Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has assure the people of the state that he is not prepared to run the state like past governments that struggled to pay staff salaries and ended up without developing infrastructure.
The governor, who spoke through his special adviser on media and strategy, Abdulmalik Abdulkareem, who stated this at a press conference to herald the 25th anniversary of the creation of the state said the staff screening exercise embarked upon by his government was meant to clean the payroll and make more money available for projects that would positively affect the people of the state.
According to him, the non- existence of major infrastructure across the state after its creation was worrisome, pledging to correct the situation with the “New direction” approach of his administration.
He, however, blamed the development on the lack of political will of past administrations to ascertain the number of workers on their payroll, thereby resulting in using money for the development of the state on ghost workers.
He also said efforts were ongoing to commence the implementation of the monetisation policy on political office holders in the state with the provision of official vehicles that would be paid for by such office holders.
He added that government had entered into partnership with private developer to build houses for commissioners and other top government functionaries on owner-occupier basis.
