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Saturday 3 September 2016

Why Taraba Executive Council Lifted Ban On Employment



The Taraba State Executive Council under Gov Darius Ishaku finally lifted the embargo placed on employment many years ago by the first Executive Governor of the state, Rev. Jolly Nyame.

The decision to lift the ban last week was based on the draft of the white paper on a committee report on the verification of transfers and employment into the state civil service from November 2012, to May 2015.

At the council meeting, the entire members accepted the white paper committee recommendations, and collectively agreed that in the process of engaging staff into the service, due process should be followed through advertisement of vacancies.

Stressing the need to take into consideration geographical spread, they also agreed that all employment into the state civil service should be made on the strength of presentation of genius education and professional certificates against the statements of results or testimonials.

In the light of the above, the need for all the state owned institutions of higher learning to always endeavour to make available to graduates their certificates within one year of graduation, the council believed has become vital.

The Chief of Staff, Rebo Usman, made this known while briefing journalists on the outcome of the council meeting, which took place in the Executive chamber of the Government House.

He said the entire council unanimously agreed that critical area of needs should always be taking into consideration in employment as well as transfer so as to sustain the system.

He informed journalists that the council also resolved that employees currently in the state government payroll without certificates should, as a matter of urgency, be advised to present their genuine education or professional certificates or be thrown into the unemployed market.

Biometric data capturing and analysis of the staff will be carried out to determine the strength of the state workforce and personnel bill, and quickly noted that “this exercise is already ongoing in both the state and local government services.”

The office of the Head of Service, in conjunction with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Usman said, have been directed to set in motion machinery to carry out the decision of the council on the aforementioned subject.

For the past 10 years, graduates from the state have roamed the streets with their certificates due to government’s refusal to fill in the numerous vacant positions in the state civil services.

Mambilla 3,050-MW Hydro Project In Taraba Threatened By Landslide



A landslide has damaged the road leading to the 3,050-MW Mambilla hydro project site and may hinder progress on the facility, news agencies are reporting.

Other access roads are reported to be accessible only using bicycles, and it is reported that the rivers have no functional bridges.

Investigations into this project, in Kashimbila, Taraba State, began in 1982. A $3.2 billion contract was awarded in May 2007 to China Gezhouba Group Company Limited and Sinohydro.

Reports indicate 70% of the total project cost – now estimated at $6 billion – will be paid by Chinese firms and 30% by the government of Nigeria.

Mambilla is one of four projects the country’s Minister of Power, Works and Housing said the country will work to expedite because “hydroelectricity would help replace the country’s diesel generating fleet, which has proven vulnerable as fuel supply lines have fallen victim to theft.” The other three projects were 700-MW Zungeru, 250-MW Gurara and 35-MW Dadin Kowa.

The Mambilla Plateau is the highest plateau in Nigeria, at an average elevation of 5,249 feet above sea level. More than 50,000 people live on this plateau.

Friday 2 September 2016

25 Years On, Darius Shifts Taraba Into Next Gear



No matter what the harshest critics of Governor Darius Ishaku say, one thing I noticed is, no one casts a shadow of doubt on his good intentions, and his patriotism for Taraba State. He has been slammed for his seemingly over bloated appointments and other inconsequential, mundane issues. But both praise singers and wailers alike agree with the verdict that this seasoned architect means well for the state.

His intense zest, innovative spirit and dedication is hardly questioned. No one appears to lose sight of this. And as the citizens reflect on 25 years of statehood (the year of Jubilee), one point that stands out like a volcanic eruption is the issue of performance of our governors across the years. Citizens are bound to think back to all the administrations that have come and gone in the state. How have they fared? Did they reign with the fear of God and clarity of purpose? Have they been able to translate the wishes of the masses to concrete achievements? Have they assist us to reclaim and run with the visions of our founding fathers?

The founders themselves had a simple idea of what the Taraba Dream is. They wanted a state carved out of the old Gongola State where numerous tribes and tendencies would live as one in peace and prosperity. They hoped that the state would harness its abundant human and natural resources to become one of most vibrant states on the map.

