OPEN LETTER TO Rt. Hon. SIMON BAKO LALONG (Esq)EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR,
PLATEAU STATE.
1st January 2018.

Your Excellency Sir,

LETTER OF CONCERN

I had been one of the voices speaking in high tone on the need to vote you in 2015. This I believe was done in unison with the spirit of change that was blowing over the state. I participated in your campaigns, read your blueprints and engaged in discussions at some levels of interaction about your policies and programmes especially for youths and women. Many like me supported your cause believing that true change has come.
Hence, I commend you for the successes your government has recorded so far, especially in the areas of prompt payment of salary and continuation of some abandoned projects by the last administration.

However, in the spirit of deep commitment to the progress of our darling Plateau. It is high time I lend my small voice to the prevailing stand of things in the state with special focus on Pankshin L.G.A. It is said that “when nothing is done against a malfunctioning trend of event within social settings, then all the successes that might be attained will fade into the greatest oblivion”. Believing a voice is a tool used to draw the heart of a leader on the track of success.

Hence, I wish to highlight the following facets of society that you have overlooked and which portrays your government in a bad light of achievement and true rescue which you claim to be standing upon. We have been meticulously following the trend and wish to speak in love though in a pensive and disappointing mood and discouraging tone.

You made promises on youth and women empowerment.I don’t know when it shall be fulfilled according to the promised you made as statistics reveals a disturbing rate of poverty and illiteracy especially among women and youths.You promised soft grants for women to boost their small-scale businesses,the women are still in anticipation of its fulfilnent.Pankshin unarguably has a large population of well schooled and agile youths,yet jobless.We only hear of selected employments in some institutions like College of Education Gindiri, College of Agriculture Garkawa and other state owned tertiary institutions. The advertisement was not made public for many to compete. Hence, only those close to the corridor of power got the employment with many still unemployment, thus we are experiencing high crime rate and a scary trend of drug and substance abuse.Your fight against poverty is a mirage, as poverty has grown in geometrical progression especially in the rural communities of Plateau State. Your budgetary provision for youth development is more of a mist, existed only on the paper but not seen visible. The promise renovation of the youth centre in Pankshin to a better centre with skill acquisition sections is better imagined than seen. At the moment the Pankshin youth centre is an eye sore.Sir,this is a failure. “When leaders fail to match up with their words. We give up listening. We cannot take them serious” (Lamb). Sir,your early words of promises are not matching up with your lifestyle of governance.

Sir, you have promised to pay the outstanding salaries, pension and gratuities of retired workers in the state. With all the accolades you are receiving sir, may I dray your attention that Polytechnic staff and Local government are left behind as they still some unfulfilled promised of payment their outstanding pay. After promising to pay full gratuity according to the law governing civil service regarding the full payment of benefit after retirement, you succeeded in the payment of only 5% of the gratuity.This is unawful and unfair to those who have served the state and still have their Children at home unemployment. We are lamenting this occurrence which has never happened in the History of the State. Let the benevolence of your Alert be full.

Another level of fiasco is in the education sector. You had promised a better educational system with more qualified teachers and infrastructures. However, the rhythm of things is sorry in Pankshin Local Government. No visible and credible impact is felt. We still have the poor learning environment we had had, with less teachers at the primary and secondary schools. We are witnessing increased failure rate in SSCE exams due to poor facilities.Sir, there is a big difference between visible impact and praise singing. The best way the rural person can enjoy the dividends of this government is to see and feel the impact on that which is a treasure to him.

Also, the level of infrastructures and basic amenities in Pankshin is more like a story of a long dead man.The water problem being faced in the local government which you promised to look into is still in your lips and perhaps your books but we have not seen it and we do not know what effort you are putting in place to make this happen as the dry season is setting in. Sir, your popularity will be dear in the heart of the people when they see your presence speaking through the provision of these basic amenities and infrastructures. We desire to see something different and greater than the past. Our health centres are more like a den of disease with less health facilities and man power. I find it bizarre and pathetic that the General hospital which is the biggest instrument of curing sickness in the LGA is looking more like the disease itself.

Furthermore, encourage your aids, commissioners and appointees to loosen up and engage more with the citizens. There are Plateau Youths with brilliant ideas that will move the state forward whom are denied access to you and other top as they are assumed to be money grabbers. You need to caution those around to see every serious minded Plateau citizen as a partner in the Plateau project. They should have a listening time and change their mindset against the notion that everyone that comes is coming to ask or look for money from the government. We are not all poor as they thought. We have some hard working Plateau youths doing very okay with well established businesses and platforms.

We also desire to see a proactive First Lady as has been the tradition. The office needs to do more for women and Children.We desire her excellency speaking and being more alive through programmes that will further the course of women and children.

In conclusion Sir, this piece of letter is the voice of Pankshin Youths who are the conscience of her people.It is a clarion call to draw your attention to the overlooked promises made even as the the year 2018 commences. I pray you succeed that one day your story will be like print in heart and annals of Plateau history.
Thank you
Yours sincerely

Chikas Kumle
PYC Chairman
Pankshin L.G.A

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PYC Chairman of Pankshin LGC write Open Letter to Governor Simon Lalong.