By Femi Bolaji

Jalingo: As the world prepares to move into a new year in less than four days, some residents of Taraba state have demanded concerted efforts from government at all levels to avoid a recurrence of the challenges that bedevilled the country in 2018.

This they said was necessary for the country to retain its pride as the giant of Africa, having been credited with various damning reports in the year under review.

While most of the respondents advocated a rancour free 2019 general elections, others cautioned major political actors to do away with sentiments and hate speeches, capable of plunging the nation into crises.

According to Justin Tyopuusu, “We need a paradigm shift in our nation and an aggressive investment in Agriculture, Education and Infrastructural development. I am hoping that as we vote in 2019, candidates will be assessed based on their track records, and not by tribal or religious sentiment.”

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Gabriel Yough on his part said “2019 presents to us a golden opportunity to rise up and take the destiny of our nation in our own hands by voting in people that can think about the country and hold them accountable for their actions.

On security matters, Magaji Isa opined that “government at all levels should be more proactive in securing lives and property of Nigerians, and more is needed to be done for tolerance and harmonious coexistence by people of different tribes.

While expressing his views on the increasing rate of unemployment, Charles Akpeji said “more synergy between the government and private sector would go a long way to stem this menace in respect to job opportunities for our teeming unemployed youths .”

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Sanni Suleiman who was saddened by the statistics of out of school children in 2018 noted that “2019 presents an opportunity for government to declare state of emergency in the education sector, particularly in the North East region to address the educational backwardness of the zone. “