Was their labour in vain? Are they shaking their heads now in regret? Should they have bothered with the agitation for a new state? Indeed should Taraba have been created at all? To start with the last poser, yes there was the need to have Taraba. Coming from a history that consigned most of what is the state today to bondage and underdevelopment, the citizens from these parts earnestly yearned for freedom. Ravaged by domination of all kinds of higher forces in the defunct North East and Benue Plateau through to old Gongola, this swathe of arable land, abundant mineral deposits and some of the finest brains was praying  to be free from shackles. Defunct Gongola State was perhaps the most tortuous of the subjugations. Who can forget the tribulations of having to travel the long road to Yola for anything, everything?

What about the fact that civil servants were unofficially mandated to understand Fulfulde as the ultimate language of government business at the headquarters? What about skewed employment and promotion opportunities? What about the fear that Gongola was too big for equitable distribution of development? Yes, everyone wanted a ‘Taraxit’ of some sort at the time. And freedom came on the 27th day of August, 25 years ago when the then military leader, General Ibrahim Babangida created Taraba State. Since then successive regimes have worked to establish it as a viable entity within a very competitive polity. While the state isn’t competing with Lagos and Kano states for instance, it is daily pitted against states that were created at the same time. That’s reasonable as far as peer review mechanism go. Has the state been able to match its peers’ records? Or have we remained stagnant? While some feel we have advanced well, others feel we could have done better. It is a discourse that should dominate the airwaves this week. But history has been kind to Taraba.

Apart from the military aberrations at various times, three civilian governors’ names stand out in the annals of the state:  Rev. Jolly Nyame, Pharmacist Danbaba Danfulani Suntai and Arch. Darius Dickson Ishaku. Nyame, unarguably had the longest reign of the trio. And while he has his stern critics, Nyame actually did his best for the fledging state. He inherited a Taraba that saw the activities of military adventurers who really couldn’t have cared a hoot about their new posts. They ruled as conquerors and not as patriotic citizens. It was Nyame’s job therefore to institutionalise democracy in the young state. He himself needed some training in that regard but there he was, trying to chart the foundation and the fate of a people.

There is a sense in which the Nyame template (in all its good and bad effect) is still very much in use. Some of the team he assembled in those shaky years are still active players in the state’s fortune or misfortune. To Nyame’s credit goes the airport, stadium, hospitals, schools and state-owned hotels among his modest effort at early development. Nyame’s successor, Danbaba Suntai, had to battle with the long shadow of his former boss. Suntai also had to pick up bills for some of the projects Nyame ambitiously began without paying for. Suntai’s major contribution to Taraba’s chequered history is in redefining the rules of engagement. Under him, the old Nyame template got revised, effectively moving the state from a traditional one to a modern sphere. Suntai dealt a blow on mediocrity, divisive tendencies and archaic way of thinking. He built roads to connect people with opportunities. He emphasised handwork and decency as a major component of statecraft. May be Suntai would have done more were it not his near fatal crash that threw the state into turmoil.

It is however the current governor, Darius Ishaku, who appears to be well suited to transform the state in radical ways. If Nyame was an accidental governor and if Suntai was a short lived one, Darius came prepared for the job. He has been minister in three ministries. Nyame didn’t do much schooling  and Suntai was a pharmacist but Darius is a well known academic in architecture. He therefore comes to the job with sterling credentials. Besides, he comes at a challenging time when both the global and national economy are experiencing an economic melt down. Again, while both Nyame and Suntai were governors in the era of boom, Darius is the bust era governor with all its possibilities and limitations. What that means therefore is he must prioritise, cut cost, reduce unnecessary over heads and focus on areas that would get him a place in the hall of fame.

He is already doing that. With the catch phrase of rescue mission, Darius is practically breaking with the past in more profound ways. He seems to have shifted the state into a new gear of greater peace amidst turmoil and more fundamental changes in uncertain times. With paucity of funds, he has narrowed expenses, targeting the higher levers of the economy: agriculture, solid minerals, tourism. The road networks have continued. The airport which started as paper work and unfinished projects in the last regimes is now a reality. With three flights weekly, more people find the state conducive for investment. The digitisation of the media outfits in Taraba means that Darius is rolling away two decades of obsolete equipment and engrafting the state into modern times. As far as history is concerned, Taraba State couldn’t have wished for a better governor at a time like this.

