Popular activist, Mr Usman Okai Austin has kicked against Governor Yahaya Bello’s alleged plans to cede state-owned ventures to private individuals as a means to give the state the much needed financial facelift citing that those assets require huge sums of money for maintenance yet generating little income.
It will be recalled the state government through the commissioner of information, Mr Kingsley Fanwo announced recently that, the state may cede some assets like state-owned hotels and transport companies in Abuja, Lokoja, and Lagos to private sectors to enable other high income-generating businesses to thrive.
Okai, in reaction to the said move by the government, said it is a ploy by the governor to sell those assets to himself and cronies, insisting that such act will milk the state and plunge the state further into financial deficit.
He, however, called on stakeholders, concerned individuals and well-meaning Kogites home and in the diaspora to join forces to avert and thwart the act he described as ‘ungodly’.
The activist went further to beckon on all financial monitoring groups, agencies and establishments of government to come to the aid of Kogi state before the said gross financial damage is done.
He alleged that part of the reasons why Kogi has been in a state of the continued financial crisis is due to Gov Bello’s reckless and pointless spending despite the batches of billions dolled out to the state.
Mr Austin also stated that all hands must be on deck and Kogites should stay alert, insisting that any attempt to cede state-owned assets should be met with stiff resistance.
“There are no reasons cogent and tenable enough to sell any Kogi asset. Bello has neither built anything new nor maintained the existing ones, so attempting to cede any asset is tantamount to rendering the state financially bankrupt which the state may not recover from any time soon.
“Bello cannot play tricks on our collective sensibility especially when it has to do with our common patrimony.”
