By Marie-Therese Nanlong, Jos

Mrs. Josephine Piyo is the only female among the 17 local government chairmen in Plateau State and the second female head of the attack-prone Riyom local government area. In this interview, she expresses, among other things, her desire to take her local government area out of the woods.

Excerpts.
As the first female chairperson of Riyom local government area, what motivated you to vie for the position and how did  men view your ambition?
There was one female before me. I am not the first chairperson, Mrs. Mary Dang was the first; she served from 2003 to 2007. Riyom is a gender sensitive and gender friendly local government area. I have a burning desire to serve my people, to see how I can contribute to the development of the local government and this led me to vie for the  office of the chairman of Riyom local government. The men did not find it funny.

Your local government area has been a flash point. How have you tackled  the problems since your assumption of office?
Well, you said it all that Riyom local government is one of the flash points. It has not been easy; we were sworn-in on the 3rd of March, 2014; on the 4th, there was an attack at Gwawereng village of Rim District of Riyom local government area. The attacks have persisted but, by the grace of God, we have tried to restore peace to the local government. We have had dialogue with the Fulani, the Berom and others. We have organised talks among various groups, sometimes the youths, sometimes the Ardos, the Imams and the chiefs, sometimes we bring  everyone  together and we have always encouraged the people to live harmoniously with one another.

We have emphasized the need for us to live peacefully because without peace, no meaningful development will come to the local government. By the grace of God, we will overcome, at least, we have been able to heave a sigh of relief because, for sometime now, there has not been any attack. That is not to say that everything has died down because there is still  ambush here and there, leading to people being killed, but we are trying to talk people out of this ambush and kill syndrome.

Some politicians in Riyom have received threat letters in the past. Have you received any of such letters?
No, I trust God will not allow that, He has been there for me. I have not received any threat and I know God will see me through.

As a leader of the local government and a woman, what have you done to address the plight of women knowing that many of them are still not economically and politically empowered?
Nothing yet. We are just about six months in office, we have not started any deliberate programme for women and youths in terms of empowerment, but we have the blueprint, there are programmes in the pipeline. We are waiting, by the time we pass the budget for next year, we will include empowerment programmes for women and youths. They consist the largest population of the electorate and cannot be ignored.

What is your vision for Riyom local government area as a whole?
My vision is to ensure that permanent peace is restored to Riyom local government area and  development is experienced  in terms of infrastructure and empowerment of the people.

Almost all local government chairmen in the state lament dwindling economic fortunes. How is it in Riyom and what steps are you taking to address the situation?
Well, there are no dwindling resources as such, but there are  commitments in terms of income and expenditure. There is so much demand on what comes in as statutory allocation. There are also challenges from the electorate, we are trying though the internally generated revenue is nothing to write home about. We are trying to see if we can reposition ourselves towards generating more revenue for the local government.

I heard that the recently sworn-in councillors in the 17 local government areas of the State have not been paid their salaries. How true is this and how are the councillors in your local government taking it?
Yes, it is true that they have not been paid, but it is not a deliberate action. It is because of this bio-metric capturing exercise that is going on in the state. The local government areas are going through this screening and once it is completed, everybody will be paid. In Riyom, we have advanced salaries to the councillors, we have given them something that at least should keep them going and they understand.

What is your assessment of the representation of lawmakers from your local government both at the National Assembly and State Assembly?
These people have been so wonderful. We have been united, working together for the common good of the local government. These people have never left me alone to handle the challenges in the local government. Anytime I have any problem and I call on them, they come around and we sit down together to discuss the issues and challenges facing the local government and we proffer solutions together.