And as citizens reflect in this year of jubilee, it is pertinent to note that growth is not really the work of one single individual. It is the product of collective effort. The Taraba of our founding fathers dream is still possible. It is a dream of over two million souls living on one of  the most blessed patch on the surface of earth. It is the dream of our ancestors in great ancient kingdoms bounded by even greater mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, streams and wildlife. This is greater than all of us put together living or dead. The Taraba dream is still alive and getting reborn everyday. At 25 years of age, Governor Darius Ishaku is saddled with this epochal duty to steer the ship to a shore of prosperity, peace and more progress. It is a job that must be done and can be done by all of us.

Emmanuel Bello 
a former commissioner of information, contributed this piece from Abuja.

Ishaku Attracts German Firms, Turning Taraba Into An Investment Hub



The economic downturn in Nigeria today, due to fallen oil price and restiveness in the country’s Niger Delta region, has forced many states in the country into debts, thus hindering even certain basic features of livelihood such as timely payment of salaries to workers.

The present government in Taraba State, under the able leadership of the governor, His Excellency, Arch. Darius Ishiaku, however has a lofty idea for his people. Recently, the governor embarked on a business tour of Germany aimed at meeting top level business executives, project financiers and grant donors.

For the purposes of garnering support for the education and health sectors of the State; and also wooing potential partners in agriculture, waste recycling and skill developers to enhance the development of the State and create employment opportunities for teaming youths in the State.

During the tour the governor made a presentation in the city of Postdam, before a group of German investors, where he showcased products from the newly established tea production factory, set up within one year of governor his administration.

Going by this feat in tea production, Taraba State is now the first state to ‘export’ packaged tea from Nigeria.

The investors could not hide their excitement at the end of the presentation, such that a group of five investors out of the investors present, declared their readiness to partner with the government, in revamping the comatose tomato factory in the state.

As proof of their commitment, they also expressed their willingness to build 1000 housing units and 25 containerized cottage hospitals, to improve housing and healthcare delivery in the state.

Additionally, an International Educational Consulting firm, SJJ education Support, in collaboration with Nigerian-German educational support foundation, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the governor to offer Taraba State students a tuition free opportunity to study in Germany.

By virtue of the agreement, Interested Taraba State indigenes can now study in German Universities, for either Bachelor, Master or PhD at no cost.

In an interview with AfricanQuarters, Nigerian Born investment/project facilitator to Government of Taraba State, Mr. Saturday Jackson, who facilitated the visit, he commended the governor for his foresight and zeal to leave a mark in the sands of the history of Taraba, and Nigeria at large.

He cited the waste recycling factory, which was an outcome of the tour, as having the capacity of generating thousands of jobs for unemployed youths in the state, and even beyond.

By Oruruo Samuel

6 Facts About Taraba State That You Must Know



Endowed with diverse and rich topography, featuring rising plains and hills, flowing rivers including Rivers Benue, Donga, Taraba and Ibi, and famous plateaus, Taraba tate is largely deserving of the tag “Nature’s gift to the Nation”.

Here, we give you the six fact about the wonderful state

1.Rivers Benue, Donga, Taraba and Ibi are the major rivers in the state

2.  Taraba State has 62 secondary schools, 3 teachers college, 9 vocational training centres, a state polytechnic, a college of education, college of Agriculture, a college of Health and school of nursing.

3. Taraba state has more languages than 30 African countries.

4. The Chappal Waddi mountain found in Mambilla plateau, is the highest point in Nigeria with a height of 2,419 metres

5. Taraba has the largest quantities of the following mineral deposits in Nigeria; Graphite, calcite, Barites, Quarzite, Bauxite, Kaolin, Zirco, topaz and various Gemstones.

6. Alhaji Musa Daggash, is said to be the first to have introduce the Eucalyptus tree to the Mambilla district.

Wednesday 31 August 2016

Chief David Kente Pays Courtesy Call To Aisha Alhassan In Abuja



Chief David Sabo Kente, popularly known as DSK, who is the President/Founder of DSK Foundation and also the Executive Chairman DSK Group International, was in Abuja at the Women Development Center to see Sen. Aisha Alhassan, Hon. Minister of Women Affairs and Child Development, who just returned from a medical trip abroad.


During the courtesy call, DSK, who during the 2015 governorship election in Taraba pitched his tent with Aisha, used the medium to call on all Tarabans to demonstrate the utmost tolerance towards peace by respecting and cooperating with one another regardless of tribe, political affiliations or religious background.

He continued that which such co-existence among them, the state will bounce back and kick start a monumental turn around that will position it among the top states in the future.

Finally, he prayed for God's permanent healing on the Hon. Minister.

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