Fellow Citizens,
It has been eight years since you gave us the first mandate and four years later another to preside over the affairs of our dear Plateau. We are at this point completing our two terms. This is therefore the last time I will be addressing you in a broadcast as the Governor of Plateau State. The time has come for me to specially thank you all the good people of our beloved state for the opportunity to serve you for these past years. Our team is humbled by this privilege.

I thank all members of my Cabinet over the years, the Legislature, the Judiciary, Party Leaders, the Clergy, Elders, Traditional Leaders, Associations and Groups, the Media, Security Agencies, the Civil Service and all friends of the state for the partnership. I count it a life time opportunity to have worked with you all.

My personal staff and indeed all the staff of Government House, I appreciate you. I cannot thank my family enough for being an invaluable pillar of strength and inspiration. I am eternally grateful. I thank all the good people of Plateau State for the acts of courage, resilience, trust and prayers that consistently lifted my spirit as a leader.

Our early days in government can be considered tough. We inherited a work force on strike in the state as well as a weak financial capacity of state treasury. We took it as a challenge more so that we were on a Redemption mission. These did not deter us as we quickly hit the ground running by overcoming these obstacles.

As I look back from the inception of our Redemption administration in May 2007, which arrived with a vision of doing things differently and exploring new opportunities towards building a new and promising Plateau state. I have cause to thank you again. It may not have been all smooth, but I give the Almighty God the glory for having come this far.

Our compass for laying a solid foundation for sustainable poverty reduction, wealth creation, value orientation and solid democratic governance structures captured peace and security, governance and administrative reforms, education and human resource development, efficient tax and finance administration, agriculture, water resources and rural development, revamping the health care delivery system, robust women, youth, sports and social development empowerment programmes. Tourism, urban governance and ethical re-orientation were also on our radar all geared towards responding to our development challenges.

While we did not claim to have all the answers to our developmental challenges, we however made modest strides in line with our Ten-Point Agenda which we later strengthened through the Three -Pillar Policy in our second term. Our mission was equally driven by the conviction that Plateau shall rise again in spite of all the setbacks it had encountered especially with security challenges which predate our administration.

Apart from the provision of patrol vehicles and motorcycles to the various security agencies, we established Operation Rainbow, a community based security outfit in our efforts towards the attainment of peace and security. The establishment of the State Inter-religious Council on Peace and Harmony as well as regular peace dialogue were initiatives and interventions we pursued which led to remarkable improvement of the security situation.

In the last eight years we embarked on massive urban and rural roads construction; including bridges stretching over one thousand kilometres as a strategy of opening up the state for economic development. We have completed the first fly over bridge in Jos City with two more still under construction as well as dualisation of numerous roads.

Water Resources and Rural Development under the Redemption Administration witnessed the rehabilitation of obsolete water treatment plants and supply facilities across the state with some as old as forty years.

Another legacy we are leaving behind is that of mechanised agriculture revolution as being driven by the Agricultural Services and Training Centres (ASTC) in each of the three Senatorial Zones. Considering that Plateau State is an agrarian state, this Multi-Billion Naira investment partnering with Israelis is a one stop agricultural shop with soil testing laboratory, tractor hiring unit, fertilizer outlet, cold room and extension experts. We believe through this platform our people, especially the youth will take advantage of the empowerment potential of the Centres.

Since the bombing of the Jos Main Market, Jos City has not had a standard market until we came in and completed the Rukuba Road Satellite Market so as to boost the economic environment in the state.

Under the Tackling Poverty Together Programme (TPP), more than 300 taxi cabs and buses as well as 500 Tricycles were procured and distributed to empower the citizenry. Similarly over four thousand women were engaged in the state as street cleaners, most of whom are widows.

The Chief Solomon Lar University, Bokkos got its biggest intervention since the release of Two Billion Naira by the present administration, the result is that the University has been placed on a better pedestal for the accreditation of more courses.

In order to strengthen the other levels of education, eighteen secondary schools and over 240 primary schools have been renovated, over 500 classrooms constructed in addition to massive provision of instructional materials and furniture as well as constant training of teachers.

The National Youth Service Corp which was established by a distinguished son of the State, Gen Yakubu Gowon, has been running its orientation programmes since inception on temporary camps in Plateau state. We are glad that we have completed a Permanent Orientation Camp for Plateau State.

As part of our strategy to shore up the revenue profile of the state, we established the Plateau Geographic Information System for the processing of land titles through digital technology while the State Board of Internal Revenue now has a three storey befitting complex for its operations leaving behind its old congested building.

My dear citizens, while we have strived for the completion of all our projects, certain challenges have not allowed us to deliver as anticipated. However, we were able to push a number of these projects to various levels of completion. These include the Zaria Road Olympic stadium, cottage and general hospitals, dualisation of Jos City to Maraban Jama’a Road and other rural and urban roads, as well as a cassava blending plant among others.

Let me note that this is just a highlight of our marks on the sands of the times of Plateau. It is equally worthy to say these past eight years have been a mixed bag of fortune and challenges. The most painful remains the crises which we inherited and struggled to bring under control. I consider this the darkest chapter of our tenure, very sad!

Worthy of note is that when challenges to our collective aspirations for prosperity emerged, we rose collectively to confront them. Together, and through resilience we were able to restore our State on the path of growth and development.

Let me again take this opportunity to sympathise with all the people of Plateau state who have lost their loved ones and properties in the wake of all these crises. We share this pain with you and pray for divine favour.

Accordingly, among many things, we transformed our economy, resulting in the longest and sustained period of economic growth in the history of our state. The world renowned magazine, The Economist, in its October 25, 2014 edition cited Plateau State as the only state in Northern Nigeria with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of above Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000). This was made possible as a result of construction and agricultural value chain which was a core component of our reform as evident on the ground.

The World Bank Doing Business Report of 2014 also listed Plateau among one of the states that is laying a solid foundation on enabling business in terms of the number of days it takes to register and start a business. This is underscored by the proactive steps taken in transforming the Plateau State Internal Revenue Service.

With the Ten-Point Agenda, we made our mission very clear; Plateau state can never be the same after our tenure. From the socio-economic to the political, we were determined to make a difference propelled by the conviction that our state must play in the big league in the country and comity of nations.

I will not pretend that we did not come into government with great ambition. Our ambition was to change the history and face of Plateau State. A great deal of our limitation was resources coupled with competing demands. This no doubt became a major challenge for us, which was compounded by the dwindling fortunes of the national economy. However, we still did not relent.

My dear compatriots, governance is also about taking decisions. Some of these may not be in the interest of some. In the course of all these, we might have by commission or omission done wrong to some, I hereby on behalf of the outgoing government apologise to all and pray we continue to have favour in our hearts.

As I look back too, there were painful and bitter moments, happy and sweet times, rough and tough points, challenges and conquests, all these and more, we pulled through together. The Redemption administration is eternally grateful for your support without which we wouldn’t have made these modest strides.

As an American President, Thomas Jefferson once wrote, ‘I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past’. As I complete my tenure as governor of this state, I share this optimism because our state is one that is full of vitality and constantly renewing itself even in the toughest and most challenging of times.

I wish to leave you with some thoughts I have held in my heart. That the task of building Plateau State is an enormous one that demands sacrifice, love and perseverance. That as a people, we are so blessed with a future that holds great prospects.

I thank you for this life time opportunity to serve you in this capacity.

I leave you in peace. It is well with Plateau state.

God bless Plateau state!

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GOVERNOR JONAH DAVID JANG’S FAREWELL BROADCAST TO THE PEOPLE OF PLATEAU STATE, FRIDAY MAY 29TH 2015