By Yakubu Lamai
Please delete the name of Nasarawa from your laundry list of states best suited for a rampaging hoard of hunger protestors because Nasarawa State is on the rise and under the audacious leadership of Oilman Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, the federal government is exploring crude oil in Obi, Keana & Assakio and Nasarawa has taken its rightful place as one among the top three most competitive states in Nigeria.

With reference to your unfounded aspersion, Nasarawa State has not owed any civil servant their monthly salary from May 29th 2019, and even that Engr. Sule met a backlog of gratuities unpaid for over a period of 26 years when he became governor in 2019; in one fell swoop he cleared the gratuities of retirees who have served in the state civil service from its creation in 1996 to 2004 and thereafter the governor allocated N50m monthly to settle gratuities of retirees.

Today as Nigerias new investment frontier, Engineer Sule has in five years from 2019 paved the way for the employment of over ten thousand youths in Nasarawa State and converted the employment of hundreds of others that were serving as casual workers to permanent employment in the state civil service, just as the governor made it a matter of state policy to consistently pay the salary of civil servants as and when due every month, whether or not the federation allocation is made available. That is why during the 2023 Elections, both the NLC (Nigeria Labour Union) and TUC (Trade Union Congress) openly declared and campaigned for the re-election of Governor Sule.

Also for the purposes of enlightenment, Engr. A.A. Sule has also ensured that housing units have been provided through mortgage bank to civil servants in Nasarawa State, while building an Industrial City on 13,000 hectares of land at Gurku-Kabusu (larger than the city of Paris) on the fringe of FCT Abuja to generate employment and cascade wealth just as Governor Sule is still partnering with the federal government to create President Tinubus vision of an Evergreen City to be sited in Nasarawa State on 5000 hectares of land in Karu, which will create jobs, and boost power supply.

So, I dare to say our people appreciate the gesture of Sule as he increased the civil service revolving loan from N10 million to N50 million, evolved a statewide monthly social security support of N5,000 to vulnerable families called A.A. Sule Money, and in the same vein, he approved all outstanding promotions and paid arrears on these promotions, just as he removed the embargo on in-service hitherto impose on the civil service before he became governor.

As a torch bearer for accountability and fiscal responsibility, Engr. Sule deliberately approved a downward review of his monthly security vote from 300 million to 200million, just as he signed the Public Procurement Law which paved the way for the World Bank to rank Nasarawa State (four times) as Nigerias Most Transparent State and going by financial reports from Federal Ministry of Finance, BUDGiT and the Debt Management Office (DMO) as well as the National Bureau of Statistics, Nasarawa State is rated among the few states with low debt profile, but ranks among the highest in terms of IGR: Internally Generated Revenue.

That is why today, Nasarawa State is perhaps the only state in Nigeria which has a Sovereign Wealth Account where it is saving earnings to secure the future of generations unborn and even the independent evaluation platform Kingmaker adjudged that Nasarawa State in 2020 as having moved up the rankings from the 24th position in 2016 to 12th position in 2020 in terms of Standard of Living of the citizens.

Now however, not only is Nasarawa State poised to be the only state assembling Tractors for farming in Nigeria; the state also boasts of having West Africas largest Sugar Refinery (Dangote Sugar Refinery) and Nigerias largest Lithium plant (Avatar) as well as the Nasarawa Technology Village in Karu, (which is modelled after Silicon Valley in America), which is a global center for innovation with a tech-centric brain pool, where youths, apprentices, students and artisans are offered unsurpassed opportunities to participate in the advancement of technology, so as to spur the incubation and establishment of high-tech corporations and generate thousands of jobs in IT.

The long and short of this story, is that there is more to celebrate in Nasarawa State even in the face of nationwide current reality of hardship. So please do a fact check before you lampoon the name of Nasarawa State in any laundry list.

-YAKUBU LAMAI✍🏿🇳🇬
(DIRECTOR GENERAL STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION TO THE NASARAWA STATE GOVERNOR)
THURSDAY JULY 25TH 2024