Taraba lawmaker pledges to rescue national park
By Our CorrespondentÂ
The Member representing Gashaka Constituency at the Taraba state House of Assembly, Hon. Balutu Mohammed, has promised to move a motion at the Assembly to enable the state government address the deplorable state of the Gashaka Gumti National Park.
The park, reputed to be the largest and most diverse in the country has suffered neglect leading to a loss of wildlife resources.
Speaking with our reporter in her office in Jalingo, Balutu identified lack of good roads, electricity, water among others as the challenges being faced by the host communities of the park.
She promised to get the Taraba state government to partner with the Africa Nature Investors (ANI), an NGO towards meeting those challenges.
Speaking on partnership with ANI, Balutu said: “when i came on board, i wrote a letter to them requesting for a visit so that i will know their programs and see how i can come in as a member of that community.
“I need to go on tour to know what they are doing to help the communities and then i will come back to the House and move a motion for the state government to intervene for the benefit of our community.
“There are poor roads. In terms of employment, they have to consider our community first. We need basic amenities. You can see the deplorable nature of roads. We need roads, electricity, water and so on”.
