Gov Kefas's Government Yet to Take Full Shape

It's hundred days since Dr Agbu Kefas took over the leadership of Taraba State as its Chief Executive although the administration is yet to fully take shape, but many residents said the government is on a right track to move the state forward.

Within the last hundred days, had declared a state of emergency in the state education sector with free tuition fee for primary and secondary schools and immediate reduction in tuition fee for the school of Nursing and midwifery Jalingo and the Taraba State university by 50%.

The government has also ordered for the procurement of 950 Tractors in collaboration with the Czech Republic to enhance Agriculture, although the tractors are yet to arrive in the state.

Kefas also won his way to the heart of civil servants by the "magic" he deployed not only in paying the salaries till date but restoring payments of running cost to Ministries and agencies of government which the previous administration had abandoned.

Also, the employment of 10000 youths into the state sanitation scheme is another remarkable landmark of the new administration in the last hundred days.

Residents and political watchers believe Governor Kefas has kick started his administration with good intentions and inspiring hopes to the people but more work needs to be done in fulfilling campaign promises made during the election.

 

Secretary Taraba Must Progress Movement, Mr Othello Kundila Epimelo said the governor has used the last 100 days to lay foundation for the development of the state with the hope of delivering the dividend of democracy to the people who gave him the mandate in no distant future, scoring his performance as satisfactory in the last 100 days.    

 

"In terms of performance the governor has shown good, genuine and pure intentions towards moving the state forward but with the mess of the previous administration 100 days should not be a yardstick for judging his performances.  

"We are seeing a total new approach to governance and our people are happy and highly hopeful as they await its dividends," Othello told this newspaper.

 

Suliman Buba said he was impressed with the Governor's performance in the last hundred days, noting that the hope of moving Taraba state forward has been restored.

 

"Our people need to know that governance is a major task and the last hundred days we have seen some significant improvement in governance, the Governor has visited many places to assess the situation and we have started seeing some activities that show in a few years the state would have taken a major leap in development. We want the Governor not to relent on his performance."   

 

A retired civil servant Bala Usman on his part worries that the new government has made a lot of promises in the last 100 days and must do everything possible to fulfill them.

 

"The Governor has started on a good note, he has gone through documents and handing over notes of his predecessor so all his promises were made from an informed point of view, like the free education and reduction in tertiary institution fees are major steps for us as a state and we look forward to him implementing this policy.

"I just want to advice the governor to stop making promises and focuses on the one he has already made, I understand he has the passion to develop Taraba state but he should take it a few steps at a time, his promises are becoming too much and the people will feel bad if they are not meant."        

Some residents of the state are of the view that Governor Kefas is yet to meet expectations on issues of security. According to them, the governor has not really done well in terms of security given rising cases of kidnapping and frequent killings in the southern part of the state.

Many of the residents believe that with the Governor's military background, security issues would have received a major turnaround in the last 100 days.

"The Governor has military background thus he knows how to tackle security challenges facing the state, we have expected that there would have been a boast to Security architectures across the state, for instance the police and military lacks patrol vehicles, the last time patrol vehicle was bought in Taraba state was during UTC, many local governments does not have functional security patrol vehicle, I expected that the new administration would have buy now provide vehicles, motorcycles  for security patrol across local governments and wards," Bulu Samuel, a retired police officer said.        

 

Also a civil servant in one of the newly created Ministry told Taraba Truth and Fact Newspaper that its Commissioner is grappling with the duties and role of the Ministry.

 

"Our Ministry was newly created and our commissioner is just studying our mandate, even till now we don't have a Permanent Secretary, so much is not happening in the Ministry of Waste Management and Wealth Creation."

Although, the governor had appointed 22-man commissioners, many of the Commissioners are yet to fully swing into action, Taraba Truth and Fact gathered that some of the newly appointed commissioners are yet to familiarize themselves with government operations and procedure.

 

The civil servant said some of the Commissioners are newbies and are yet to take full control of their ministries, stressing that the Permanent Secretary is still running the show at the ministries.

 

The state Government had recently set up a nine-man committee vested with the responsibility of streamlining ministries, boards, and parastatals, as well as extra-ministerial departments and agencies.

The committee is tasked with the duty to sort boards, parastatals, and agencies with a view to placing them appropriately in order to achieve maximum results, the senior civil servant said until this Committee completed its assignment much could not be expected from the newly appointed commissioners.