Pictures: 9 critical things Lalong outlined in his inauguration speech

Governor Simon Bako Lalong has expressed his gratitude to the people of Plateau state for giving him the mandate to pilot the affairs of the state for the next four years. He did this while making his inaugural speech on Wednesday, at the Rwang Pam Township stadium, Jos.

Below is a list of the 9 critical things governor Lalong said in his speech:

I have the immense honour to stand before you, the people Plateau State again to show my deep appreciation for the additional mandate you have given me to run the affairs of our great State for the next four years. By implication, our inauguration and swearing-in today marks the formal beginning of another four-year democratic journey in our dear State.

2. Today’s inauguration marks a new beginning for Plateau State, and reveals the limitless possibilities before all of us. On this occasion, we rise up to celebrate a new beginning and a day we set our course for greater future and prosperity.

3. We shall strive to inject new ideas and philosophical paradigm into our governance efforts. This paradigm will hopefully find expression in Religious Humanism. Governance is a two-way traffic, involving a social contract of duties and obligations between the government and the governed. Good Governance presupposes loyalty, hard work, effective service delivery, and leaving behind a legacy worthy of emulation by subsequent generations.

4. Our humanism will be based on the principles that people need freedom and self-determination; that people should be respected and held in high esteem, rather than means of negative governmental action; that people are fundamentally social in nature and therefore value or cherish community life; and that people have a right to seek truth and oppose authoritarian rule.

5. Our vision for the new Plateau State promises to leave behind legacies of our commonality, human dignity and welfare. While as a Government we shall strive to meet our own side of the social bargain, we equally expect the good people of Plate State to reciprocate Government gesture, not only by giving their unalloyed support, but, more importantly, by learning to live in peace with one another so that together we can achieve the much desired development.

6. We should recognise that corruption, dishonesty, disloyalty, rumour-mongering, fake news, religious and political fanaticism, ethnic jingoism, violence, and other forms of social evil are antithetical to our vision of the new Plateau, and must be avoided.

7. With this Philosophy, our winning points will continue to be the insistence on impartiality, neutrality and fairness to all concerned, regardless of ethnic, religious and political affinities. Plateau is a State with diverse ethnicities.

8. I therefore assure all and sundry of holding on to our policy of inclusiveness and get everybody in different positions of responsibility to do the needful. In this way, we would have justified earning the votes and confidence of the people. We would have also justified accepting the mandate to serve with all the humility and affirmation to move the people and state to the Next Level.

9. I cannot conclude this speech without talking about some core values to which we shall remain committed. We shall continue to espouse the core values of peace, unity, mutual respect, hospitality and progress, while striving to go beyond these by channelling the energies, and building the skills, competencies and capacities of our Women and Youth.