Governor Ishaku addressing the visitors from Kurmi LGA

Cross section of delegation from Kurmi LGA

Taraba state Governor, Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku says before the expiration of the present dispensation, the road from Mararaba to Baissa in Kurmi local government area will be constructed.

Governor Ishaku stated this in his office in Jalingo, when the Chief of Kurmi, Chairman stakeholders forum of Kurmi and the Chairman of Kurmi local government led Kurmi indigenes who are appointees of the present administration to say thank you for finding them worthy to work with.

Darius Ishaku who expressed satisfaction with the visit however said the road from Mararaba to Baissa was the first road he had wanted to construct in the state, but lamented that it was laced with lots of encumbrances steming from the part of the contractor.

He revealed that it took him time before he was able to terminate the contract and he subsequently embarked on a fresh feasibility study as well as a new design beginning from Mararaba to Baissa and to Abong, which he said has been completed . He added that a competent contractor has also been contacted but , as he put it, the contract sum as put forward by the contractor is the major hitch at present.

The Governor said further that due to the harsh economic reality on ground other options are being explored considering the commercial posture of Kurmi to the state and the entire country. He stressed that he intends to construct a standard carriage road that will stand the test of time so that the commercial potentialities of the area would be fully exploited for the benefit of state. He assured the state stakeholders that the road to Kurmi will be constructed before the end of his tenure.

On the issue of Baissa Timber, Governor Ishaku stated that, two investors have indicated interest, a Canadian and a Chinese, explaining that the two investors have put forward their conditions. He revealed that the state government is studying the two with a view to engaging the one that would be more friendly to the people of Kurmi and the state and also give jobs to the teaming youths of the state.

Governor Ishaku also disclosed that he is working assidiously to establishe cocoa grading center in the state so the other states will no longer take credit of what is being produced in the state and also to end the journey Taraba Cocoa Farmers often embarked on to have their cocoa graded at Ibadan in Oyo state.

The Governor remarked that the joy of every leader is to be appreciated which will in turn spur him to do more for the people. He called on the Chief of Kurmi and the entire stakeholders to continue to work together and to ensure that they coexist peacefully with one another. He described Kurmi as his second home if not the first, because it occupies a special place in his heart.

Speaking as the leader of the delegation, the Chief of Kurmi, Samaila Maiwuya said the entire kumi were seated before him and they have come to appreciate him for appointing them into various positions in his Government and stressed that it is expedient and important to come and say thank you.

Samaila Maiwuya also stated that since his election into office in 2015 and the subsequent Court cases that followed, hence the need to come and congratulate him for all the victories achieved and to assure him that the people of Kurmi will continue to stand by him and will accord him all the support he needs inorder to excel.

The Chief of Kurmi maintained that since the creation of Taraba state, Kurmi people have never had many of her people appointed into political offices like now. He appreciated Governor Ishaku for the special consideration, challenging the appointees to be obedient, deligent and be committed to their duties and that the people of Kurmi will not hesitate to deal with any of the appointees that flout the directive of the Governor.

He solicited for the construction of road leading to Kurmi, which he said will help ease the hardship faced by the people and commended him for reviving the Baissa Oil Mills and for his plans to also reactivate the Baissa Timber.

In his contribution as the Chairman stakeholders forum of Kurmi, Justice Emmanuel Dodo( retired) said they have come as people of Kurmi to thank him for the wonderful love he has displayed for the people of Kurmi and to assure him that Kurmi remains his own and that this time around they are determined to make things much more better for him.

Emmanuel Dodo mentioned that apart from other good things he has been doing to the people of Kurmi, they have also come to specially thank him for giving appointments to sons and daughters of Kurmi under the Rescue Teachers Scheme and further ask for more allocation in the future, stating that, there are lots of graduates in the area that are jobless.

He told the Governor that some sons and daughters of Kurmi that had earlier took an escursion to other political parties discover that there is no place like home and the home is the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, and have since returned and willing to contribute their quota and to further assert the superiority of PDP in Kurmi and indeed the state.