By Israel Adamu Jos
A Group operating under the auspices of Concerned Plateau APC Consolidated Vanguard on Wednesday said the immediate past Governor of the state Simon Lalong left a debt of 307 billion naira .
This was contained in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Jok Samuel Camillus
Convener PACV ,Comrade Kate Gambo Miaphen PACV Southern Zone and Haruna Maidabino Hamza PACV Northern Zone and made available to newsmen in Jos .
The statement further reads that ” In what appears to be a continuation of the barrage of misinformation and desperate attempts by the Caleb Mutfwang led PDP administration in Plateau State to disparage the immediate past Government of His Excellency Simon Bako Lalong and tarnish its image and reputation, the new administration came up with another fresh and unsubstantiated claim that it inherited 307 billion naira as against what was submitted in the hand over notes put at 201.2 billion naira.
The unsubstantiated figure which was said to have been given during the submission of a 4-year Strategic Development Plan and Transition Committee Report by its Chairman Prof. Ganyir Lombin to Governor Mutfwang is to say the least another fabrication of the imagination of its authors aimed at targeting the achievements of the last APC administration by the PDP which as it were, clearly thrives in mischief and misleading the people.
For the avoidance of doubt, the APC led Rescue Administration handed over a total debt stock of 201,225,349,626.41 naira only as at 30th April 2023 which is verified by the Plateau State Debt Management Agency and the Federal Government Debt Management Office and was so submitted in the handover notes.
This figure comprises of both the domestic and foreign loans and facilities accessed by the Plateau State Government during the Lalong administration including the figures it inherited from the Jang administration.
Let it also be known that in 2015, Governor Lalong inherited a total debt burden of 222 Billion naira from the Jonah Jang administration which he never defaulted in servicing throughout his administration without making noise or trying to tarnish the image of his successor by misinformation and fabrication of fake and fictitious figures.
In addition, the Lalong Rescue Administration despite maintaining its commitment to servicing inherited debts, completed many abandoned projects and also applied judiciously the loans and facilities it took to carry out other new projects that it initiated, many of which were commissioned before the end of the tenure and are currently being enjoyed by the citizens.
In case the PDP claims to have forgotten, the APC Rescue Administration under Governor Lalong also inherited over 8 months salary arrears, 12 months pension, no work no pay withheld wages, among others which it settled promptly and continued to pay untill its last few months in office.
We regret to remind the people of Plateau State that in 2015, many local Governments, particularly Mangu (which was led by the current Governor H.E. Caleb Mutfwang as Chairman) were shut down due to huge debts untill the Lalong Rescue Administration stepped in to save the situation and have the local Government reopened. Despite this, no one went to town to castigate him or fabricate fictitious figures to disparage him.
One therefore wonders what the PDP led administration wants to achieve with this fake figures that are not in tandem with the figures authenticated by the DMO and Plateau Debt Management Agency which have been published and can be verified any day any time.
We challenge the Government or its Committees which came up with the bogus and fake figures to put out the details of the “alleged” debt profile for the public to see if they have any.
Moreover, the Committee claimed that they were not given the opportunity to make input into the preparation of the handover notes of the last administration.
It is unfortunate to hear such narrative from the committee because we wonder how an incoming administration will be part of preparing handover notes of a previous one. Where has it ever happened? Were they part of that last Government that they will participate in preparing handover notes? We hope they will not soon deny the fact that they were part of the transition committee.
As always, we advise Governor Caleb Mutfwang to face the business of governance like his colleagues across the country particularly as Plateau faces very critical issues at the moment which need to be addressed.
These include the ravaging attacks on innocent citizens which have continued unabated since he took over, the continued shutdown of the State Civil Service due to the strike by workers over unpaid salaries, as well as the crippling of governance at the Local Government tier due to his inordinate ambition to forcefully take over the local Government against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and pronouncements of the Supreme Court.
In our view, this is not the time for blame games, grandstanding and political gymnastics which the PDP Government seems to be using to hide its cluelessness and incapacity to deliver governance having lied to the people using propaganda, fake news and misinformation.
Plateau people are yearning for solutions and not excuses because Government is a continuum. Debt or no debt, they desire and deserve peace, progress and development,the statement further reads .
