1. Introduction
Kogi State’s political landscape has long been shaped by an ongoing struggle for relevance and supremacy, a contest between regions, personalities, and party interests. While politics everywhere involves negotiation and competition, in Kogi this contest often determines who gets projects, appointments, and visibility rather than how effectively governance delivers real development.
This analysis explores the dynamics of Kogi politics, the impact on development and governance, the phenomenon of youth praise-singing as survival, and the growing frustration from Kogi East over perceived misrepresentation. It concludes with practical recommendations to shift politics from personality wars to system-based progress.
2. The Political Landscape — Relevance vs. Supremacy
Kogi’s politics operates on two major fronts:
Inter-regional competition between Kogi East, Central, and West for state presence, appointments, and infrastructure.
Intra-party dominance struggles, especially within the APC, where control of structures determines who is seen as politically “relevant.”
Former and current powerbrokers — notably those from the 2016–2024 administration and the current APC leadership still shape appointments and project distribution.
For Kogi East, this has fueled long-standing claims of marginalization — a product of a political economy where control of resources equates to recognition.
3. The Impact on Development and Governance
Uneven Infrastructure Delivery:
Government communications frequently highlight new projects and roadworks, but community-level evidence, particularly from parts of Kogi East tells a mixed story as many announced projects exist only on paper or are partially executed, deepening regional mistrust.
Patronage over Policy
Concentrating power around personalities weakens institutions. Projects and appointments tend to reward loyalty over merit, slowing down service delivery and eroding accountability.
Economic Consequences
Perceived neglect discourages investment, undermines local industries, and drives youths toward political patronage as their main source of livelihood. Development initiatives such as RAAMP have potential, but without transparency and local participation, their impact remains limited.
4. Youth, Praise-Singing, and Political Survival
With formal employment scarce, many young people turn to politics not as civic duty but as economic opportunity. Praise-singing — whether through music, social media, or street mobilization becomes a form of income and access to power.
While this sustains short-term livelihoods, it damages civic culture. It replaces policy discourse with personality worship, leaving citizens disempowered and leaders unaccountable.
5. The Kogi East Question: Misrepresentation and Development Deficit
Kogi East’s grievance is not simply that “nothing has been done,” but that the scale, fairness, and visibility of development lag behind expectations.
Government reports list projects across districts, but local realities show uneven execution. The heart of the matter lies in distribution, perception, and credibility projects are either insufficient, poorly communicated, or seen as captured by political patronage. This fuels the sentiment that Kogi East remains misrepresented within the state’s political structure.
6. Beyond Personality Politics — Building Systems That Work
The obsession with political supremacy and vendetta politics has produced short-term wins but long-term stagnation. Projects stop and start depending on who is in power.
System-based politics anchored in transparency, merit, and continuity offers a more sustainable path. When rules, open tenders, and accountability replace personal influence, development becomes measurable and durable.
7. Pathways for Reform and Citizen Action
Immediate to Long-Term Actions:
- Launch a Citizen Scorecard for Kogi — Track project promises versus delivery using public data from RAAMP and ministries.
- Community Evidence Teams — Mobilize volunteers to document ongoing or abandoned projects with photos and GPS coordinates.
- Youth Enterprise Alternatives, Support agro-processing, renewable energy, and digital skills programs to reduce dependency on political patronage.
- Transparency in Resource Use — Demand open data on oil and derivation revenues to ensure equitable utilization.
- Institutionalize independent project monitoring through local government legislation.
- Enforce merit-based appointments and public advertisement of technical roles.
- Civic Education for Media Literacy — Help citizens discern between real impact and propaganda.
- Fiscal Decentralization — Empower local governments financially to deliver community-level development.
Encouraging Messages That Inspires Progress, Not Praise
Reframe public engagement around “work, not worship.” Celebrate tangible achievements such as roads fixed, schools built, farms supported, empowerment and Job opportunities created instead hailing of individuals fore mere data.
Citizens and media should hold leaders to clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as 100-day and annual targets. Let community technocrats, teachers, and farmers become the faces of development, restoring credibility to civic dialogue.
Politics will always influence resource allocation in Kogi. But the real test of leadership is not how loudly one is praised — it is how visibly communities benefit.
To escape the cycle of praise-singing and misrepresentation, Kogi must make progress measurable, visible, and economically useful.
As citizens, technocrats, and reform-minded leaders, our task is simple:
Replace personality politics with performance politics and let the evidence speak.
– Thomas Simon Attah (TSA)
07055500779
Simonthomasattah@gmail.com
