Governor Simon Lalong, has said that Plateau state has so far incurred loss of N75 billion in the wake of looting, arson and vandalism of public and private facilities in the state.
He described the development as saddening for the entire state.
Governor Lalong stated this during an interactive session with the Plateau youths held, Friday at Government House Jos.
He said despite the curfew, the looters took their destruction to higher levels by attacking other public and private facilities and leaving a trail of arson, vandalism and total destruction behind them.
“Indeed, this is a sad development for our state,” he said.
Lalong said he went round some of the affected areas together with members of the national assembly caucus from Plateau state and the Minister of Women Affairs to assess the level of destruction and, what they saw was horrific and despicable.
“The level of destruction and carnage is unbelievable and unacceptable. We are still trying to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the total cost of the damage.
“However, the preliminary report by a team of experts I constituted has estimated the losses to be put at about 75 billion naira for now,” he said.
Lalong told the youths that the destruction has clearly taken the state many years backwards as, it do not have the resources to replace the structures vandalised and the items damaged or stolen.
“We are yet to recover from the devastating economic consequences of COVID-19 which has greatly affected our capacity to provide services,” he said.
Lalong said the destruction was a clear act of criminality and unpatriotic behaviour, adding that, “as at the last count, we have more than 32 public and private properties that were affected in the looting spree.”
“Can these problems be solved by the kind of destruction and carnage we witnessed recently,” he asked the youths.
Lalong told them that when they destroy the few infrastructures in the state, they can never build the better Plateau that they all yearn for.
