Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang is optimistic that the state’s current security challenges will soon be a thing of the past.
Speaking at the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI) in Jos, Plateau State capital, on Friday, he stated that his administration is doing everything possible to ensure that Plateau returns to its original state of peace and tourism for which it is known.
He stated that the state will collaborate with the institute (National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS) to promote economic development, security, educational advancement, health, food security, democratic stability, and good governance in the state and throughout the country.
Mutfwang stated that the state has recently been in the media for the wrong reasons (crisis), but that such an ugly part is only a fraction of the state, as it still remains receptive to all and sundry regardless of ethnoreligious background, has the best weather in the nation, an affordable standard of living, cheap food, and other potentials.
He urged the institute and its alumni to offer any kind of assistance to Plateau State, which happens to be its host state and to collaborate with them in their quest to move the state forward in all ramifications, saying that Plateau will always be their home as a NIPSS alumnus.
The election of AANI’s new EXCOS/leadership will be a highlight of the event, with the outgoing National President and former Inspector General of Police, M. D. Abubakar (Rtd), urging the incoming EXCOS who will be voted in to strive well in moving the institute and all it represents forward.
He stated that AANI is the only sophisticated association in the country with all types of high-level professions and that they (the institute through its participants and alumni alike) have formulated good policies based on their research that can move the nation forward if well implemented.
Abubakar stated that his administration did its best, but that the people, not him or his EXCOS, will score them.
Prof Ayo Omotayo, Director General of NIPSS, thanked AANI for their good work and encouraged them to use their knowledge gained at the institute to contribute to national development, whether or not they have retired from service.
He emphasized that the institute will continue to uphold and even deepen the standard so that participants are always at their best during their courses, which will not only contribute to maintaining/improving the standard but will also stimulate those who pass through the institute’s capacity and ability to contribute to the nation’s development.