Onuchukwu Emeka
I have been travelling to Nasarawa state often from Abuja recently. I noticed that their governor, Umar Tanko Al Makura’s Senate campaign is in advance stage when the election is still like 21 months away from now.
His posters and billboards to this effect is unavoidable as you pass through the state. Meanwhile, I drove over two and half hours in the state without seeing a shovel not to talk of Julius Begger or RCC or even local inter beau. But his campaign posters are of different shapes, beauty and sizes.
This is a state that is still rural in every aspect of it. You will noticeably see some people breaking rocks to different sizes with hammer chisel and raw energy. None of their successive governments have ever tried to buy some little automotive equipment to help ease the process, then organise them into commercially viable sector for taxation to improve IGR. No they will not, the only thing they are after is, sending their commissioners for finance to Abuja every month to collect allocation from money made from oil, a natural resource that exist in another state when you contribute zero.
The governor will just pay workers if actually he is one of the salaries paying governors then share the reminder with whatever type of cabals that exist in that state. The state capital remains the same rural capital just like the time I was in Unijos. As I pass through Lafia onboard Ifesinachi’s high bus, I found out that Lafia is just building on that one little federal road that pass through it. Behind those buildings are natural environment from the time of Adam.
This is one of the states in Nigeria with highest natural resource deposit. Apart from the government at the federal sitting on all these, the state government is too lazy and indolent to even do anything even if they are allowed. No wonder the state government is one of the ones hugely against restructuring.
Nigeria can not continue like this, it’s restructure or die in no time.
