Jos — One time senator in the Second Republic Venmak Dangin yesterday asked the Plateau State governor Jonah Jang to sell the over six billion naira new government house under construction to pay striking workers in the state.

The elder statesman said there was no reason to build a new government house while local government workers in the state were dying of hunger or in hospitals, saying many workers in the state have committed suicide due to the economic hardship.

According to him, "the new building under construction should be sold immediately and the proceeds used to pay the striking local government workers in the state. I see no reason for a new government house when the past government house built by past military administrators is good and luxurious enough."

He decried the frequency of foreign trips by government officials in the state, saying "to me it is highly contradictory that a state which the leadership claims to be poor and yet the lifestyle of its leaders tells you a story of wealth and glamour."

Senator Dangin also said due to the seven month old strike embarked by the local government workers, the state has become the most backward educationally in the country.