Induction Retreat: Repositioning the State Through Capacity Building
A COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED AT THE END OF A THREE-DAY INDUCTION COURSE/RETREAT FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE TARABA STATE GOVERNMENT, HELD FROM 24TH – 26TH JULY 2023, AT THE NIGERIAN ARMY RESOURCE CENTRE, ABUJA
PREAMBLE:
The Government of Taraba State of Nigeria held an Induction Course /Retreat for the newly elected and appointed members of the State’s Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. The programme was designed as a way of repositioning the state through capacity building and devising best strategies to actualize its establishment mandate and the vision of the new Governor His Excellency Dr. Agbu Kefas on the threshold of an era.
The participants at the retreat engaged in vigorous capacity building courses, panel discussions, group activities and insightful deliberations. The Resource Persons and the Organizers were wonderful in their presentations and packaging the training retreat. Their adoption of symbiotic interactive and case study approaches helped in deepening knowledge and in applying what ordinarily would have ended on theoretical note.
However, the platform had provided an opportunity to retrospect on the lessons and challenges of past public administrations and management in the state. The participants did their best in making the workshop a rewarding exercise for the Government and People of Taraba State.
OBSERVATIONS
In the course of the Induction Course/Retreat, both the participants and resource persons noted that:
1. The Induction/Retreat was a new chapter in the history of Taraba State geared towards enhancing growth and development as explicitly conceptualized in the 5-Strategic Fingers’ Development Plan of the Executive Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas. With clear vision, recipients of the training can create a better Taraba State.
2. Taraba State is blessed with natural resources but faced with human development challenges. It is their duty to be accessible to the people, and create space for citizens to reach their full potential.
3. The trust placed in the elected and appointed political officials and public servants is an honour and responsibility to serve the people.
4. The Governor has started his administration on a worthy note and participants are confident of his vision and leadership to steer Taraba State towards monumental growth and development.
5. The capacity development programme was reflective, timely and relevant to the needs and aspirations of the people in view of the prevailing development challenges of the state.
6. Taraba State has had a record of progressive performance in some development indices especially in the year 2020 in economic planning, internally generated revenue and moral integrity.
7. Taraba State has been confronted with a wide range of challenges that have retarded its growth and development going by its available data and statistics, and has not attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the last few years.
8. Science, technology and credible data are requisite to promote good governance, and efficient and effective public service delivery in Taraba State.
9. The past political leaderships of the state have done their best but much work still to be done to effectively harness the human and natural resources the state is blessed with.
10. There have not been any interference in the appointment of judges, Qadis, etc. with the new administration of Dr. Agbu Kefas since he assumed office.
11. Taraba State does not have Treasury Single Account (TSA), and has not captured the biometrics of its public servants, pensioners, and population.
12. Disloyalty is a core challenge the state is battling with at the moment.
RESOLUTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the above observations, the participants resolved as follows:
1. The Governor of the State, His Excellency Dr. Agbu Kefas must be commended for initiating the training as contained in his 5- Strategic Fingers’ Development Plan, and for his attendance.
2. Elected and appointed political officials and public servants should always remember the welfare of the people in the decisions they make, meet their needs, and embrace the values of transparency and good governance. They should foster an environment of open communication and cooperation where ideas are shared and encouraged.
3. The Executive Governor of Taraba State, HE. Dr. Agbu Kefas, should build on the foundation laid by the successive administrations and the development trajectories.
4. Elected, and appointed political officials and public servants must demonstrate loyalty in the course of their service to the Government and People of Taraba State.
5. The implementation and outcomes of policies and programmes should be displayed on the relevant institution’s website to enable the citizens, civil society and development organizations to engage with the government and promote the image and quality of governance of Taraba State.
6. Taraba State Government, legislature, judiciary and Public Service should prioritize the needs of the citizens.
7. The three arms of government must operate the principles of separation of power, and show respect for each arm, as no one is inferior to the other.
8. Taraba State should leverage its service delivery across all sectors of development and other areas of governance with the use of research, science and technology.
