Re:STAKEHOLDERS ENDORSE REBUILDING OF JOS MAIN MARKET.

FB_IMG_1660043945917

It has become very imperative for us in the Berom Educational and Cultural Organisation (BECO), to issue a statement on the deepening manipulation and falsification of statements and opinions by the government to facilitate its resolve to hand over the Jos main market, to Jaiz bank and, by implication to our historical adversaries. We wish to get our properly informed on the role we have played on the subject matter, so far to avoid being misled or hoodwinked by official falsehood.

  1. It will be recalled that we were invited by our parent body, the PIDAN, to a meeting at the SGS Rayfield, on August 1, 2022. Each ethnic nationality was to be represented by its President and Secretary General. Autochthonous nationalities were well represented at the meeting, which had in attendance, the leadership of the CAN, Its youth wing (YOWICAN) and women wing, PYC and some stakeholders. It was then that the CAN Chairman informed participants that the meeting was at his instance. The objective of the meeting was to fashion out a uniform position for all the stakeholders, at the meeting. We were to meet a government team at the end of our session, to present our collective position on the Jaiz imbroglio. After a lengthy discourse, we unanimously resolved to reject everything about rebuilding the Jos Main Market and by the Jaiz Islamic Bank. This position was handed to the government team led by Noel Dongjur the Chief of staff to the governor.
  2. We were taken aback when two days later, we were called to another meeting on Thursday August 4, 2022, this time, at the instance of the government, surprisingly on the same issue. This meeting was with Presidents of the ethnic nationalities. After all said and done, the resolution remained same: a rejection of the plan by government to award the contract for the rebuilding of the Jos Main Market to Jaiz. The meeting ended on this note and, as in the previous gathering, government representatives were to convey resolutions of the PIDAN to government.
  3. We were shocked when we were invited to another meeting on the same matter, a day later, in the Governor’s Office on August 6, 2022. The desperation on the part of government, made us in the BECO, to become suspicious of the sincerity of government. We were at a loss, and the likely outcome was that either the Governor was not given a true picture of the outcome of our previous meetings or that he had made his mind to go contrary to the wishes of the people. On that basis, BECO resolved to stay out of the gathering. As it turned out, the Saturday meeting was a mere briefing by the governor, whose patience with any contrary view, was far exhausted. The PIDAN was merely tolerated at the meeting. It’s on record that participants at the meeting like, Naval Admiral S B Atukum, former governor of the state, Rev Pandan Yamsat, former President of the COCIN Church, the State CAN Chairman, etc counseled against going further with the project, but that an intensification of public sensitisation on the matter. There was no endorsement of the Jaiz deal.

We appeal to our people to rest assure that we are resolute on our rejection of the the unfortunate deal between our governor and the Islamic Jaiz Bank.

Chollom Gyang.
Secretary General