The Plateau State government recently introduced Executive Order 003 to inject sanity into the state capital, which has been defaced over the years due to illegal structures and trading in unauthorized places. The General Manager, Jos Metropolitan Board (JMDB), Hart Bankat, an architect, speaks with ISAAC SHOBAYO on urban renewal and the misconceptions surrounding Executive Order 003. Excerpt:
GOVERNOR Caleb Mutfwang recently introduced Executive Order 003 to give the state capital and its environs a facelift, and your agency is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring total compliance. What is the level of compliance?
If you have an urban development board that has been moribund for eight years and those that ran its affairs for such a long period were acting general managers, what do you expect? The practice then was that the most senior civil servants would assume the position of general manager in an acting capacity. Though they tried their best, they had their limitations. There’s a difference between bringing somebody who was politically appointed and somebody who grew up through the ranks. When it comes to patronage and access to the government, you cannot guarantee that you will always have access to be able to share your thoughts with the governor. But you see, the difference at the moment is that we have purposeful leadership that is willing and knows the direction in which it wants to take its people.
This is a purposeful administration led by its captain, Governor Mutfwang, who is willing and ready to change the narrative, hence why we’re on board to fix these things. That was what gave birth to Executive Order 003. Having looked at the laws that are available, the penalties available, and the strictness of what we need to enforce, we knew that we needed to do something that would make people understand how serious the government is and that was how Executive Order 003 came into being.
The board, under your leadership, has been executing this executive order, but the complaint from some of the affected traders is that they were not duly notified before your agency embarked on the ongoing demolition…
In terms of enlightenment and sensitization, I’m happy you’re here. You know the number of press conferences I’ve held. You know the number of announcements we’ve put out, both in print and electronic media. We have been running advertisements. We’ve had street advertising. Megaphones were used, and all methods of engagement and channels were used. The truth is, people are being deliberate and mischievous, and we are not mincing words about that. So we are not even trying to patronize anybody; that’s why you see us going out to do our work. We have records and minutes of meetings we’ve held. We have attendance records of people who attended the meetings. So if they had sent fake representatives to the meetings, that was their business. But we’ve been disseminating the information over six months ago, even before the executive order came on board, informing people that we want to do this and want to take action on this. Even as of then, we were begging traders to take off their things from the road and give us the road in the first instance, pending when we came for enforcement. But they remained adamant.
The economic situation in the country is hitting harder, and quite a lot of people are engaged in menial jobs of buying and selling to make a living. Now that they have been displaced, what alternative arrangements have you made for them?
Alternative arrangements have been made. For those who are trading on the streets, we told them the old market at Terminus is open for them to move into. For those at GadaBiu, we had told them to go back to the satellite market. For those in FarinGada, we have told them the market is large enough; go back inside the market. We have a new market there. And we have other satellite markets that are scattered all over the place that people abandoned but prefer to trade on the streets. And then, when you go and you don’t get spaces and you come back to us, we are making allocations. Let me give you an instance: those ladies selling fish in West of Mines on the road—you know that that has been a thriving business for a very long time. But we have told them you have to move; it doesn’t speak well of our city. And we provided a space for them in Vandapuye. We are the ones begging them to come and see for themselves. But tomorrow, when we go to take action, people will say we didn’t inform them. If you notice, as of yesterday, when you go to Old Airport, you notice those selling goods on the road are no longer there because we spoke to them and explained to them, and they complied. We said we don’t like coming to chase you, and we understand that times are hard. But can you listen to us? There are available spaces off the road where you can go and do your business. It must not be on the road. But people are used to that market of convenience. No rent, no tax, nothing. So they just do what they want to do, but things cannot work that way.
We have lost millions of dollars in investments. These are things that will improve even the lives of the people that are causing problems for us. You are complaining about hardship; you are complaining about no industries. Do you remember when Jos had so many industries? People who run shifts—people who work in Grand Cereals in the morning, move to ECWA Feeds in the afternoon, and before you know it, they go to JIB in the evening. We had a lot of young people coming up and making their money. There was a middle class, but today, what do we have? You cannot have a successful society if you don’t create a conducive environment. And part of creating a conducive environment is what we want to do. You can’t bring an investor from a foreign land to come to Nigeria and then come to Plateau State, and then he’s seeing containers and bamboos on the road, and you’re telling him to come and invest $100 million or $200 million, and you think he’ll take you seriously.
The number of tricycles operating within Jos/Bukuru has continued to increase, and in some cases, it is a nuisance. What is your agency doing to regulate their operations?
For tricycles, the government has already introduced new initiatives. We’ve already started introducing QR codes. The day before yesterday, when they came for a meeting, I expressed my displeasure over their indiscriminate parking. I also went around with them to see things for themselves, which they appreciated. Those that came for the meeting were from Jos North Local Government Area. I told them to get their counterparts from Jos South for us to discuss together, so that all of us would be on the same page, and also, so that no one would come up tomorrow to say we did not carry him along. When they come, we’re going to discuss with them, and we’re going to identify setbacks. And part of what I suggested to them is the need to have e-tickets in such a way that they would know themselves. Knowing their PT numbers, all these will allow us to know where they are operating from and their various destinations. At the moment, there is little or no security control. By the time we put everything, or basic things, into consideration, everything will be normalized.
