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Fellow Kogites; Good day and Happy Golden Eidil-il-Fitri celebrations to you all my fellow country men.
Kogi is an example of a state that has fallen down; it has collapsed. This state has fallen. The state has suffered and sunk in pervasive corruption, social catastrophe and economic dilapidation since we left the for the great beyond few years ago. Our much respected values of patriotism and uncompromising emphasis on intergrity and honesty have been thrown to the winds.
It has gotten to a state that you cannot trust anybody again. Education in ruins. All inherited infrastructures are in shambles. Health care have been neglected. Security of life and property is no longer guaranteed. The image of lawlessness is seen everywhere. Kogites lives in frustrations, regrets, dejections, hopelessness, misery, pains and sufferings.
Almost 80 percents of Kogites are in poverty line while a few clique are stinkingly rich. Politics has turned to “do or die affairs” and “winner takes all”. Democracy is now coinned to mean “government of some people by some people and for some people”. To be honest with you all, I have seen and heard a lot of things up here.
Most of our people have lost their integrity and dignity because of money. They have lost their sense of reasoning because of naira. They have ruin the future of our youths because of greediness and lust for power.
And there is no human being on earth that have not received Nigerian 419 scam letters on their mail box. That is the end results of what bad governance can do to a nation. There is a need for urgent and radical solutions to revive the falling giant of Africa.
I put it crudely sometimes that if you know how to package shit, you can sell it in Kogi State.
Kogi is our state and there is no other place to replace our fatherland. Now is the time to re-build the falling house. History teaches us that every problem has a life span. Like I have said before, I do not have a monopoly of wisdom, but I will provide important possible solutions which am very sure if it is taken with all seriousness, the state will have reasons to celebrate in nearest the future.
This state is in a precarious situation because there is no real love within the entire people.
We have not been fortunate to have good leaders. What we have been having is what Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah tagged “accidental leaders.” The most sad thing about them is that after being sworn in with the Oath of Allegiance of good conduct, then they will proceed to churches and mosques with their family, relations and associates for thanks-giving services. By the time you see them again, they have already looted the whole treasury.
If the truth be told, past leaders with few exceptions were self-serving rulers, not leaders. Some were even despots. There is perhaps no other state in Nigeria where power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely as in Kogi State. They have generally lacked vision, focus and selflessness and even enlighted self-interest. Many in leadership positions are unimaginably corrupt, they are greedy, they are vindictive, they are reckless and in many fundamental respects, senseless. Virtually, whoever has access to power attempts to abuse it. I don’t think there is another words to describe them than this. Kogi needs leaders that will base their greatness on the services they render for good of the citizens rather than the property accumulated within shortest time. We need people who are ethical and who can convey a strong vision of the future. We need trusted leaders and achievers who will build a humane society capable of looking after the legitimate needs of the citizenry.
With good leaders, all these socio-economic and political problems will be history. It does not take good leaders two years to solve the problem of epileptic electricity supply and irregular pipe-borne water supply.
As Napoleon Bonaparte would say: “Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.” You just need to go to Lagos state and see what Ambode has done to let you know the meaning of good governance, transparency and accountability. If the new Lagos State we see on You Tube, and what my friends told me of the new-look Oshodi market, the New Nigeria is imminent and possible.
We have to be very concern and careful in electing person of intellectual capability, trust and integrity to run the affairs of our state. The size of a man is not determined by the length of his legs, but by what’s in his head. We have have to be very concern to put people where they can be productive-men of virtue and example of modest.
It is only in Kogi, where you have a graduate of history as a Commissioner for Agriculture and natural resources when there are Agricultural science graduates, we prefer mediocrity to meritocracy. This is stupidity and not in line with principles of effective and efficient administrative policy. That is more reason why they do not have positive results. This is very wrong in anywhere, even here in heaven.
Leadership is not for glamour, pleasure, privilege, fun or opportunity to buy mansions here and abroad while your people are dying of malaria and squalor. Leadership is not opportunity to loot the state treasury and keep the money in foreign accounts while his people cannot afford three-square meals a day. Leadership is not stealing the government money and donate it to churches or mosques.
– Alfa Tijani
Kogi-based political analyst.
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