Nasarawa State Gov blames Assembly for delays in commissioners’ appointment

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has ascribed the delay in the appointment of new commissioners to drive his policy forward to the state assembly, which is currently on recess.

Sule, who blamed the delay in announcing his new appointees on the lawmakers’ recess, noted that he cannot take any step until the state assembly is back from recess.

“The list of commissioner nominees would only be presented when the assembly resumes in early February,” Governor Sule disclosed.

“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.”

Sule made this known at the government house on Wednesday while briefing permanent secretaries on the need to continue driving his administration’s policies, even when the commissioners have yet to be appointed.

Sule tasked the permanent secretaries to put in more effort towards sustaining the policies of his administration and effectively running their various ministries pending the appointment of commissioners.

According to the governor, the meeting was convened 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.

“We have to keep going as a government, especially at a time when a lot is expected of us to ensure that we give back to the good people of Nasarawa State,” he said.

Sule also hinted to the permanent secretaries about 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 at the invitation of a Chinese company, Lovol, and the entire trip was sponsored by the firm, which 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 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 and efficient their combined rice harvesters were. 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 were 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 Deere 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.

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

“They had also heard so much about Nasarawa and were so impressed with what is happening in Nasarawa that they are willing to partner with us.

“They have now agreed that they are going to come in and set up both a training centre and a maintenance facility here in Nasarawa State. On our part, we have also agreed that we are going to buy some 130-horsepower tractors,” he said.

He disclosed further that while in China, he travelled 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 will produce starch. It will process cassava into starch for a market in China.

“It is the Chinese who are coming to set up the factory, and they will process the cassava into starch and 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 company 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, which 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 tantalite, from a company called Kenyang. Kenyang has operations only in Udege in Nigeria.

“That is more good news. It came at a time 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.

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

He equally used the opportunity of the meeting to reiterate 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 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.

He noted that the MoU would be signed soon, noting that after the groundbreaking this week, construction of an estate settlement would commence in earnest.