9. To make Taraba State a place that is considered as ease of doing business to attract investments, donor funding and IGR, it must demonstrate strong political will for reforms, fiscal discipline, transparency, accountability, simplify tax, establish institutional mechanism, respect rule of law, build active websites, promote gender equity and culture of peace, among others.
10. Concerted effort must be made to attract FDI, for instance, by creating the STATE INVESTMENT PROMOTION STRATEGY. Cooperation and partnership essential for growth should be prioritized.
11. Taraba State should leverage its comparative advantage in agricultural, mining sectors, tourism and human capital resources.
12. Taraba State should ensure continuous training and re-training of all staff, and experience sharing among institutions to achieve effective civil service.
13. Leaders must set examples and develop loyalty as well as self-sacrificial mindset in the discharge of their duties and functions.
CONCLUSION/APPRECIATION
The participants at the Induction Course/Retreat concluded that Taraba State is at the critical moment in the history of her existence as a corporate entity of Nigeria and thus, critically needs urgent but collaborative multidimensional approaches in overhauling its value system, institutional mechanisms and governance transformation to positively change the narrative. Hence, the emergency position of the state calls for nothing less than the Governor’s 5-Strategic Fingers’ Development Plan for sustainable growth and development. The time is now to take ACTION!
On this note, the participants once again wish to express profound gratitude to the Governor of Taraba State, His Excellency Dr. Agbu Kefas for organizing the Induction Course/Retreat, and acknowledged his presence at both the opening and closing sessions. The participants believed the training has hugely met their expectations through improvement of knowledge and skills, and changed attitudes, which in turn will enhance decision-making processes and public service delivery in Taraba State.
Signed this 26thth day of July 2023 by:
1. The Speaker, State House of Assembly
2. The Acting Chief Judge of the State
3. Secretary to the Government of the State
4. The State Head of Service
5.The Hon Attorney General & Commissioner for Justice
6.The Honorable Commissioner of Information & Reorientation.
Induction Retreat: 10 Takeaways From The Abuja Retreat – S.A Media & Digital Comm.
1. Participants learnt new ways of doing old things in all sectors of administration.
2. The interactions helped us to know and appreciate each other better at individual levels. National law makers and the state ones collaborated for the growth of Taraba.
3. Participants updated their knowledge about governance in all its dimensions.
4. It was a moment of sober reflection as Participants caught a clear vision of the Moving Forward agenda of Dr Agbu Kefas.
5. In Abuja, Commissioners brain stormed with major stake holders in their ministries and strategic investors.
6. It was a refresher course on budget matters and revenue growing techniques for the relevant bodies.
7. Participants learnt the intricate synergy between the tiers of governance: the legislative, Judiciary and executive. With this, Taraba will run better.
8. Experienced technocrats and seasoned civil servants impacted their knowledge on the trainees.
9. It was a robust opportunity for all participants to acquaint themselves with global best practices in various fields like data collection, digital technology for governance and transparency in service.
10. Judicial officials were reminded of their daunting task of ensuring all round justice and a dispensation of righteousness in judgements.
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Birthday Tribute: The Rescue Captain is 65
By Bala Dan Abu.
A couple of weeks ago, I sought for and got an audience with my boss, Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku. The venue was his main office in Government House, Jalingo and my mission was to first remind him of his 65th birthday anniversary which was fast approaching and then seek his permission to make some elaborate arrangements for a befitting celebration in the media. What I got was an emphatic rejection of the celebration plan.
But he was quick in providing an explanation, perhaps, to assuage my feelings of disappointment. “How can I be celebrating my birthday when my people are being killed? That statement was both a question and an answer rolled into one sentence. And so, I needed no further explanation. I just took back my memo file and left.
That encounter says volumes about Ishaku, a renowned architect and town planner who has been in the saddle as Executive Governor of Taraba State since May 29, 2015. It says a lot about his humanity, the depth of his love, empathy and care for the people of Taraba, particularly, victims of the incessant herdsmen killings and kidnappings in the state and also of the communal clashes involving Tiv and Jukun living along the Taraba/Benue borders. It is also a loud statement of his abhorrence and rejection of violence as a means of dispute resolution.
