I have waited patiently for Governor Yahaya Bello to prove me wrong by being a visionary leader but sadly it has been two good months of ‘No Direction’. The government has been mouthing a vague slogan, “New Direction” since it’s questionable inauguration. The so called New Direction is so vague that no Kogi indigene, old and young, can define the meaning. The slogan is understood by just two persons, Governor Bello and his Chief of Staff.
Under their New Direction, Governor Yahaya has given tacit endorsement of the questionable selection of Imam Umar as speaker of Kogi assembly. This New Direction is a downward movement, not upward. Despite open criticism and obvious legal implications, our rookie governor has continued to toe the path of shame on the assembly issue. The clowns who are currently sitting under the shadow of Governor Bello’s wings said they are working on the budget but one wonders if they are educated at all. Can a group of 5, or 7 clowns pass the state budget? By end of 1st quarter of the year (March 2016), the governor can no longer spend Kogi money without budget. This is a classical case of ‘No Direction’.
Our governor woke up one day and like someone under the influence of paraga, he ordered the demolition of all roundabouts in Lokoja. Some of these roundabouts were recently constructed with tax payers’ money while some have historical attachment. Right thinking Kogites, especially we the residents, are still asking why demolishing roundabouts will come before repairing the bad roads leading to these roundabouts. And indeed, the roads leading to all these roundabouts are in terrible condition. Hmmm, ‘No Direction’ no ni.
Since his swearing in as Kogi supplementary governor, this man has spent more days in Abuja that Kogi. We are not surprised, he is registered as a voter in Abuja, not Kogi. Obviously, he has more ties in Abuja than he has in Kogi. Blood is thicker than water. On one of the days he visited us in Kogi, he moved round offices in government house questioning available staff and started ordering that some staff be transferred after 2 minutes interaction with them. He did same thing when the ‘spirit’ led him to the state specialist hospital. One cannot but wonder if this man knows what is called ‘Manpower Auditing’. This gra-gra approach to governance is another graphic evidence of the No Direction situation we have found ourselves in Kogi state.
I read about the unnecessary noise generated by his wife’s visit to Ekinrin Adde to commission a re-painted primary health centre. I am not bothered about the noise but noticed that she chose to commission ‘projects’ in three different areas namely Agassa, her husband’s village, Ekinrin Adde, James Faleke’s village and one village in Olamaboro where the chief of staff hails from. ‘Project of appeasement’ in Ekinrin Adde, ‘project of solidarity’ in Olamaboro and ‘project of acceptance’ in Agassa. Warped logic, poor calculation….No Direction.
Kogi state has been at the mercy of criminals in recent years. It did not start under Governor Bello but sadly, we now rank Number 1 in Kidnapping nationally according to the state chief judge. Big Brother Yahaya is yet to acknowledge let alone take action to halt this ugly phenomenon. So far, it has been No Direction on security issues.
We gave rounds of applause when Governor Bello announced that our local governments now have full autonomy. Infact, my chairman here in Lokoja LGA announced to the whole world that workers will now enjoy 100% salary but to our surprise percentage salary continued. As I write LG workers are yet to be paid the unfortunate percentage salary in the last two months just because His Excellency had instructed he must be physically present in joint allocation account committee meeting before they can ‘share’ allocation to LGs. Two months allocation is allegedly lying in the joint account ‘unshared’ because the visiting governor is yet to have time to attend the allocation meeting. No Direction!
It seems the current slogan New Direction is equal to No Direction. I am still waiting patiently for the government to prove me wrong but stepping up their game, but so far it has been two months of No Direction. May God help our dear state.
– Titi Balogun writes from Lokoja.
