The people of Kogi state heaved a sigh of relief as Alhaji Mohammed Jibrin Ahmed joins gubernatorial race for the state scheduled for November 2, 2019. It is generally believed this veteran politician is in the mould of Abraham Lincoln, a former president of the United States of America who consistently contested for president and eventually won the coveted seat to become one of America’s greatest presidents. Similarly, Ahmed will be one of the greatest governors of Kogi state, if he eventually wins the election.
Mohammed Jibrin Ahmed hails from Ankpa, the political capital of Kogi state, with a royal blood from both his maternal and paternal homes. His loyalty to a cause has never been put to question. No wonder, he is regarded as the most loyal party man among the gladiators seeking to contest the gubernatorial primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state. Jibrin Ahmed is a construction guru who, like his profession entails, has the capacity to reconstruct Kogi state and lay a solid foundation for its growth and development.
I believe that as governor, Jibrin Ahmed would be committed to best governance practice characterised by discipline, ethical behaviour and excellence. With the economy of the state in distress and clearly in a state of emergency, his plan will give the state a life line to resuscitate our ailing economy and get our people back to work. I am confident that when his plans are well implemented, it will deliver the goods to the good people of the state. His plan which is anchored on the redirection of the state on the path of greatness and economic development is one which would appeal to our people and make their choices less difficult in electing the APC under Jibrin Ahmed as governor in the forthcoming election.
For those who have followed his political career, Jibrin Ahmed, a PhD holder, always cherished anything that has to do with the development of Kogi state. He will always do what is right to justify his mandate if given to him by our people. With him as governor, our people shall enjoy a new breathe in Kogi state.
His plans is centre on bringing a new dawn for the development of Kogi state anchored on four pillars – agriculture and rural development, social investments, infrastructure development and entrenched knowledge economy. These plans have the capacity to signal the end of an era and the end of an error our state passed in the last four years. The plans took into recognition the huge debt the state has been plunged into by successive administrations and how it cannot hinder his government’s plan of meeting the needs of the people.
The plan sets out the need to review all documents to know the exact financial indebtedness of the state and to make its findings know to the people within the first 100 days of the administration, though not on a vengeance mission. The plans also took cognisance of the payment of arrears of salaries and pensions of its workers as a starting point. The Jibrin Ahmed plans also committed itself to the reintroduction of the social safety nets that would bring succour to the most vulnerable segments of the Kogi. One example of such safety nets is the social security for the elderly. With his plans for the state he hopes to rebuild our state as a place where our young people do not roam the streets in search of non-existing jobs, a place where the people do not go hungry and resort to scavenging for food, a place where the generational circle of poverty can be broken and our elderly can reap the fruits of their labour over their children. A Kogi state where the people are safe, healthy and prosperous.
Our greatest resource remains the people, the plan states. The great sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo always insisted that human beings are the measures of all things. Only a healthy and enlightened people can drive the sustainable development we want to see in Kogi state. Jibrin’s ideology remains that no individual in society should be left behind, but everyone should be supported to live their fullest potential of their youth, and have a dignified and comfortable retirement at old age. This is the fundamental responsibility of any government. The plan entails that his administration would work towards the realisation that majority of the people are beneficiaries of these programmes.
Likewise, delivering qualitative healthcare shall be the responsibility of his administration and the plan entails that our hospitals are well equipped and functional to attend to the needs of the people.
According to his plan, the advancement of the state economy is pivotal to the creation of jobs and wealth for the people of Kogi, which is crucial and relevant to the poverty reduction and revenue enhancement mission of his government. Therefore, in furtherance of his administration’s dream of enhancing the economic and industrial revolution of the state, the Jibrin Ahmed administration will revisit the commercial and technical viability of all abandoned projects in Kogi state with a view to reactivating them. This includes our vast network of roads, our many community projects and our flagship tourism assets. He will also carefully introduce new infrastructure projects that would be strategic in advancing economic growth and development. Laying emphasis on security as the panacea to development, his plan is to create an integrated network of security infrastructure to make the state safe for development.
The plan took into cognisance the fact that Kogi state is essentially an agrarian state with soil properties conducive for growing a wide variety of foods. His plans agree that in order to create sustainable food security, create employment opportunities and agricultural revolution, the approach must change from the present focus on farming and agriculture as a government social service to a commercial and private sector driven approach which is now called agribusiness.
The Jibrin Ahmed’s plan for our people when implemented, our people will feel more impact of a purposeful and egalitarian government. He is prepared to from day one take ownership of the challenges ahead of us and together we strongly believe we will overcome.
– Pastor Francis Monday Adejoh writes from Lokoja, Kogi state.
