The Governor of Plateau state, Rt. Hon. Simon Lalong, has reiterated his administration’s commitment to implement the recommendations of the Transition Committee Report which captured the state of each Ministry and general contract awards of the immediate past administration.

The governor who restated his administration’s commitment during a town hall meeting with stakeholders in the state on Monday, 30^th November, 2015, promised to use the instrumentality of the law to recover all funds carted away by past governments.

You would recall that Governor Lalong had in his 100 days address in office, stated that the challenges his administration is facing would be better appreciated when viewed in the light of the report of Professor Tyoden Transition Committee Report which captured the state of each of the Ministries and general contract awards.

“I am sure the copy of this report when presented to EXCO and gazetted, will be the starting point from which the interventions of our government will be fairly assessed at the end of our tenure”, Governor Lalong told stakeholders.

Governor Lalong, speech to the gathering, partly reads: “Let me restate like I did in my address during the public presentation of the Transition Committee Report, that we are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Committee through a four pronged approach;

“a.   Firstly, through the instrumentality of law, we would immediately pursue the recovery of funds and all government properties annexed or carted away. These include monies fraudulently siphoned through the instrumentality of State Agencies for which works have not been done or have not reached the level of payments.

“b.   Secondly, the restructuring of Governance with the merger of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as the implementation of a civil service reform that addresses the injustices in promotions, appointments and postings would be sustained. This we have already started in earnest and we will sustain it under the new Head of Civil Service of the State.

“c.   Thirdly, we will ensure the prioritization of projects and completion of on-going projects with emphasis on completing those that address the Five Policy Thrust of this administration, namely,

–      Peace, Security and Good Governance;

–      Human Capital Development and Social Welfare;

–      Agriculture and Rural Development;

–      Entrepreneurship and Industrialization and

–      Physical Infrastructure and Environment

Fourthly, we will ensure that the setting up of Technical and Professional Audit Committees to sustain the tracking and recovery process of funds and the application of funds to certain projects, programs and institutions.

“In all these, we have assured citizens that the desire of government is not to witch hunt but to ensure that through probity, accountability and transparency, value for money is obtained in all on-going projects.”

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Lalong re-iterates commitment to recover looted funds