BOKKOS ADVOCATE GROUP(BAG) DEMANDS LALONG MAKES A U-TURN IN HIS PROPOSED DECISION OF SITING THE PLATEAU STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL IN SHENDAM.

Democracy is said to be the government of the people by the people and for the people. It seems this definition of democracy is true for all local government in Plateau State except Bokkos LGA.

The people of Bokkos LGA have remained supportive to all successive government in Plateau State since 1999. The current government led by Rt. Hon Barr Simon Bako Lalong enjoyed the votes and support of Bokkos people since 2015 till date. However, Bokkos LGA seems to be short changed by the current government.

In several aspects, the last of which is the recent plan by the government to locate the Teaching Hospital of the Medical College of the Plateau state University in shendam,The Governor’s LGA.

To put it straight, the people of Bokkos feel betrayed and abandoned by the current Government despite the immense Goodwill it garnered from the bokkos people.

The whole world bears us witness that the Lalong legacy projects initiated by the current government are already at advanced stages of development in all other LGA’s in plateau State except Bokkos LGA. Till date, there is no single block to register the presence of legacy project in Bokkos.

This only leave us to wonder whether the people of Bokkos are not part of Plateau or may be for some reason(s) we do not deserve to enjoy the good will of this government.

As a group of advocates for the interests of Bokkos people, we want to register our dissatisfaction And caution that this deliberate show of bad faith against the good people of Bokkos is against the principle of thinking Plateau and acting Plateau.

Another brazen exhibition of ingratitude to the people of Bokkos is the lukewarm attitude of the governor towards the security of the Bokkos people.

Aside the unabated attacks from herders on the people of Bokkos which have claimed so many lives, we are still left to battle with kidnapping, Armed Robbery, Rape and so on.

It is on record that despite the various attacks and insecurity in Bokkos LGA where in lives and property were lost, the governor is yet to visit and pay condolence to the people of Bokkos. On Kwatas, over 23 people were killed in one night. The governor abandoned us in our grief and sorrow and went for a traditional ceremony in Shendam, as he failed to visit even for the mass burial of these sons and daughters of Bokkos. We are aware that the Government has visited other LGA who suffered such attacks even when the casualties of such attacks were less in number. How else should we interpret this conduct of the government rather than to believe that the Governor has no interest in reciprocating love and support showered to this Government by the people of Bokkos LGA.

We are by this statement, drawing the Governor’s attention by way of a protest against the planned siting of the Plateau State University Teaching Hospital in Shendam LGA. We find this plan repugnant to common sense and politically suicidal. Our reasons for coming to the above conclusions are not far-fetched.

Your Excellency would find that as it stands, there is no fully functional hospital in the whole of Bokkos LGA. The Cottage hospital in Bokkos is still uncompleted and grossly understaffed. Bokkos people are left at the mercy of few private clinics or they have to travel all the way to Barkin Ladi LGA when confronted with medical issues a little more serious than Malaria. One will think that it is communities like that that the Government should consider fit to host a teaching hospital of a university which they already host. By the way, the communities hosting the University donated their respective lands upon which the university is situate without being compensated. The siting of the Hospital around the university would have been a sign of gratitude to the people of Bokkos for the sacrifice of their lands.

We also believe this medium is appropriate to draw the government’s attention to the fact that even the statutory requirement for the employment of staff from grade levels 1-7 to be exclusively for the host community is not being met. The host community for the university is also being shortchanged in this regard.

So far, we have demonstrated above some of the issues which has aroused the suspicion of the people of Bokkos against the current government. We as a people are willing to work with and support government of Rt. Hon. Barr. Simon Bako Lalong and we believe it will not be too much to ask for the Government to reciprocate this love. We understand that the Governor needs to satisfy his own people too in Shendam with some projects. Regardless of the Legacy project already cited in Shendam and the Government Hospital which is a lot better than that of Bokkos, we urge and plead with the Governor to allow the Teaching Hospital of the Plateau State University to be cited in Bokkos if not for proximity sake, but for the sake of the fact that Bokkos needs more than anything else, a standard hospital to cater for the medical needs of its People Plateau.

This is the modest demand of our people and we pray that government like a parent listens and grants the wishes of its people in Bokkos LGA.

Signed:
Bokkos Advocacy Group(BAG).

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Bokkos Advocacy Group (BAG) Urges Gov. Lalong to Reverse Decision to Site PLASU Teaching Hospital in Shendam