By Emmanuel Awari-Jalingo
A former member of the North East Development Commission NEDC and APC stakeholder, Chief Dr David Sabo Kente has appeal to the Commission to consider Taraba State in its developmental programs and activities.
He stated this in Jalingo as part of his message to mark the Thirty Four Years of creation of Taraba State.
“NEDC should look at Taraba State with compassion.No single road has been done by the commission in the State, unlike what is tenable in other States in the region.
“I also call on the State government to liaise more with the commission by appointing a consultant who will liaise with the commission on the governor’s behalf”.
He said that he is basically in the state for three things.
“My former office was taken over by the Taraba State government, and it is now an agency. I think it’s now a Taraba State investment promotion agency. So I’ve to get another office for my political program. So I’m here to inspect my new office, the view to furnished the place and preparation for the next coming political activities.
“Secondly, to inspect a piece of land I’ve acquired earlier for a project I’m proposing to bring to the state, as an investor, I’m coming as an investor.
“Lastly, since the deputy governor was ill, you know he has been my close political associate. He was my deputy governor when i ran for governorship in 2015, before my brother, the governor, inherited him.
“He’s been ill for a while, so I contacted the family they said he was OK and they are back to Taraba, so I took the opportunity to come and see him.
On the improvement of private sector investment in the state, he said:
“Taraba is 34 today, so far so good, having gone around the city, I’ve seen quite an improvement in times of facilities, shopping malls, hotels, schools. So the private sector has done very very well in the state. Because I grew up here, and I knew what we had here before, even though we’re still far from where we want to be.
“Yes, I made that clear in a church in Wukari that more need to be done. I repeat again that a lot needs to be done in the next two years for the Governor to get the next four years.
“That’s to say, we are falling short of the performance and result expecially in infrastructural development, we’re a bit very far behind. I’ve also spoken to quite a lot of people in the government. They’ve told me they are doing a lot of repackaging, remodelling, and restructuring some certain infrastructure.
“To honest most of those things things actually went down, and if they are focusing on bringing dead structure to life, I think they’re doing good then. In times of roads, we’ve fallen short in times of road infrastructure.
On his visit to the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Aminu Alkali, Chief David Sabo Kente appreciated God for his healing.
“I visited the deputy governor with my team, they’re here , they can testify that the man is stronger that we thought, very healthy, so for me I knew we were putting pressure for nothing, but we don’t want to use human feelings to access situation but he’s back to work. He’s back, he’s strong I’ve seen him physically, he hug me and I hug him – he said.
Taraba State (Nature’s Gift to the Nation) was created on 27th August 1991, exactly 34 years ago, out of the defunct Gongola State by the military administration of Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (Rtd).
Taraba State got its name from a river called “River Taraba”.
The motto of Taraba State is “Nature Gift to the Nation” Navy Captain
Population: 2,294,800 (2006 census) 3,066,834 (2016 forecast) – 33th of 37
Percentage of Nigeria’s total population: 1.6%
Population density: 42
Landmass: 54,472 sq km (21, 032 sq mi) Internally Generated Revenue: N8,114,973,143.14 (2020)
State capital: Jalingo
Local Government Areas: 16. Current Governor: Agbu Kefas (People’s Democratic Party) National Bureau of Statistics.
Taraba is one of the six states that make up the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It shares interstate borders with Bauchi and Gombe States to the North, Adamawa State to the East, and Benue, Nasarawa, and Plateau States to the West. Its southern boundary is shared with Cameroon. Jalingo is the state capital.
Taraba covers an area of 54,472 square kilometres and lies at latitude 8° 00’ North and longitude 10° 30’ East. It has a population of 2,294,800 (2006 census) 3,066,834 (2016 forecast) and a population density of 42. The state accounts for 1.6% of Nigeria’s population.
Administrators and Governors since creation includes,
Adeyemi Afolahan (Governor – Military): August 1991 – January 1992, Jolly Nyame (Governor – Civilian (Social Democratic Party)): January 1992 –November 1993, Yohanna Dickson (Administrator – Military): December 1993 – August 1996, Amen Oyakhire (Administrator – Military): August 1996 – August 1998, Aina Owoniyi (Administrator – Military): August 1998 – May 1999 and Jolly Nyame (Governor – Civilian (People’s Democratic Party)): May 1999 – May 2007.
Others are:
Danbaba Suntai (Governor – Civilian (People’s Democratic Party)): May 2007 – October 2012
Garba Umar (Governor – Civilian (People’s Democratic Party): October 2012 – May 2015
Darius Ishaku (Governor – Civilian (People’s Democratic Party)): May 2015 and Agbu Kefas, May 2023 – date.