The late Chief Solomon Lar, first civilian governor of old Plateau State.
By Jonathan Ishaku
When Plateau State elders speak of the Plateau Dream, the youths make a jest of them. And simply because they don’t know better; the older generation know better, they know too well the long and difficult journey Plateau State has come through to its present state.
The youths don’t know why the elders eulogise the names of Joseph Dechi Gomwalk and Solomon Daushep Lar. And when these elders withhold applause for some money-guzzling cosmetism which are passed to them as development, the youths do not understand why.
I do understand the youths’ point of view and I sympathize with them: they have no standard against which to measure the performance of their present leaders, especially the civilian governments under the present Republic.
Here I want to help them; I choose to provide the example of Governor Solomon D. Lar, for the simple reason all his achievements were recorded within a tenure of four years only.
Below for your reading pleasure:
1). Massive intervention in the educational sector. Governor Lar established 117 new secondary schools, three new teachers colleges; for tertiary education he established the College of Education, Gindiri and upgraded the College of Technology, Barkin Ladi, to a full-fledged Polytechnic.
He built and stocked a State Library as well as established divisional libraries in Pankshin, Langtang, Shendam, Keffi, Lafia and Akwanga. Further, the governor set up the State Teachers Service Commission to ensure the quality, welfare and administration of the educational sector.
2). Chief Lar also gave the agricultural sector a shot in the arm with the upgrading of the Plateau State Agricultural Development Project and Lafia Agriculture Development Project which combined not only provided farmers across the state with necessary and timely inputs but also provided them with extension workers for advisory on best modern technology and practices.
In addition, he invigorated the sector by supplying 800 tractors and the setting up of the Kassa Mechanical Workshop which for the first time ever brought mechanized farming to the doorsteps of local farmers relying solely on hoes and cutlasses.
He set up the Bokkos Farms, Kuru Livestock Project and the Kuru Feeds Mill. However, nothing compared with the setting of multi-million naira large-scale mechanized BARC Farms at Zalaki, covering over 5,000 hectares of land in the outskirt of Jos.
This was one of its type in this part of the country which cultivated crops, kept livestock, produced dairy products as well as poultry. BARC supplied grits for major breweries around the country while it also supplied beef, pork and poultry products as far as Lagos and Port Harcourt. BARC Farms was a major employer of labour in the state.
3).Lar also stepped his economic emancipation with the setting up of industries. Among these was the award-winning Jos International Breweries which became of the few breweries in Nigeria to export alcoholic beverages to Europe. It was also a big employer of labour in the state.
Other industries he set up were the Quix Bottling Company, Zarazon, and the Plateau Bottling Company for the manufacturing and bottling of soft drinks. He also established the Garri Processing Company in Lafia and a Glass manufacturing company in Jos.
4). To consolidate on the investment climate created as well as make capital available and secured, he further established the Lion Bank of Nigeria and Savannah Insurance Company. The Lion Bank provided a timely alternative to the Bank of the North which at this time had been pocketed by Northern elites and discriminated against the ethnic minorities both in employment and patronage.
It was Chief Lar that initiated, completed and commissioned the ultra-modern Jos Market with reputation as the largest covered market in the West African sub-region. It was burnt down in the middle of ethno-religious rioting that engulfed Jos at the early turn of the millennium confirming the belief that the market had always been the envy of the “North.”
5). Like Gomwalk before him, Lar also gave boost to the tourism industry; he established the Mado Tourist Resort, Tudun Wada and the Pandam Game Reserve/Lake Resort in Quan Pan. He also embarked on the construction of the 5-star hotel at Lamingo, which, even though had reached advanced level, remains uncompleted due to neglect by successive governments.
6). In road construction, Lar constructed or rehabilitated 750 kilometres of road across the state, some of these are: the Amper-Dengi-Bashar road, Toto-Umaisha road and Dokan Tofa-Kwande-Simankar road.
7). Another significant achievement of the Lar administration was the reforms carried out in local government and chieftaincy affairs. Apart from the local government areas inherited, he created 11 more (though they were later abolished under the military, they have since been reinstated, some under different names or with minor alterations).
He increased the number of districts and chiefdoms to give oppressed communities a sense of belonging. In furtherance of this he upgraded 10 existing traditional stools to 1st class chieftaincy status; these are: Ngolong Ngas, Ponzhi Taroh, Emir of Wase, Emir of Kanam, Long Goemai, Aren Eggon, Emir of Lafia, Emir of Keffi, Emir of Nasarawa and Andoma of Doma. He also created a number of lower class chiefdoms all in an attempt to expand the scope of autonomy.
The above are mere highlights (not exhaustive) of Chief Solomon Lar’s achievements. I chose the above only to highlight the fact that the Plateau Dream ideology of old appeared to infuse in the leaders a sense of urgency and passion for turning things around.
Secondly, I chose to highlight these accomplishments because presently there is a lowering of standards; it would appear that the society is being coerced by sheer propaganda to accept mediocre performances in governance. These vast exploits were recorded in just four years of Lar’s tenure and in a territory that’s twice as big!
These days, 10% of these accomplishments, done in, around or about an incumbent governor’s village, town, or local government area, in two terms of eight years, are celebrated with fanfare!
Chief Solomon Lar, indeed, earned his medals in the deepening the socio-economic liberation of Plateau Sate, in particular, and the Middle Belt, in general.
As my late elder Miskoom Puppet said, “our good days with Chief S.D. Lar as governor on the platform of the NPP, however, ended in December 1983.”
Culled from my book, “The Middle Belt: Through A Glass Darkly”, pp. 115-117.