These crises and conflicts have not only given Ishaku stressful days and sleepless nights but have created for Taraba State – our beloved “Nature’s Gift to the Nation” – the underserved image of a place that is perpetually in turmoil. That image is hurting social and economic activities and the development agenda of his administration in which foreign investors are expected to participate actively.
Crisis was strange to the boisterous culture of communal life that Ishaku was born into on July 30, 1954 in Lupwe in present day Ussa Local Government Area of Taraba State. Lupwe was then more of a missionary settlement where every person was the other person’s good neighbor. There was no discrimination on the basis of tribe, religion or occupation. The young then Darius imbibed that culture. His grandfather was a pastor and his father, a teacher. Both professions created an ambience of peace and love which brought the children of other parents to live and grow together under the care of the parents of the young Darius and his siblings. It also shaped the future attitude of Darius to people and issues. Even as governor, he has not stopped wondering why anybody would take up a gun or any offensive weapon to kill and maim a fellow human being.
School environment further widened the scope of the cross-cultural exposure for Ishaku. At St Bartholomew Primary School, Wusasa, Zaria, where his school career started in 1961, he met and studied side by side with children from different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. He left there in 1967 with a good School Leaving Certificate for the famous St Paul’s College, Kufena, also in Zaria, where he obtained the West African School Certificate in 1972. In the same year, he was admitted into Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained a B.sc. and a Masters in Architecture aa well as a Masters in Urban Planning. He was a part-time lecturer and a doctoral student in the same institution before politics eventually took over.
Before he went fully into politics, Ishaku had made his mark as an architect and urban planner through his own private company. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, FNIA, and also a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, FNITP.
Despite his outstanding success in his profession, politics remained for him an irresistible attraction. In 2003, he took the plunge. He ran for a senate seat in his Southern Taraba constituency. He lost the seat but gained useful experience that was to help his political career years later. In 2011, he was appointed Minister of State for power under the Goodluck Jonathan presidency. Later he was deployed to the Ministry of Niger Delta Development in the same capacity. He also had the privilege of supervising the Ministry of Environment at the same time.
The experience he gained from these three key ministries and his professional calling as an architect prepared him adequately for exemplary leadership of honesty and service delivery which have been the hallmark of his administration as governor of Taraba State.
In 2014, Ishaku decided to try his luck at the polls once more but this time round, for the position of Governor of Taraba State. He voluntarily resigned from his job as minister. The contest was fierce but against all odds, he won at the polls. He also triumphed over his opponent in the litigation that came on the heels of that victory. His re-election in March this year for a second term was with a greater margin of victory. Support for him was massive. All the gubernatorial candidates of all the political parties in the election, with the exception of two, withdrew from the race and endorsed him for re-election. It was their own way of acknowledging the good job Ishaku is doing in the state. He was sworn in for a second term on May 29, 2019.
Ishaku’s background of a gentle and peace-loving person has immensely helped in his handling of the affairs of the state. At the time he took over as governor in 2015, Taraba state was in crisis. Communal and religious conflicts were rife. Basic infrastructure in the state were also in dilapidation and crying for urgent attention. His campaign trips round the state were an eye-opener on the level of decay of basic infrastructure and social services. Taraba was a state in dire need of rescue.
Ishaku put together a rescue team and assumed the position of the rescue captain. But peace must first be achieved before any meaningful development can be achieved. He coined his now very famous peace mantra – “Give me peace and I will give you development.” It was meant to appeal to the conscience of the people to stop fighting and embrace peace so that development which had eluded the state for many years could be pursued and achieved.
Four years down the line, the Ishaku administration has successfully given the state a new positive name. The people may not have fulfilled their own part of the bargain of giving him peace but he has succeeded tremendously in his rescue mission. Today more than 300 communities which previously had no good drinking water now do so, courtesy of the administration’s rural water development scheme. Most homes in Jalingo now enjoy water provided by the repositioned state water agency. Jalingo is looking up to the completion of the biggest water project in this part of the country for a lasting solution to water scarcity in the city.
