In Nigeria, no wonder, such benchmarks which have come to be regarded as dividends of democracy have been used by various politicians as a campaign tool during elections to seek for the peoples mandate promising that they will provide the people with these ingredients of good governance when they assume office.

 Unfortunately, these politicians in most cases than not, usually disappoint the people when they eventually get to power in line with their campaign promises.

Most unfortunate,   however, is that despite such failures, those in power usually employ the services of praise singers and sycophants to cover up their failure.

They ostensibly do so to create a false impression that they are performing with a view to hanging onto power and possibly using it to deceive the unsuspecting members of the public into voting them again during the next round of election.

The praise singers go on radio and television stations, organizing press conferences and seminars, criticizing destructively with their oratorical endowment. The beneficiaries of this ill informed trade knowing full well that they come to power not truly by the people’s verdict  but by  sharp practices in collaboration with  their sycophants  do not care about the destructive effects of their activities both on the governance and development aspirations of the people but what is going to enter their pockets

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In Plateau State, such praise singers are at work. It is most disheartening that in spite of the obvious reality that the present APC administration under Governor Simon Lalong have failed to provide the people with dividends of democracy in the past two years ,the activities of praise singers are being elevated to an art. Cases abound where they have celebrated successes being recorded by the present administration when  the reality on ground points to a contrary even to a point of attributing the achievements of the immediate past PDP government to the ruling APC.

A case in point is a recent bulletin celebrating the two year old administration of Govenor Simon Lalong stating that he constructed the Gada Biu-Farin Gada flyover bridge among others including the TETfund projects in the Plateau State University, Bokkos which were some of the landmark achievements left behind by the past administration.  And so the praise singing continues while the state resources are being wasted and siphoned.

Also available evidences have shown that those who resort to insulting and deriding any administration for whatever reason are usually those who were once active participants and beneficiaries of the said  administration . Take for instance the case of the immediate past  state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice  who served for two consecutive terms of eight years during the  past  PDP administration but had joined those deriding the past government and its leaders while at the same time trying to play the role of a God father in his new found platform.

In the developed world, those who took over from the previous government always strive hard to out-perform their predecessors in order to justify their takeover of the machinery of government from them. Projects and programmes as well policies there are not only refined, but improved and sustained. They do so because they place the interest of the people ,their countries and states above all other considerations

These improved programmes, projects and policies have yielded positive results as these countries and states have moved from developing to developed entities. It is regrettable that such achievements which define good governance are far from   being recorded in Plateau state under the present dispensation as fresh concerns of governance and unresolved challenges affecting the people keep on manifesting on daily basis

It is important to recognize that visionary leaders are needed for the state to overcome these challenges and be able to achieve strong infrastructural growth, peaceful coexistence, and economic stability and so on. That is why some analysts who had lost hope in the present administration have called for a return of the PDP to power both at the state and national level come 2019

So, for Plateau state to take its rightful position in the comity of states and be able to measure its development progress and   performance of its leaders in governance positions, a concrete and decisive step must be taken to curtail the activities of praise singers.

The policy of always   recruiting praise singers even when government is not performing can not lead the state to the Promised Land.

Time has come for political office holders to know that it cannot  continue to be business as usual. Elected officials should know that they are holding offices in  trust for those who elected them and therefore should be ready to vacate their positions  when they are unable to meet the people’s  yearnings and aspirations

The organized labour, civil society, students union and other concerned Plateau citizens  should rise up and speak the truth whenever issues affecting the interest of the people are compromised  by those who  swore an oath to uphold it. With sustainability of positive programmes, policies, projects and curtailment of deceptive activities of praise singers, Plateau state can be a shining example not only in the North central but in Nigeria at large