By Baba Yusuf
Lafia
A member representing Nasarawa/Toto federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Mohammed Ja’afaru Ibrahim has bemoaned the losses incurred by the people of Toto local government council as a result of ethnic skirmishes in the late 1990s.
The local government was engulfed by ethnic crisis involving Egbira and Bassa ethnic groups, resulting to huge losses in both human, material and infrastructure.
Speaking at the 2017 edition of the annual Irewha hunting festival, Shafan Abakpa, in Toto LGC, Ja’afru recalled that the crisis deprived the people of his area their rights to participate in the 1999 election, physical development by state, federal government and commercial entities such as banks from opening branches there.
While praying to God to avert a repeat of the ugly past, Hon Ja’afaru was optimistic that everything would be done to address the drawbacks head-on.
He said, while the state government under the leadership of Tanko Al-Makura had awarded contracts for the rehabilitation of Toto-Umaisha road, the senator representing Nasarawa West, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, was also implementing a number of projects in the area.
Ja’afaru, who also formally declared his intention to run for governor of state in 2019, informed that in his less than two years stay at the green chamber, he initiated well over 30 water projects within the Nasarawa/Toto federal constituency.
He said: “I have also undertaken various projects in the areas of agriculture, health, education, bridges/culverts, skills acquisition and empowerment programmes. In the new year (2018) more projects will be executed.”
To address financial exclusion which he said the lack of banking facilities had brought to the communities in Toto, he said he had taken up the challenge to establish a micro finance bank in the area to serve the people, saying the facility would commence operation as soon as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) grants its approval.
