The Parliament Diary

By Johnson Umishi

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has called on permanent secretaries to put in more efforts towards sustaining the policies of his administration and to effectively run their various ministries pending the appointment of commissioners.

Governor Sule laid the task when he met with the permanent secretaries at the Government House on Tuesday.

According to the Governor, the meeting was convened in order to review the activities of the various ministries under the permanent secretaries, with a view to addressing their challenges for effective and efficient service delivery.

“This is a feedback meeting. First, from my own end, for you to understand what we are doing and what we are up to at this end. Secondly, from your own end. We want to hear some feedback, if you are facing any challenges that you probably have not been able to communicate with us. We are very interested in ensuring that we keep the various MDAs running the way they are supposed to with or without the presence of the commissioners,” he stated.

While updating the permanent secretaries on the activities of his administration, he attributed the delay in constituting a new executive council to his recent trip to China, as well as the fact that the Nasarawa State House of Assembly is currently on recess and that the list of commissioner nominees would only be presented when the assembly resumes early February.

“It is only at the beginning of next month that the assembly will resume. It is only then that we will be able to submit our list of prospective commissioners to them. As far as we are concerned, nothing stops. We have to keep going as a government, especially at a time that a lot is expected of us to ensure that we give back to the good people of Nasarawa State,” he said.

Governor Sule used the opportunity of the meeting to inform the permanent secretaries of his exploits in China and the opportunities coming to Nasarawa State as a result of the visit.
He however reiterated that the trip to China was on the invitation of a Chinese company, Lovol, and the entire trip was sponsored by the firm that has shown interest in coming to invest in Nasarawa State.

“First and foremost, as you are all aware, I had an invitation from a company called Lovol Heavy Equipment and Agricultural Industry in China. They invited us in order to come and promote our agricultural strides. They had invited me soon after I visited Mahindra in India but I didn’t take their invitation seriously until we were getting ready to harvest our rice in Jangwa and I realized how effective, efficient was their combined rice harvesters. I got to know more about them. That is why when they invited me for the second time, I was more than happy to go.

“They were willing to pay for everybody. But I was trying to be a little bit reserved, not to make them feel they are buying us over. They paid for my ticket as well as the tickets of three other aides that I went with. They took us to Lovol. I visited Mahindra. I visited John Dere in the US. Believe me, I have now seen the difference between all these factories and the Chinese companies. The Chinese have gone very far when it comes to technology,” he added.

Governor Sule disclosed that as a result of the visit to China, Lovol has agreed to come to Nasarawa State and to set up training and maintenance centres in the state.

“They had also heard so much about Nasarawa and are so impressed with what is happening in Nasarawa and are willing to partner with us. They have now agreed that they are going to come in and set up both a training center and maintenance facility here in Nasarawa State. On our own part, we have also agreed that we are going to buy some 130 horsepower tractors,” he said.

He also informed those at the meeting that while in China, he traveled to Hunan Province to inspect equipment to be shipped to Nasarawa State for another Chinese company establishing a starch processing plant in Akwanga.

“In Akwanga Local Government, we are going to have a factory that is going to produce starch. It is going to be processing cassava to starch for a market in China. It is the Chinese that are coming to set up the factory, and they will process the cassava into starch, and they will sell it in China. I went to inspect the equipment that would be shipped to Akwanga. The site is by the highway as you leave Akwanga at the waterworks, going towards Gudi, where they are selling mangoes by the roadside. The land is owned by the Chinese. They have already started clearing the land. The machines to be brought there have already been manufactured,” he added.

The Governor said he also visited two companies in China, Julian and Canmax, two of the biggest lithium processing companies in China.

“We saw amazing things in the area of processing lithium, our own lithium that they are taking from Nasarawa State. It is there that we went into an agreement with a company that is coming to do lithium processing bigger than the one that has been commissioned in Nasarawa that is coming to set up in Endo. That is the company that made that commitment to pay N500k minimum to their workers when they come,” he said.

He explained that he was also in Shanghai, where he visited the Kenyang mining company that is investing $250m in establishing a tantalite processing plant in Udege.

“The only company in China that is making metallic aspects of mobile phones is in Shanghai. That company buys all its raw materials, which is the tantalite from a company called Kenyang. Kenyang has operations only in Udege in Nigeria. That is another good news. It came at a time also when the Chinese government is investing about $250m into their business, and they promised to bring the entire amount to Udege to set up a tantalite processing plant in Udege,” he said.

Governor Sule expressed confidence that on February 4th, officials of Kenyang from China will visit Udege as part of their commitment to establish the tantalite processing plant.

He equally used the opportunity of the meeting to reiterated the commitment of his administration to agriculture, particularly the state-owned rice farm in Jangwa, urging the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture to step up activities by supporting local governments in the state as they also key into the project meant to ensure food security in the state and across the country.

The Governor further announced that another milestone will be recorded following the entering into of a PPP arrangement with a company called Optiview, a real estate developer, for the development of the old Deputy Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.

“The company has worked hard, and they have been able to obtain the CofO, which we didn’t even have for that land. They have paid all the tenement rates, and they have developed the plan. They have developed the MoU to be signed. They want to be able to do the groundbreaking this week, and they want to begin the construction of an estate there that would be for the benefit of the state,” he said.

About Author

admin2

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *