REDEFINING GOVERNANCE IN TARABA

Simon Baba records Darius Ishaku focused leadership

It was the weekend of Sallah holiday but for Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku it was no time to rest. It was time to work even more and it turned out to be one of his most stressful periods, crowded as it were, by series of events. The centres of his major engagements were in Jalingo, Takum and communities along the Taraba-Benue States’ borders.

Before leaving Jalingo on Friday, September 1,for Takum, his home town for the Sallah holiday he attended a two-hour opening church service of the Second Annual Convention of Ekan Church Women Fellowship held at the Lutheran Church of Christ Nigeria , Mayo Gwai, Jalingo, where he was given a special award of excellence. The award is in appreciation of his achievements as Governor of Taraba State in all departments of service delivery, for giving women a special place in his government and also for his unique skills acquisition programme that has greatly enhanced the socio-economic status of women in the state

Governor Ishaku who was accompanied to the programme by his wife, Mrs. Anna Dickson Ishaku, told the women that until he became governor he never knew the importance of the prayers that church leaders often ask the congregation to offer for those in leadership positions. He urged them to continue to pray for peace. He also used the occasion to explain some of the achievements of his administration, especially in education. He told them that in the two years of his administration, the state’s performances in the West African Examination Certificate (WAEC) has jumped to an enviable height.

In 2016, the state recorded 67.3 per cent performance in WAEC, the best in the 26-year history of the state. This year also, the state was listed among the 10 best performers in the examination: it came eighth among the 36 states in the country. This result also places Taraba first in the entire former Northern region. These achievements were made possible through the new attitude of discipline, commitment and consistent investment in the sector by the Ishaku administration.

He also told them that financial leakages have been blocked by his administration in several areas including the payroll of primary school teachers. “A lot of people didn’t want us to screen the payroll of teachers but we insisted and the results have proved me right. We are not relenting. We even discovered fake schools in the process and those schools have been shut down.” This achievement was the reason for the recent visit of leaders of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to Government House. They had come to thank the governor for restoring sanity to the administration of schools and for paying teachers’ salaries and local government staff regularly.

Also speaking, Mrs. Ishaku advised women to play supporting roles in the home and never attempt to be in competition with their husbands. He urged them to ensure that they promote peace at home so that their husbands can go out and accomplish the roles they are expected to play for the advancement of society. “Our role as women is to support our husbands. We must never do anything to suggest that we are in competition with them”, she said.

With that accomplished, the governor’s convoy moved to Takum where he and his wife spent the rest of the Sallah break attending to other very important matters. He arrived that evening at his private residence in Takum and received by a huge crowd of supporters and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members. His intention was to catch some rest but that was not to be as the spirit of service to the people did not allow that. On Sunday, he and his wife attended a special church service at the Christian Reformed Church, at Gu Almasihu, Takum where the presiding Reverend Pastor, Shem B. Nuhu praised him for building a bridge and rehabilitating one of the worst roads in the community, for building a major road in Takum and for providing the people with boreholes that have become a regular and reliable source of potable water.

Ishaku later proceeded to the site of the special Referral Maternity Hospital being constructed by the T.Y. Danjuma Foundation. He had promised the people of Takum a similar hospital while campaigning for election there in 2015 but General T.Y. Danjuma decided to fund the project when the governor complained to him that the state was unable to fund it. Ishaku expressed satisfaction with the pace and quality of work being done by the contractors. The day’s programme was crowned with a stakeholders meeting with leading members of the Takum community held at the Governor’s Lodge in Takum.

On Monday, September 4, it was the turn of the entire Muslim community in Taraba State to pay the traditional Sallah homage to the Governor. The event also took place at the Governor’s Lodge in Takum. They came from all the16 Local Government Council Areas of the state. Consultative meetings that followed the open reception lasted till very late in the evening but this did not prevent Governor Ishaku from rising and leaving early the following day for yet another stressful engagement. It was a peace mission to communities along the Taraba-Benue States’ borders where there had been some agitations over land ownership. He was met by the Benue State delegation led by Dr. Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue in Wukari.

The two governors and their delegations drove in a long convoy to Ugba, a Benue border town for a meeting that would eventually lead to the resolution of the agitations. On their way, they stopped in about six communities on both sides of the border to appeal to the people to live in peace. Their message at every stop was virtually the same – that the Jukun in Taraba and the Tiv in Benue have long been neighbours who had lived peacefully for a very long time and should not fight over land. They both promised policies that would encourage peace and harmony in these communities. They stressed that border lines were usually for administrative convenience and should not be seen as a mark of division and conflict.

At Ugba, a two-hour meeting on the border issues ended that evening with a communiqué signed by both governors. The communiqué mandated the deputy governors of the two states to engage in further consultations on the issues involved and to also liaise with the appropriate federal government agency on boundary matters to ensure a permanent resolution of the dispute between communities along the borders of the two states. Baba wrote from Jalingo