What is the long-term vision of the government in this context?
Let me repeat, there is no going back in Plateau urban renewal. We are bringing Plateau back to its state of pride. We are bringing it to the centre of attention. You can’t claim to be the home of peace and tourism, and then you don’t have any semblance of it. What we have is cosmetic peace. You have people living in segregated areas based on ethnicity and religion. We want to see places where people live freely in well-planned, well-executed places where they will live and coexist irrespective of faith or ethnicity. So that you will know that there is actually peace. We want to see communities where you don’t have to see a competition of loudspeakers because this one wants to say there are more Christians here or more Muslims. No. This one wants to say more people from my tribe are here. No, no, no. We want to see a Plateau where it will be well planned. We want to see a place where you are welcome to everybody, irrespective of your creed, religion, or tribe. You should be able to come and enjoy the atmosphere of Plateau State by the special grace of God.
Have you sensitized religious leaders about the recent order against roadblocks by religious organizations, especially on Friday and Sunday?
We conducted stakeholder engagements and issued letters to religious leaders, as requested during these meetings, to inform their members. We are focused on building confidence by removing unnecessary barricades, which do not align with a peaceful society. Instead, we aim to open up spaces and create a more inclusive and secure environment for all residents. The engagement with stakeholders helped convey the importance of this initiative.
You cannot build confidence when you put barricades everywhere and keep telling people that we are fine. You can’t be fine with barricades. Looking at the only incident in the state in the past, we discovered that this valley came up as a result of insecurity. You have barricades longer than the period in which you had a crisis. So it’s not all about that. It’s about a new face. I keep telling people, [those killed in Plateau are not up to one million people, but we have not yet healed, and we have not moved forward. Rwanda killed more than a million people in genocide, but today Rwanda is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. So we need to heal. We take trauma for granted in this country. A lot of people are suffering from trauma. And if we don’t start opening up these spaces, we will keep confining people to trauma. That is the idea: open up these spaces, create building confidence, create client confidence, and create a citizen confidence platform. People should know that if I stay on Bauchi Road, I can go to Rayfield or Bukuru at 1 a.m. without being scared that somebody is going to kill me on the road.
Now we are opening up areas. I keep telling people that; unfortunately, many people were not enlightened when we went to Bukuru, and they tried to shoot us and stone us. But in Jos North, there was a total compliance officer. We would be very selfish if we didn’t commend the people of Jos North because they have realized how much they have suffered from a state of dilapidation and flooding. They are the ones who even welcomed the government. Most of the complaints we receive in this office are from Jos North, with the youth and elders telling us, “Please come into our community. We will even protect you.” That is the healing we are talking about.
We have started excavating the drainage. By the special grace of God, the moment we get approval from His Excellency, we are going to start constructing the drainage [channels] and the roads. Those are the kinds of developments we’re talking about. His Excellency will tell you he doesn’t care where you’re from; as long as you live on the plateau, you’re his brother or his sister. And that’s the kind of city we want to see, where people will feel comfortable and not be scared, where people can cross bridges, walk across areas, and go wherever they want, whenever they want and do whatever they want. And mind you, if we don’t get our economy back to working 24 hours a day, we are only kidding in this country.
The clearing of illegal structures in Bukuru town in Jos South local government snowballed into violence, where properties worth millions of naira were destroyed. How did you handle the issue?
I heard about the incident that happened in Bukuru because, while we were there, we took control of it. It’s quite unfortunate that a lot of people were not enlightened, that we are trying to change their stories. But I thank God for the responsible citizens who were there when they started stoning us, simply because we asked traders to take their wares off the road. When we tell you we don’t want you on the road, what has that got to do with religion? That’s why I said it is illiteracy. The task force has over 140 armed men who were [pelted] with stones and broken glasses, and then they started firing guns at us. If we had decided to be illiterate like them, what do you think would have been the repercussion? With 140 armed men, the story would have been different. But we decided to restrain ourselves and pull back. Unfortunately, the miscreants went around and started burning people’s cars and chanting all forms of religious [sentiments]. It doesn’t work, not with this government.
I assure you, every illegal structure on the street will be taken down. We don’t care what area you live or stay in; as long as you’re under the laws of Plateau State, we will do the needful. Let this go out. We have started building control; tomorrow, they will tell you I didn’t say it. We’ve started building control. Anyone who does not have approval should come and get approval. Don’t think that you’re staying in an area where, when I come, you chant and start shouting religious chants. It won’t work. I will help you pray. When we finish praying, then you pay the government its due. Those things will not work. We’re not in a banana republic. We’re here to work for Plateau people and all Plateau people. It is to the benefit of each and every one of them. The people want roads. They want water. They want every form of facilities that the government can provide. They don’t want to pay the taxes to the government. People want to build without normal approval or regulation. But the government certainly will not fold its arms and allow this to continue. The safety and security of the state are paramount.
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