Taraba Facts

Channels Television  Taraba state Governor Darius Ishaku has called for constitutional review as it concerns mining rights. Mining is currently mostly under the Federal Government’s control under the law, but the Governor believes the exclusivity is worrisome and should be reviewed to promote development of the sector. According to him, Governors across the country have proffered solutions to the Federal government in order to have a win-win situation, but the Federal Government has paid deaf ears to their suggestions. The Governor made the comment while inaugurating the Governing Council of the Taraba State College of Agriculture at the Government House in Jalingo on Saturday. “The mineral that is below the ground belongs to the Federal Government, but I have the right on the surface of the ground,” he said. “So how do you go under the ground without calling on the landowner to access it? “That is the crux of the matter. And it hasn’t been resolved. The exclusivity of mining to th...

  The federal government could end up paying $500 million to an electricity transmission company for allegedly defaulting on a $200 million settlement agreement it entered into with the firm. Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTCL) is seeking to be paid $500m after government allegedly failed to pay the $200 million compensation it offered following the termination of the contract to construct Mambilla hydropower project located in Taraba State. The settlement was meant to make Sunrise relinquish all claims to the $5.8 billion project, which has been grounded for 14 years and was originally to generate 3,050 megawatts but later reviewed to 1,525 megawatts. Government has since re-awarded the same contract to a Chinese firm with Sunrise claiming that the development did not follow due process. It subsequently approached the International Court of Arbitration in Paris, France for redress, reminiscent of the legal battle between the federal government and the Irish firm...

  Three pastors and one member of the United Methodist Church in Nigeria (UMCN) were accused of spying on the premises of the state Police command and spreading the photos to foreign partners. In a brief hearing, at the Justice Mahmud Mohammed National industrial/Magistrate court Jalingo, Magistrate Bartholome Vakkai Kaigama, said the accused: Rev. Ande Emmanuel, Rev. Ignatius Jesse, Pastor Ahmed A. Ahmed and Mr. Nicodemus Heman be remanded in the National Correctional Center, until Thursday 24th June 2021 to allow the court thorough investigation before judgement. The Judge in his ruling refused the accused bail stating that the court would like to study the content of the case because of its sensitivity since it bothers on state security. The leadership of the church have protested against police claims that the clergymen are working for foreign partners. The clergymen who protested the detention of their colleagues at the state high court premises accusing the police of connivin...

  The Taraba State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, has launched its Rapid Response Squad. The state commandant of the corps, Commdt Edwin Ugwuja, in Jalingo said the objective ‘is to ensure quick response to distress calls’. He said, “We have identified some key and vulnerable points to station the squad. We are working with other sister security agencies to ensure that Taraba State remains peaceful. “Without peace, there can’t be any meaningful development in the state. We are determined to eliminate criminal activities by putting all security apparatuses on ground, especially intelligence gathering. We therefore appeal to the residents to provide us with useful information for prompt action.” On the challenges confronting the corps, Commdt Ugwuja said, “Our major challenge is operational vehicles. We have only two functional Hilux apart from the one being used by the state commandant.” The state governor,  Darius Ishaku, who was represented b...

 Jalingo, the Taraba State capital  had been a very quiet, violent  free and a city that had been known for an interesting social night life until June 2019 before the outbreak of Coronavirus disease, when the State capital was thrown into continuous curfew following the violent protests over the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship election as in the State.  Following the growing tension that characterised the delay in the collation and declaration of last Saturday’s governorship election result in the Taraba State, Governor Darius Ishaku on Monday imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Jalingo, the state capital. According to the statement, the curfew would run from 6pm to 6am beginning from Monday, March  11, 2019, till further notice. It was however reviewed to run from 9pm to 6am. From that very moment, Jalingo the State capital had been under night curfew for over two years which has crippled the once bubbling social night life and business...

Gunmen suspected to be bandits have killed one person and kidnapped two nationals of the Republic of China in Taraba State. The incident was said to have taken place at a mining site at Arufu community in Wukari Local Government Area of the state. Mr David Misal, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, confirmed the incident to Channels Television via a telephone interview on Wednesday. He gave an assurance that the police were on top of the situation and have already begun a manhunt for the fleeing bandits with a full-scale investigation ongoing. The command spokesman noted that two abducted foreigners were staff of a mining company in the state. He added that several others who sustained various degrees of injury while scampering for safety have been taken to various health facilities within the community for treatment. The said community is a boundary town between Benue and Taraba States and has been in the news for attacks arising from mining activities in the area. Accor...

