Stakeholders move to resolve Jos market reconstruction controversy | Tellwell Newspaper
From Giwa Alex, Jos
The controversy generated by Jaiz Bank’s proposal to reconstruct the burnt Jos Main Market in Plateau State seems now on the path of resolution.
Governor Simon Bako Lalong has convened a stakeholders meeting to sensitize the citizens and get their input into the process of carrying out the project.
Governor Lalong said while addressing the participants that the stakeholders engagement was, among other aims, a deliberate effort by the Government to dispel the misinformation, rumours and misconceptions over the project which has generated ‘needless’ controversy.
Lalong said the Government, over the years, made several efforts to rebuild the market by advertising and engaging many investors within and outside the country who insisted that they wanted a bank guarantee from the government, as well as an absolute control of the market for as long as it takes for them to recover their investment.
He said the government could, however, not meet those conditions and continued searching for investors, until Jaiz Bank came up with a proposal to fund the construction of the market 100% with their money, with the State giving only the land as equity.
Consequently, according to the arrangement, a sharing formula of the shops for the purpose of sale in the ratio of 60-40 will be used under which the Bank will recover its funds and leave, implying that the bank will, thereafter, have no business in running the market and will not own any shop.
However, those who buy the shops will be issued a 40 year lease by the government for them to utilise the shops and recoup their money, after which the ownership reverts to the government.
All the while, the market will be managed by the Jos Main Market Authority (JMMA) as it is the property of government.
Lalong therefore debunked the misinformation allegedly being pedelled by politicians that the government was handing over the heritage of the State to an Islamic Bank for 40 years, describing it as false and a calculated attempt to truncate the laudable initiative.
The governor, therefore, appealed to the stakeholders, particularly leaders of religious, traditional, ethnic, professional and other groups, to play their role of educating the people to see the benefits of rebuilding the market whose absence has made the once beautiful centre of Jos a slum and eyesore.
Secretary to the Government of the State, Prof. Danladi Abok Atu, who presented the report of engagements with the traders, religious leaders, elders, civil society, PIDAN, professional bodies, women groups, physically challenged, traditional institutions, among others, said the general views of the groups is that the market should be rebuilt, but with proper education and enlightenment on some of the misconceptions heating up the public.
In his contribution, former Military Administrator of Plateau State, Admiral Samuel Bitrus Atukum, under whose regime the market was completed and commissioned by then Military Head of State Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, advocated for sustained consultations and enlightenment.
Member representing Pankshin Kanke Kanam Federal Constituency, Yusuf Gagdi, said the misconceptions and controversy that greeted the news of rebuilding the market was not necessary because some political undertones have been brought into the discourse and seemed to over-shadow the good intentions of the governor.
He said since the shops in the market will not be sold to Jaiz Bank, but to all interested citizens of Plateau State under a strict supervision of an Allocation Committee, there is no reason for apprehension because the funding Bank has done similar projects in many States with huge success.
Similarly CAN Chairman Plateau State, Rev. Fr. Polycarp Lubo, and the representative of JNI Sani Mudi, supported the rebuilding of the market with more consultations being carried out in the process.
Former Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority Architect P.D. Gyang, who spoke on behalf of Plateau elders, and Hon. Ayuba Burki, speaking for people living with disabilities, wonderd why the issue that is strictly business is being associated with religion and ethnicity, whereas traders of different faiths always do business together in the market.
While they support the issue of more consultations, they said it was very important to hurry and begin the process of rebuilding the market so as to remove all the traders that are selling around the terminus, Ahmadu Bello Way, Rwang Pam Street and other areas that have made the once admirable Jos city centre an embarrassing thing.
At the end of the deliberations, the stakeholders agreed that consultations should be carried out up to the grassroots which led to the Governor mandating members of the Plateau State House of Assembly to go and hold Town Hall Meetings within their constituencies within one week and report their resolutions to Government.