The Ishaku administration is currently working very hard at it.
Education, health, power and transportation and many other sectors have all profited from the rescue agenda of the Ishaku administration. The WAEC scores by students from the state rose from less than 20 percent in 2015 to 75.3 percent in 2018 making the state the best in the entire northern states and number eight in the country. The state also now has three functional hospitals, renovated and equipped with state of the art facilities by the rescue administration. Governor Ishaku is also acknowledged as the governor in the North East zone who purchased and installed the highest number of transformers and thereby contributing the most in improving power supply in Taraba State. For this achievement, the Yola Electricity Distribution Company rewarded him with an award.
In four years, Governor Ishaku was honoured with not less than 20 awards by various local and international organizations for his achievements. His achievements in the health sector earned him an award of recognition by the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA. The Water Man of the Year award came from the Water Suppliers Association of Nigeria for his radical approach in the provision of water. The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Nigerian Union of Local
Government Employees, NULGE, also jointly gave Governor Ishaku an award for being the most workers friendly-governor. At that occasion, the two organizations acknowledged him as the best salary paying governor in the country. The Vanguard Newspapers Governor of the Year given to Ishaku in 2017 is an encapsulation of the achievements of the Rescue Captain and his rescue administration.
There may not be wining and dining today to celebrate the 65th birthday anniversary of Governor Ishaku but the people of Taraba State acknowledge and appreciate the sacrifices he is making for them to live in peace and to enjoy a new lease of life being provided through his administration’s numerous projects. Women and youths cannot but be grateful for the skills acquisition programmes of his administration and also that of his wife, Barr. Anna Darius Ishaku’s Hope Afresh Foundation. This twin programmes have taken more than 5,000 young men and women from the unemployment market.
Happy 65th birthday, Governor DDI.
Dan Abu is the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media & Publicity
How Not to Treat a Governor
By Abdullahi Salisu
They came in several vehicles dressed in full battle gear. Sophisticated guns and bulletproof vests complemented their smartly ironed green-on-green police uniforms.
Their destination was the Abuja private residence of Arc Darius Dickson Ishaku, executive governor of Taraba State. And their brief was to obtain some incriminating evidence, no matter how little, against the governor for the purpose of framing him up as a gun runner.
All entreaties by their fellow police men on guard at the entrance to the house to tarry awhile for the keys to the apartments to be brought so that entry into the building would be easier and less destructive fell on the deaf ears.
They opted for the use of force, using heavy iron equipment they had brought with them. By the time they were through with their evil mission, the building had become a shadow of its former self.
Doors and windows were smashed, beds and tables were broken, air conditioners and refrigerators damaged while the ceilings were pulled down, all in their desperation to get “something” to take back to their masters for the purpose of nailing the governor and members of his family.
They found no such thing. It was, indeed a failed mission. I’m told that up till now, that is, over three weeks after the incident, the police high command and their masters are still leaking the wounds of failure of this outrageously embarrassing assault on Governor Ishaku’s privacy and his constitutionally guaranteed immunity as a sitting governor of a state in Nigeria.
The police authorities, according to reliable information, are so disappointed and embarrassed by the scandal that the failure of the invasion of the Governor’s privacy turned out to be for them. It was for this reason that they have been unable to issue a public statement to explain it. Truth is that they have no convincing explanation for this primitive act which has gone into the nation’s history books as one of the most arbitrary and obnoxious violation against the person and office of a state governor.
But information available to this writer is that the invasion was a premeditated action intended at “punishing” the Governor for his courage in defending his people against the incessant attacks and killings in the state by the Fulani militia men.
The police high command was said to have organized the invasion on the basis of spurious allegations that the Governor had a large collection of arms and ammunition and huge amount of money in the house.
The plan was that the items would be recovered and the news of the recoveries trumpeted even beyond the nation’s borders in order to humiliate the governor and project him as unworthy of his people’s respect and support. That was the architecture of the plot that eventually failed.