  Some internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the central zone of Taraba State have returned to their communities following the directive by Governor Darius Ishaku. The chairman, Taraba State Tiv Traditional Leaders’ Council and Ter Tiv Bali, Zaki David Gbaa, who confirmed the development to LEADERSHIP, thanked the governor for ensuring the return of peace in the area. He said the governor had directed the chairman of the local government area, Prince Musa Mahmud, to facilitate the return of all displaced persons in the local government back to their homes.

A youth leaders and Chieftain of the All Progressives  Congress APC in Taraba state Comrade Murtala Gamji said the need to beautify the entrance of the historic city of Donga Town was the driving force behind the construction of a City Gate at the entrance of the town, dismissing insinuations that the project was to dominate other tribes groups in the area. Gamji who came under heavy criticism over the design of the City Gate he had constructed at the entrance of Donga town, accused a federal lawmaker in the area of sponsoring mischief by giving the project a political,  ethnic and religious coloration.  Gamji described as needless the controversies arising out of the project, said it was the Gara Donga who approved the site for the construction of the city Gate and expressly mentioned the inscriptions and the colours he wants on the historic City Gate in his capacity as the town’s Paramount ruler and traditional Leader of Donga people. Gamji, former President of the Nati...

  Barring last minute changes, the Taraba State Governor Arch. Darius Dickson Ishaku will in coming  days announced the dissolution of his cabinet, Taraba Truth and Fact exclusively  gathered.  Government House sources told Taraba Truth and Facts Newspaper that many Commissioners and Special Advisers will be eased out of the cabinet during the reshuffling of cabinet members expected  before the end of the month. The source said: “The governor is discreetly doing an appraisal of all the Commissioners in term of their performances, some of them have been asked to submit performance report which the GOVERNOR is studying, it’s has no political undertone. His Excellency just wants to inject some new hands in some sectors that are not doing too well,” the source said. Another source confirmed that the plan to sack some commissioners has been for quite some time, it was delayed because the government was taking time to study some developments, the governor is fully awa...

The Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, Professor Joseph Albasu Kunini, on Saturday said that Nigerians have come too far in their democratic journey to give up now despite the challenges. Kunini who said this in his June 12 Femocracy Day message urged Nigerians to hold on fast and to rise up to defend democracy so as to honor the sacrifices of our founding fathers and others who died to ensure the enthronement of democracy in the country. According to the Speaker, ‘days such as this should remind us of the treacherous path we have followed to come this far. We have paid huge sacrifices both as individuals and as a people and so we can not afford to give up now.   ‘It is time to look back and honor the sacrifices of those who have gone before us; those who fought against tough times and illegitimate governments, to give bequeath democracy to us.   ‘Today more than ever before, our democracy is facing very difficult times. Our common existence as a people is seriously th...

  By Mark Yusuf Winnew The practice of family planning methods in the control of births among women in Bandawa Community has tremendously increased to about forty five percent. These revelations were obtained when the Media Advocacy Group team member through the support from THE CHANGE INITIATIVE “TCI” visited the community to ascertain the level of awareness creation, acceptability and accessibility of the family planning services. Research indicates that family planning offers many benefits, including empowering parent to choose how many children they will have, better health and survival of mothers and children, a reduction in poverty, and a better education among the population. A visit to Bandawa community in Karim Lamido LGA of Taraba State reveals that, 45 percent of the people particularly women have the knowledge and some of them are in the practice of the family planning thereby, defying some traditional and religious beliefs a development they say is paying off putting i...

  A twenty-one-day ultimatum has been given to the Taraba State government by members of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) to address issues concerning the payment of pensions and gratuities across the state. The chairman of the Union, Kefas Katan who said this during an interactive session with media practitioners in Jalingo, said the Union would be left with the option of taking over the streets of Jalingo, the state capital if positive measures are not put in place to address their plights at the end of the 21 days He warned that retirees from both the state and the entire sixteen local government councils will converge in the state capital for a massive protest against the state government to press home their demands. “Pensioners in the state deemed it necessary to break its silence to address the teething and lingering problems affecting its members which the government has failed to attend to .” Ebonyi killings: Group demands Umahi’s resignation, alleges conspiracy Wonde...