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Strictly speaking, the nexus between the government and the governed is that policies of government must be designed as catalysts that would attract an unprecedented progress in all spheres of human and structural development.
It is pertinent to note with emphasis that government owes it as taxing and onerous responsibility to fixing infrastructural decay and deficit to primarily gives its developmental strides, a mind blowing facelift that would have a positive bearing on its citizens.
Similarly, the primary responsibility of government as enshrined in the constitution is that government must be readily determined to providing basic things that can bring about national security of its citizens to limelight.
However, many critical analysts of public events and staunch crusaders for good governance had conventionally agreed that governance is a process and not a project. Thus, affirming that its policies and programmes are subject to constant review and further programming.
These defining template in which good governance can be anchored upon was battered during the previous regimes. The previous administrations in Kogi state was perceived as a locust era where the collective resources of our dear state were squandered and infrastructural squalor was highly pervasive.
Hitherto to the enthronement of Bello’s led government in Kogi state, accountability and transparency which define the legitimacy of good governance was eroded due to massive looting and the plundering of our commonwealth featured significantly in the previous regimes.
In fact, emphasis on looting was the guiding principle and philosophy of the previous governments. This is because phantom of developmental projects in the state was designed to sway the opinions of the unsuspected citizens of the state in order to pave ways for massive looting from the coffers of the state government.
To state with clarity and with strict emphasis, the susceptibility of the previous administrations to gross misappropriation of public funds has plunged the state into colossus domestic debts and the debt profile of the state is high as a result of huge external borrowing to the tone of #47,000,000,000.00, by the previous regimes.
Conversely, the assumption of Bello’s administration as the fourth civilian and democratically elected Governor of Kogi state, has witnessed an impressive and aggressive reforms in every sector of the economy due to a multi-faceted approaches designed by the present government to tackle the challenges of governance in the state.
However, it can be affirmed without reservations that good governance pervades the entire state resulting from Bello’s indestructible determination to changing the narrative of the state. This is therefore, contingent on the massive reforms in every sector of the state economy which is potentially driven by the revolutionary forces of Bello’s government.
It would be too much sweeping a statement to say that all achievements of the present administration are witnessed in economic reforms. There are other critical areas where an aggressive reforms have been recorded. The massive infrastructural development is also another key area that had attracted the attention of the present government.
In the meantime, the present administration of Governor Yahaya Bello in Kogi state has devoted bulk of its time, immense talent and boundless energy to entrenching good governance at all levels. This is practically evident in its New Direction blueprint that is driven by the revolutionary spirit to primarily fixing and re-positioning the state to its deserved place in the comity of states in Nigeria.
In addition, the development posture of the present administration has helped substantially to jack up the revenue generation of the state to an appreciable level. Before the inception of the present administration, the revenue generation during the previous administrations was dwindling within the sum of #300,000,000.00 to #400,000,000.00, monthly. Now, the internally generated revenue of the state has been increased to over #1,000,000,000.00 within the last two years. This was achieved after blocking the loopholes as a result of corruption in the last revenue sector of the state.
These numerous achievements of the present government are largely dependent on the peaceful atmosphere that permeates every segment of the state. In fact, Kogi state was fondly regarded as an enclave for kidnappers, armed robbers, herdsmen versus farmers and pocket of communal crisis. But, Bello, on the assumption of office on 27th January, 2016, has mapped out strategies to tackle the problem of insecurity in the state. He built on the existing security infrastructure and thereby, kitting the security agents with the needed tools and equipments that can enhance their operations.
Today, Bello’s government has decisively dealt with the criminal syndicates in the state and peace has now been restored to some troubled communities across the state. Since the community safety plan depends largely on the co-operation between the youths and the security agents, Governor Bello has recruited over two thousand Kogi youths as vigilantes to significantly boosting the security architecture and thus, enhancing the modus operandi of Operation Total Freedom in the state.
In the furtherance of the foregoing, the state government under the watch and able leadership of Governor Yahaya Bello has put those diaspora politicians in a pressure cooker’s territory, by revolutionising the state with policies and programmes rapidly transforming Kogi into a modern state. This is practically evident in his fundamental principles of equity and fairness. The three Senatorial Districts of the state are receiving equal attention regarding infrastructural development, a rare feat achieved by the present administration of Governor Yahaya Bello.
Interestingly, government has created huge employment opportunities for graduates and technicians in the state. Over two thousand and five hundred youths across the state were engaged in skill acquisition training and fifty thousand people benefiting from various social investment programmes to drastically reduced the huge figure of unemployment and poverty in the state. Other Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government were keyed in this giant strides to creating opportunity of employment for the citizens of our dear state. Particularly, Kogi Internal Revenue Service has gainfully employed over eight hundred graduates to primarily improve on the revenue generation of the state.
All these are vehement testimonies that Governor Yahaya Bello is determined to set the state on a high pedestal of economic prosperity, in a confluence of opportunities, where the citizens can have their own fair share in the scheme of social, economic and political affairs of the state.
To this end, it is fundamentally important for us to continually and consciously supporting the present administration of Governor Yahaya Bello and vote him for a second term in 2019, so that he can consolidate on his numerous achievements in the subsequent years.
– Prince Abdulkareem Onyekehi Suleiman is the Special Adviser to the Governor of Kogi State on Job Creation, SMEs Development.
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