Surprisingly, the nation’s usually very active human rights clan has failed to raise a voice against this unlawful invasion of the privacy of a sitting governor. The press, too, has been curiously silent. We have seen no editorial comments condemning this outrageous act of humiliation of a very senior public servant – a sitting governor of a state who enjoys immunity under the constitution of the country.
So far only the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Governor Ishaku’s political platform and his colleagues in the PDP Governors Forum have condemned the invasion and demanded explanation. Yet, the police have offered none. They have just reluctantly ordered a probe which is being handled in a manner that will produce no useful results. They only intend to use it to exonerate themselves.
The police should show remorse. Governor Ishaku and his family deserve public apology. The police should organize a press conference to be addressed by the Inspector General of Police to publicly accept responsibility for the illegal invasion of the Governor’s house, give full explanation on their motive and exonerate the Governor and his family.
He should also publicly give an undertaking to guarantee the safety and life of the governor, that of members of his immediate family and his close aides.
This invasion by the police is a very serious matter, especial if taken alongside some other unsavoury developments that happened earlier and related to the Governor.
Shortly after Ishaku’s re-election for a second term, there was a threat to kill him. The threat was linked to a certain group that was also linked to the political opposition in Taraba State.
Then came the wicked rumours of the Governor’s supposed death, also packaged and orchestrated by people connected to the political opposition in the state. All of these point in the direction of an invidious agenda against Governor Ishaku that ought to be a subject of police probe.
Unfortunately, the police that are supposed to investigate these dangerous developments around the Governor are part of this intricate web of controversy and conspiracy. The invasion is a big evidence against their neutrality.
The public and the press must rise and ask the critical questions on this issue. Why is Governor Ishaku being targeted for humiliation, even elimination? What really is the offence of this man? Is it wrong of him to have opted to serve his people diligently?
I know he had always asked security agencies to show more commitment and become less bias in their handling of security issues in Taraba State. That was not too much of the chief security officer of the state to ask for. He never failed to express appreciation for the much that security agencies were always able to do towards the maintenance of law and order.
And he is on record as one of the governors in Nigeria who did the most to facilitate the job of the security agencies. Certainly, Governor Ishaku deserves better treatment from the police and other security agencies. Anything less will amount to an unfair treatment for the Governor.
One of the earliest steps Governor Agbu Kefas took was to swiftly issue an Executive Order on illegal mining in the state. It was bold, new and very strategic. Coming at the right time, it was an effective way of check mating the drift in the mining sector. Illegal mining had hitherto eaten deeply into the fabric of that area, dealing with any meaningful exploration or exploitation of mineral resources. The state was hemorrhaging.
Apart from this drain on the state economy, illegal mining was at the heart of urban criminality and rural rascality. It was a threat to the financial fortunes of the state as well as its security. As far as dimensions and scale was concerned, the menace was wide spread with operations well coordinated by a cartel. It looked like the drug scene of Mafias in a movie.
The state was almost helpless as it continued to lose major revenue due to the leakage.
It was in the midst of all of these chaos that the no nonsense former soldier issued a stern order on clamping down on these underworld activities. Kefas essentially took the criminals by surprise. They didn’t see it coming.
The governor didn’t stop at this courageous declaration. Setting up a committee headed by a retired Army General, Faransa, Dr Agbu Kefas then set the stage for a revolution in the sector. Thankfully, Gen. Faransa came into his role prepared. A top ranking military man imbued with discipline and pursuit of excellence, he lurched out into the woods to get the job done.
General Faransa practically approached the task from a war mode angle. A man of a few words like his boss, the former military pension top brass pushed into the hinterlands with his team.
Weeks into his assignment, the committee can boast of major arrests, running the illegal mining cartel out of town and destroying illegal mining sites.
The coast is now clear for how best to tap into the abundance of the mining sector in the state. The sanitation project has opened up the space for legal mining activities and the attendant profit the state is poised to gain. Like governor Kefas best put it: “We are not against mining in Taraba but we are committed to licensed and legal mining to develop our state through this God given prosperity.”