The State of Plateau

NYSC most relevant these critical times - Lalong Date: Sep 27 2017 4:00AM Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has said the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme has remained relevant and imperative for national unity‎ since its establishment over four decades ago. ‎Speaking yesterday at the opening ceremony of the 2017 Annual Management Conference of the NYSC in Jos the Plateau State capital, the governor said, "At this critical time in our country that there is clamour for secession and restructuring in several quarters, the scheme remains a unifying factor, especially amongst the youths who form a large chunk of agitators. The NYSC scheme has contributed greatly to the integration and unity of our nation... I therefore, urge the coordinators of the scheme to continue to sustain and improve on the giant strides so far achieved."

Sales approval of government properties in Lagos, Jos, Kaduna by Nasarawa State Assembly. Date: Sep 26 2017 Nasarawa state House of Assembly yesterday approved the request of Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura to sell the state properties in Lagos, Jos and Kaduna state due to the dilapidation and deteriorating condition of the properties. Speaker of the House Ibrahim Balarabe Abdullahi disclosed the approval yesterday while reading the house resolution over the governor’s letter presented by the majority leader of the house Tanko Tunga at the floor of the house in Lafia. Abdullahi said the proceeds realized from the sales are to be ploughed back to complete the multi-purpose Nasarawa state House at the Central Business area, Garki, Abuja as well as other projects that have direct bearing on the lives of the citizens of the state. “We are passing a resolution approving the request of Governor Tanko Almakura to dispose government properties in Lagos, Kadun

Peace Corps stage ‘WakaForPeace’ in Jos Date: Sep 22 2017 The Nigeria Peace Corps in Plateau State yesterday marked this year’s World Peace Day by staging a walk around Jos with placards that called for harmonious living between the various communities in the state. The walk tagged ‘WakaForPeace,’ was aimed at dousing tensions between Hausa and Igbo communities following last week’s skirmishes in Jos. The state Commandant, Sunday Joseph, said Nigerians must resolve to live in peace irrespective of their geographic locations and blamed the recent skirmishes in Jos and Bukuru areas on the false information circulating on the social media. “Mischief makers should not plunge the country into unnecessary crisis which is why we are calling on government to put mechanism in place to regulate their activities on social media,” he said.

Group seeks participation of Plateau youth in electoral process Date: Sep 22 2017      The Plateau State Coalition on Electoral Reforms and Good Governance (PLASCER) has called on youth to actively participate in electoral process. The Coalition consists of Plateau state’s Ministry Women Affairs, Youths and Sport Development, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Faith Based Organizations (BSOs) and Media among others. It made the call through the acting Director, Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP), Mr Nelson Ananze at a Town Hall Meeting with Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) at Crest Hotel, in Jos. Mr Ananze advised youth not only to be active when elections were around the corner but to do good things before the elections come, during and even after. He also urged them to join civil society groups so they can work closely with the electoral bodies in order

LG polls: Plateau APC assures level field Date: Sep 21 2017  Ahead of the forthcoming local government elections in Plateau State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it will give a level playing field for all contestants. The chairman of the party, Latep Dabang stated this yesterday during a town hall meeting organised by the Plateau State Coalition on Electoral Reforms and Good Governance (PLASCER), in Jos. Mr Dabang explained that internal party democracy was crucial for their party because they had seen a number of political parties that collapsed after they derailed from the norms.  “As chairman of APC, I am not taking the issue of internal democracy lightly, because it has been responsible for the collapse of PDP having ruled for over 15 years,” he said.

Plateau United shop for fresh legs to bolster squad Date: Sep 20 2017  Albert Dakup, the Media Officer of Plateau United of Jos says they are aware of the enormous task ahead of them as they represent Nigeria in next year’s CAF champions league. Dakup, who spoke yesterday, said that modalities were in place to strengthen the team with quality players who have the CAF Champions League experience in order to galvanize the team to perform well at the forthcoming CAFCL. He explained that the technical crew has already penciled down such players and efforts were on to engage them for negotiations. On the rumour making round that the Plateau United were negotiating to secure the signing of Kano Pillar’s defender Jamiu Alimi, Akwa United’s midfielder Hafiz Aremu, Enyimba’s striker Mfon Udoh and MFM FC’s striker Sikiru Olatubosun, Dakup said that the team can’t disclose their names because “we are still negotiating with their clubs.” Aware of Nigeria n teams’ poor perf

3,000 IDPs graduate from free summer classes in Plateau Date: Sep 19 2017  About 3,000 children mostly Internally Displaced Persons from the central zone in Plateau State have graduated from free summer classes organized by the Jingina Empowerment Foundation, a nongovernmental organisation which aims to restore hope to the IDPs.  Chairman of the Foundation, Dr. Hassan Jingina yesterday said the free summer classes were part of the foundation’s three key programmes in education, health care and human empowerment which would be executed every year targeting different sets of beneficiaries.

Attempted attack: Plateau taskforce kills 5 assailants, loses 1 soldier Date: Sep 12 2017 Operation Safe Haven, the multi-security taskforce maintaining law and order in Plateau State, southern Kaduna and parts of Bauchi State said it killed five assailants at the weekend while repelling an attack on Hukke village in Bassa local government area of Plateau State Friday evening. Reports has it that a soldier with the taskforce was also killed in the fire exchange while another was shot in both legs and is presently responding to treatment at the OPSH headquarters clinic. About 20 people had been killed in the early hours of Friday when assailants launched an attack on residents of Ncha village in Miango district while they were sleeping. It is suspected that the same assailants had attempted to invade Hukke village and had engaged security agents in a fire exchange. OPSH Media and Information Officer, Captain Adam Umar yesterday said, “Apart from the five

Flood ravages communities in Plateau’s Kanam LGA Date: Sep 5 2017  Riverine communities in Kanam local government area of Plateau’s southern senatorial zone have been ravaged by heavy flooding which cut off some villages, submerging houses and washing away farmlands. It was gathered that the flooding followed a downpour which overflowed river banks, rendering hundreds of people homeless. Plateau State Deputy Speaker, Hon. Shehu Saleh Yipmong whose community was affected, had moved a motion on the floor of the House of Assembly on Wednesday and the House had mandated the committee on Public Accounts to write a report to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on the need to render assistance to the hundreds of people affected. Yipmong who represents Dangi constituency, in a phone conversation yesterday said that the affected communities included his home village of Yipmong, Kyamsangi, Busari, Nameram, the roads linking Guruntung to Jarmai in Wase LGA as well

APC has come to stay in Plateau – Deputy speaker By Sadiq & Dickson S. Adama,  Date: Sep 5 2017    Shehu Yipmong is the Deputy Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly. In this interview, he says since the All Progressives Congress (APC) capitalised on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) mistakes in the state to come to power in 2015, it is mindful of its responsibilities to remain the party to beat. Excerpt: Saleh Shehu Yipmong is the Deputy Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly There is this notion that governors across the country have pocketed the state houses of assembly such that they okay and rubber-stamp anything that comes from the executive. Is that the scenario in Plateau as well? What is enshrined in the constitution is for the house of assembly to be an independent component of government; independent of the executive. But as you said, houses of assembly across the country are being influenced by the governors all along. It didn’t begin tod