to put the challenges behind us. I shall outline my vision, values and plans and ensure that everyone ratifies and sign-up to it. Doing this is critical, because Plateau has and is still losing trillions of Naira because of the insecurity and lack of investor confidence. The value of land in Jos for instance, has depreciated massively because people are selling off to move to Abuja, healthcare which used to be relatively high quality in Jos has now deteriorated because all expatriates and experienced doctors have left, business are folding up etc. The combination of these factor mean that security has to be my first priority because it cuts across all sector of the economy.

In the medium term, I shall invest heavily in the education sector. The only way a state can have a sustainable and prosperous future is if it leads in literacy and education – the importance of this cannot be over-emphasised and I shall ensure that primary, secondary and tertiary institutions get the desired attention. It will not simply be business as usual, where we budget billions for education and do not spend it accordingly -I shall ensure that all schools are rejuvenated and monies meant for schools gets there.

Still on education, I shall institute one of my very personal visions i.e., setup something called a citizenship and leadership training institute. The institute will focus on the teaching of core Plateau values to aspiring leaders. It will teach what I call “Plateau-ness” -which has to do with our core values as Plateau people. So things like the sanctity of life, the fear of God, respect for elders and neighbour and a sense of self identity.

I shall make it mandatory, that all aspiring leaders who wish to govern the state, have to pass through the institute. Also, all appointed commissioners, permanent secretaries etc will equally have to attend the institute to learn the fundamental principles of the Plateau-man or rather “Plateau-ness”. To setup this institute, we shall draw on intelligent Plateau youths and leaders who will draw the curriculum of what Plateau values mean and we shall implement that rigorously.

Long term: I am not oblivious of the fact that If elected, I only have 4 years to crystallise and execute my manifesto. I say this because the Southern Senatorial Zone has had its initial 4 years though Governor Simon Lalong. As such, my only long term goal will be that of succession planning -i.e., scanning around for a vibrant, smart and capable youth from the Central Zone who can carry-on with my vision for Plateau. So to be clear, from the first day that I am sworn in as Governor, I will be on the look-out for such personalities – youths who I can groom, mentor and steer towards the lofty goal of becoming my successor.

Tell us about your specific plans for the youths?

The youth of Plateau will be the centre of my plans, they will form the bedrock of my administration. I shall work to make them self-sufficient and resourceful -and one of the ways to do this is to exploit Plateau’s comparative ICT advantage.

In my opinion, Plateau can become the Silicon Valley of West Africa. All the ingredients and factors required to make it thrive as a major ICT centre and an outsourcing hub for major European countries are in place. There is a very sharp and keen youthful base, who are savvy, knowledgeable and absolutely motivated.

Permit me to mention, the numerous small independent ICT outfits in Plateau, which already -without Government support have been making strides in putting plateau on the map. A little investment into these outfits, say if the Plateau State Government takes a small stake in some of those organisations and then injects capital to ensure that they take off properly as start-up firms, can massively change the game for both the company, but also for Plateau youths. So to pointedly answer your question, I intend to exploit the currently ICT wave to the benefit of Plateau youths.

Tell us how you will go about solving the insecurity problem that has blighted Plateau?

Plateau’s security challenge is complex but by no means impossible to solve. If elected Governor, I shall approach the challenge by first undertaking a full census of all the houses, communities and people in Plateau. This exercise will include naming all streets and numbering all the houses –with particular attention to conflict areas like Bassa, Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Wase etc.

What this means is that at the end, Government will have a complete database of all the people in the state including, where they live, their ages, what they do etc. As such, once an attack occurs, it will be easy to trace the area under attack and track the identity of foreign elements who may have infiltrated such areas.  This simple and basic step is so critical to being on top of the attacks situation on the Plateau and is something we must do.

The said database will serve not just the security needs of Plateau, but also the revenue/tax collection needs of the state (for instance, the Plateau State Internal Revenue Service PSIRS can use the database to track tax avoiders quickly and more efficiently). Also health epidemics will be identified, analysed and managed more effectively with the database.

In addition to this database, is then the need to gather intelligence from the communities. I shall ensure that intelligence gathering and sharing does not just become the work of security agents, but that of all Plateau communities – that way, we will nip every trouble at the early stage and avoid full blown crisis.

VPN: In closing, how would you assess the performance of the current administration?

There is not much to assess, nothing has been crystallised in the past three years. Worst still is the fact that it appears the understanding of what needs to be done is lacking from the key principals of the administration.

Trailblazers like J D Gomwalk and S D Lar who have gone before us have set blueprints and benchmarks which anyone in governance can emulate, but it appears the will power is lacking and nothing has been actualised even though there was massive amount of goodwill from the Plateau electorate.

To put it bluntly, a paradigm shift in governance is required to snatch Plateau from the downward spiral of indebtedness, poverty, insecurity, despair and visionless leadership – if this is not done imminently, and we continue to have leaders who appear oblivious to the current challenges, the state called Plateau may become untenable in a few years.

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2019: Jimmy Cheto unveils vision for Plateau state