Trailblazing Amidst Criticism
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By Samson Zanunga
Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku has no doubt been at the receiving
end of vicious and fiery attacks on his person and Government in recent times.
The mudslinging
has been from the state chapter of the opposition All Progressive Congress Party and her sympathizers.
Little can mean much and much can mean little at both ends of the divide as we chronicle the
last five years of this administration.
In a nutshell, it has been an upward trajectory for the state in terms of human capital development if you like and a plethora of unheard inroads even as most Tarabans were quick to fault the government for her misplaced priorities hence the level of poverty in the State.
Let me digress a little to the human capital development aspect of this administration that has placed the state among a few in the country with substantial investment in the provision of potable water supply hence the training opportunity it provided for a few indigenes of the state in Kenya. The feat is quite monumental given the scarce resources available in the state.
To further improve the quality of food production, the government went ahead through the FADAMA II project with a focus on dry season rice farming which resulted in a massive revenue increase in the state at the same time producing new millionaires in the state as their output exceeded expectations.
Success as firmly believed, has many fathers and this is the case in Taraba as the government has not looked back nor backed down in her quest to improve the quality of life and well-being of the citizens.
A closer look at the greenhouse project which many consider as a monumental waste of resources but the good news is that the farmhouse is still producing organic products that are healthy for all ages.
The greenhouse project provided employment for many young Tarabans who are still tied to the government subsidiary.
The crisis that rocked parts of the state cannot be blamed on the state government because it has limited control of federal security agencies like the military to help in quelling the upsurge in violence and criminality.
Governor Ishaku has never for once gone public to declare his incapacity to manage tensions in the state when any occur but his critics are always picking holes where none exists.
Many a few assumed that the Governor having not been a grassroots politician, should as it had been a practice in the previous administrations, throw resources around at any given instance even with the little being generated as well as the federal monthly allocation.
He simply asked for a conducive environment to enhance development but citizens and their insatiable quest for unrest triggered the carnage we’ve ever seen in the recent past and the colossal loss of lives and displacement of citizens from their ancestral communities.
Unperturbed by all of these, the government still took big steps in revitalizing the state civil service, the health care sector with a huge improvement in the reduction of infant and maternal mortality rate.
Things can only get better even with the current avalanche of uncompleted projects now occupying the front burner on the priority list of Governor Ishaku’s drive to ensure he leaves the state better than he met her.
The critics keep digging to unearth what is unearthable as there is no perfect government let alone a perfect leader.
It should be said that the administration has gone a step further by providing palliatives to displaced persons spread across the state with its meager resources.
Governor Ishaku has continued to blaze the trail even at snail speed yet the state is not stagnant. The best he can do is what he is doing. Critics will keep heaping blame hence their inability to see the good in every situation.
Taraba at the end of this administration will be better than it was. Governor Darius Ishaku will be a leader to be reckoned with in spite of the unmerited attacks by critics of his administration.
Mark my words.