COVID-19: Kogi Governor, Deputy, Others Should Slash Their Salary

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In a bid to rally support and unify Nigerians against the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, politicians, business men and women, banks and other corporate bodies have come together in a bid to combat the spread of the disease by donating part of their wealth to the government at both state and Federal levels. 

I am urging politicians from Kogi State to follow this path by donating part of their wealth to fight this disease.

It is obvious that the government alone cannot do this, they need assistance from the good citizens of this nation. If the Federal government is craving support from the prominent people in the country, then who is Kogi state that her monthly allocation is just about N4billion naira and with a paltry Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)?

According to a statement from President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, the money will be released to Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial center, which is the epicentre of the coronavirus in the country.

The statement reads in part, “This grant will enable Lagos increase its capacity to control and contain the outbreak, while also supporting other States with capacity-building”. 

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, the country’s leading national public health institute has been at the forefront of combating the coronavirus pandemic, collating numbers and responding to suspected cases of the virus.

“The immediate release of a 5 billion Naira special intervention fund to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control to equip, expand and provide personnel to its facilities and laboratories across the country”.

Wealthy Nigerians and organizations, including banks, have also donated billions of Naira to help fund medical centers and provide essential materials necessary to curtail the spread of coronavirus in the country.

Wealthy members of the private sector including Femi Otedola, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Herbert Wigwe, Segun Agbaje and Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, all contributed 1 billion Naira (about $2.7 million) each to support the government in curtailing the pandemic in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s 43 Cabinet Ministers have donated 50% of their March salaries to support the Federal Government’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Also, Nigerina music icon, Innocent Ujah Idibia, popularly known as 2Face or 2Baba, has pledged N10 million naira, joining other prominent Nigerians in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has promised to donate his accumulated salary from May 29, 2019 when he was sworn into office as palliative for less privileged who has been asked to stay at home as a result of coronavirus pandemic in Kwara State.

The Governor who said this on his Facebook page on Sunday said he has not taken any salary since he assumed office as governor.

I urge Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello and his Deputy, Edward Onoja to follow the steps of this Governor by donating their salaries in a bid to help their people survive during this isolation period.

It was reported by multiple media outlets that Kogi state shut down some business activities as part of measures to prevent spread of novel COVID-19, but the question is; what have you done to sustain the people of Kogi state throughout the break?

Again, Kogi State House of Assembly members are not left out of this donation and it is better they follow their senior colleagues at the National Assembly by donating part of their salary also.

I have been waiting patiently to hear from our past leaders to do something good by donating relief materials or medical equipments to the state government just like other states are doing, but it appeared that  former Governors Ibrahim Idris and Idris Ichala Wada are not in the country. This is the time the people of Kogi state need them most and not during elections.

Thanks to Barrister Natasha Akpoti who has given out hand sanitizers and food stuff to some part of Kogi state and that is what we are expecting our present and past leaders to do.

Again, where are those wealthy and influential people in Kogi state? There is need for your people to hear your name at this trying time. The state is not financially bouyant enough to handle this case solely. Everything shouldn’t be left on the shoulder of Governor Bello and Onoja.

The support of everyone to move the state to another level is crucial at this point and for that reason, all hands must be on desk at this critical time to help the State.

– Ojimaojo Y. Abubakar, a journalist, writes from Abuja.


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