Years after fire incident, Lalong plans to rebuild Jos market to pay minimum wage

Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State on Thursday reiterated his determination to rebuild the Central Jos market that was razed by fire years ago.

The governor who spoke to State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said revenue generated from the market would help the state to pay the N30,000 new minimum wage.

The governor, however, denied reports that his administration budgeted N1.1 billion to demolish the market in 2019 appropriation bill.

He said, “the report is not very fair. If you understand the history of the Jos main market, you will understand the passion for rebuilding that market.

“That market was blown off years ago and has remained like that. The market was our main source of revenue and I saw it as very necessary to rebuild the main market to address challenges of the state, including that of the minimum wage.

The governor explained that the project would be carried out in four components, including demolition and reconstruction.

“The entire process has four components. First, it has to be a special demolition and you know in special demolition, you don’t bring down the entire market.

“We have two proposals, either to bring down the entire market and start building new one or carry out the special demolition and reconstruction and the overhaul of the market. There are the technical aspect, the consultancy aspect and the contract itself. New Aviation law may lead to chaos, stakeholders warn.

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“So, I have asked them to make everything public so that people will not jump into conclusion that we are demolishing the market. It is not everyone that can do that type of special demolition, in Nigeria it has only been done either twice or thrice.

“I had to travel to South Africa to ensure that if we are going to carry out the demolition, it must be a very special demolition. Otherwise, the next option was to bring down the entire market and start rebuilding”, he said.

In February 2002, a mysterious fire outbreak occurred in the massive complex leaving the building nothing more than rubble after 2 days of efforts by the state fire service to put it out.

The market, which served for about 16 years until it was destroyed by the fire outbreak, was left in ruins after it could not provide a return on capital invested in it by the government.

Later, in 2014 what was left of Jos Main Market saw further destruction after it was destroyed by more than one Boko Haram bomb blast.

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