Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau has lauded the military for the rescue of a kidnap victim, Mr Kelvin Eze, a student of King’s College, Gana Ropp, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the student was kidnapped on April 29, and rescued on May 1.
The governor made the commendation at the inuaguration of chairmen and members of boards, parastatals, commissions and governing council of tertiary institutions on Tuesday at Government House, Jos.
“I want to use this opportunity to specially commend officers and men of Operation Safe Haven and other agencies for the rescue of recently abducted students of CAPRO International Mission School in Barkin Ladi,” he said.
He commended security agencies, local vigilantes, community, religious and traditional institutions for their various inputs in intelligence gathering to ensure proactive handling of security issues in the state.
The governor, while inuagurating the chairmen and members of the various organisations, appealed to them to continue to support the government in consolidating on peace and security in the discharge of their duties.
“It is only peace that can guarantee stability and prosperity. We have to work hard to ensure that we do away with anything that is capable of causing a breach of the peace.
“As a Government, we are taking steps to equip our security agencies to enable them to function effectively.
“Just last week, the State Executives approved the purchase of 50 patrol vehicles and 200 security motorcycles to boost the mobility of security personnel,” he said.
He congratulated the appointees and said they were selected based on their antecedents and track record of service and loyalty.
He urged them to bring their wealth of experience in serving the state in the various organisations.
He said that their appointment was part of his administration’s commitement to delivering good governance and ensuring smooth operations of government machinery through informed policy formulation.
He said that the appointees should not use the opportunity to serve for self-aggrandisement or self-enrichment, or to also engage in abuse of power with the management teams of the agencies.
“You should be reminded that you are not the Chief Executive Officers of the organisations as your functions are clearly spelt out in the laws establishing those agencies,” he warned.
According to Lalong, the members must be thorough and diligent in monitoring the activities of the agencies to ensure diligent execution of policies.
He said this was to ensure that the state and its people were not shortchanged especially with the current COVID-19 economic down turn.
Lalong warned that he would hold them responsible in cases of mismanagement of public resources.
“I will hold you responsible if under your watch, public resources are mismanaged, stolen or misapplied.
“The people should derive maximum benefit from every government business,” he said.
He urged the appointees to support his administration in fulfilling its aspirations and campaign promises.
“Any acts of sabotage and disloyalty will not be tolerated and anyone found to be working against government interest will be shown the way out.”
He also implored the managements of the agencies to work in collaboration with the newly inaugurated Boards to ensure that they fulfilled their assignments.
Responding on behalf of the appointees, the chairman of the Board of College of Health Technology Zawan, Capt. Joseph Din, thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve, assuring him of their commitment to ensure the progress of Plateau.
NAN reports that some of the boards inuagurated includes Plateau State University, Bokkos; Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin Ladi; College of Health Technology, Zawan; State Pension Board; Christians and Muslims boards, among others.(NAN)
